Bones

[arealhuman]

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I'm thinking of getting a bone for my dog to chew on.  I was thinking of getting something from Pets at Home and just letting him chew on it from time to time, rather than grind it all down in one sitting.  Anyone have any views on this?  Also, should there be a reduction in his normal food intake to compensate?  Thanks again

 

[JoanneF]

As you know, @excuseme is the raw guru but I would just go to the butcher generally. PAH are usually overpriced in my opinion - I suppose charging for packaging and other overheads. That said I do intend to try giving their frozen duck (?) trachea ... I suggest a non weight bearing bone, lamb ribs are good, they often have enough meat still on them to make them enjoyable. Raw obviously! 

 

[excuseme]

Joanne has just about covered it all.

Soft edible bones like chicken pork or lamb should be part of daily rations and an adjustment would be advisable.

Harder bones like beef bones are more for recreation purposes (even their ribs are quiet hard and will last our lot for a few days).

Our bones come from the butcher, I do not choose but take what I am given (after all it is free)!

Remember DO NOT FEED COOKED BONES !

 

[JoanneF]

Just to think a couple of years ago I was totally wimping about chicken wings! Go me, huh? !!! 

 

[gypsysmum2]

If I allow my current dog unlimited access to bones he will over indulge and this causes him to bulk out his large intestine too much. We then get night time poops because he is uncomfortable. He did have Giardia before he came to me so this may be the reason his gut is a little sensitive?

Remember if you take a valued item, like a tasty bone, away from your dog to "swap" it with a special treat. Helps prevent any resource guarding

 

[Biker John]

My Whippet is strange with bones, chicken wings and necks she is fine with, but any others, she carries it round making silly noises, goes outside buries it. Then digs it up and carries it around again before burying it again, this carries on for ages before she eventually eats it.

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks all for the replies and advice.  I'll get him something this weekend if I get the chance and will post back with the results.

 

[arealhuman]

Well, I bought him a bone from Pets at Home as I had to get a few other bits and pieces.  The bone is about the size of a clenched fist and was filled with chicken and stuffing.  Thought it'd be a good intro for him as he's not had a bone with us and I've no idea what he's been eating before he came to the UK.  Anyway, he loves it!  We let him have it in little sittings, and as @gypsysmum2 said above, after 10 minutes or so, a couple pieces of chicken to distract him and tuck the bone away for another day.

Observations - my god, the crunching and grating sound when he's chewing the bone grosses me out!  I like the way he holds the bones between his two front teeth to chew it!

Another question - how long does a bone last before it becomes inedible (if that's the right word)?  It's fairly big for him and I don't want it to go bad before he's finished it.

Thank you all again for the really helpful advice

 

[JoanneF]

I think it should be fine until it becomes small enough to be a choke hazard. You just don't want him to try to swallow whatever is left of it.

 

[gypsysmum2]

If it came from Pets At Home I assume it is cooked? In which case it should be fine until too small.

 

[arealhuman]

Nightmare!  As a bit of a treat we let him have another chew on the bone yesterday.  Whilst chewing away, he let out three very loud and distressed-sounding yelps. We tried to take the bone away to see what was wrong, but he picked it up and ran off with it (all indoors by the way).  We swapped it with chicken and I tried to look into his mouth, but couldn't see anything obvious, but he's not great at letting me look in there.  His behaviour and eating are normal.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to why he may have cried out? He was being watched at the time and nothing appeared to take place that could cause him to yelp. Obviously this has shaken our faith in letting him have bones 

 

[excuseme]

Was the bone a cooked one or raw one ?

Cooked bones can splinter and sometimes cause problems, Never feed them cooked!

If it was raw it should have been ok and safe.

Some dogs can get agitated if they think you may be hovering and wanting to take the bone away which may cause the dog to gulp and swallow large pieces quickly so that the owner can not have it back. Could this have happened?

Our lot only ever have raw bones and they are left alone without any pressure from us.

 

[arealhuman]

Was the bone a cooked one or raw one ?

Cooked bones can splinter and sometimes cause problems, Never feed them cooked!

If it was raw it should have been ok and safe.

Some dogs can get agitated if they think you may be hovering and wanting to take the bone away which may cause the dog to gulp and swallow large pieces quickly so that the owner can not have it back. Could this have happened?

Our lot only ever have raw bones and they are left alone without any pressure from us.

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delayed response, been away.  I didn't think it was a cooked bone, I avoid them for the reasons you've mentioned.  I  also don't think it was him yelping for fear of us taking away the bone as he was in one end of the kitchen and we were in the opposite end.  Nothing untoward has manifested itself over the last few days so I'm putting it down to him swallowing a piece a bit too big or getting something stuck between his teeth.  Either way, we chucked the remaining bone away!

 

[excuseme]

Don't give up or put off by this experience.

Some people suggest  offering the bone frozen to slow the eating process down,, but I would wonder if this would make them brittle!

Make sure that the bone is quiet big (almost too big). By the time your dog has had a few large ones he should have learnt just what size pieces he can swallow comfortably.

I have sometimes seen our girls who when eating whole pieces of meat try to swallow whole huge pieces and find themselves in great discomfort luckily with no ill effect! (they learn just the same way as we do by their mistakes)

 

[gypsysmum2]

If the bone was from Pets at Home and stuffed with chicken etc I would guess that it was cooked. He may well have managed to splinter a bit off and it could have scratched his mouth. My dog will yelp at the least little thing, not sure about yours?

The safest way to feed bones is to get a knuckle bone from your butcher. It will be raw and have some meat attached to it so it may not last long in warm weather. You could store it in the fridge in between chewing sessions. @excuseme will have some more suggestions as to the animal they come from and the type to ask for. My dog cannot tolerate them (they make his poop too bulky for him to hold on to all night) so I am going from memory (!) here.

 

[excuseme]

Knuckle bones are fantastic, some are more easily eaten than others, beef ones are huge and quiet hard, probably the best for long lasting, they are much too big to swallow and they last forever, pig and sheep knuckles are much smaller and eaten much more quickly (by our lot anyway! ) they can however, all go through a smelly stage if the easily edible covering cartilage and marrow is not removed by the dog and consumed quickly.

Beef rib bones can last for ages too, in fact most beef bones do. All depending on the size of your dog of course.

Smelly bones only affect us "Phew", but our dogs still love them, and they will do no harm even if they do get a little smelly! 

The use of your fridge can slow this smelly process down. 

Raw butchers bones are best !                    Never buy or feed cooked bones!

Just out of interest, what size dog do you have?

 

[arealhuman]

Thanks all for the replies  

@excuseme - he's a medium sized dog, just a shade under 15kg.