Hello all, I have just registered but have been lurking on this forum for some years.
We have a 18 month old mini poodle, Rafe. I want to feed him raw bones to keep his teeth clean but I am having some problems.
We started off feeding him chicken wings but he gulps them without chewing and then throws them up. We switched to lamb shanks on the basis that they are too big for him to swallow but he seems to be frightened of them. I try to give him two per week, if I am lucky he will eat every fourth one. When he eats them he really likes them but I have to cut off some meat to start him off and if I don't cut all the way round the bone and it rolls on a side I haven't cut he doesn't know what to do about it and won't touch it.
Today I bought a bone from Coles, larger than a lamb shank but with not much meat on it. I thought it might be less daunting than a meaty bone for him. He didn't know what to do with it and to cut a long story short when I went to take him outside I found he had wet himself without letting me know he needed to go out because he was guarding the bone without eating it. He was very upset about this as he is a very clean dog and he also wasn't happy about the bath he had to have!
I can't leave him without a meal to make him eat as he won't drink so in this hot weather I have been watering down his meals to make sure he has water. If he eats the bone he always has a drink afterwards by himself.
I am giving him small bully sticks I found in Safeway/Woolworths but he seems to chew mainly on one side of his mouth with these so he has one side clean teeth and the other side not so clean. He had very clean teeth when we got him last May (rescue dog) so I don't think he has any teeth troubles.
Could I give him chicken thigh bones? Chicken seems to be his favourite meat. I have not given him a chicken drumstick because of the little sharp bone inside. I also haven't tried a chicken neck because he gulps if he thinks he can remotely fit something down his throat. Any suggestions gratefully received.
