Bones & Teeth Cleaning

[Just Midol]

A week or so ago when I was on the radio I was giving barf the thumbs up and then some vet guy who is the president of some vet association came on.

Anyway, he said bones were a very inefficient way of keeping your dogs teeth clean.

What is possibly better than bones?

[oakway]

As rough guess the may be missing out on the money he used to received for teeth cleaning.

[Georgie-boy]

I dunno but every vet I have worked with have championed raw bones as a fantastic way to clean teeth.

[Erny]

Anyway, he said bones were a very inefficient way of keeping your dogs teeth clean.

And he said why? And he was referencing to a 'bone here and there' rather than regularly? He explained this?

Bet he didn't.

I hate sweeping statements without detail and reinforcing accurate explanation. Especially via the media channels, as so many people 'out there' hang on their very words and take them so literally.

[Ravyk]

from what i found both from reading and my own dogs, raw bones are great for keeping dogs teeth clean!! my dogs have nice white teeth that hardly have tartar buildup on them. and the plus side is their breath tends to not smell too much either

my dogs get a bone or two [depending on the bone size] a day along with their regular meals

bones also help exercise dogs jaws and body because they tear at them

Edited January 26, 2009 by Ravyk

[Just Midol]

Anyway, he said bones were a very inefficient way of keeping your dogs teeth clean.

And he said why? And he was referencing to a 'bone here and there' rather than regularly? He explained this?

Bet he didn't.

I hate sweeping statements without detail and reinforcing accurate explanation. Especially via the media channels, as so many people 'out there' hang on their very words and take them so literally.

I said I feed my dogs raw meats in the morning and bones at night time & she asked the vet guy and he said that raw food is a bad idea and premium food from your vet is a better idea and that feeding bones offers little for your dog and were an inefficient method of keeping teeth cleaned so if he was commenting on what I do, then he was commenting on feeding a bone every day but who knows.

He didn't really expand past that.

[Tonymc]

I have not found anything better than bones. Tony

[Guest belgian.blue]

Ivy gets bone once a week (maybe twice) and her teeth couldn't be any whiter!

With her morning lamb I keep it in larger chunks (now she has her adult teeth) and she chews away at that with a lot of effort. She has to work for her breakfast

She also has her older bones about the house, which she will chew most evenings.

[VJB]

I've always heard that bones are good for teeth in general, but have also read about the risk of breaking teeth as well. Certain bones are much harder than other too.

[Erny]

I said I feed my dogs raw meats in the morning and bones at night time & she asked the vet guy and he said that raw food is a bad idea and premium food from your vet is a better idea ...

Well ... whoever he is, IMO he's lost credibility for saying that.

Hhhhhmmm .... wonder what school he went to get that idea, and whether he's bothered to research beyond what he's been taught/told.

Edited January 26, 2009 by Erny

[puggy_puggy]

Hhhhhmmm .... wonder what school he went to get that idea, and whether he's bothered to research beyond what he's been taught/told.

My thoughts exactly. I feel that there are so many people that work in the animal care field, vets & vet nurses etc, that are basically brain washed to say that manafactured dog food is the only thing that should be feed.

[Miss Helena]

Wot nonsense!

I reckon raw bones are great for teeth (not ours of course!)

I can SEE the difference in Bonnie's teeth if she doesn't get a chicken neck for a few days. She gets them about 4-5 times a week.

I'm always looking in her mouth and cleaning her teeth manually when necessary (small dogs, esp chis and poodles are notorious for bad/really bad teeth).

She is now 3 and all her teeth are still sparking white.

[MiniMum]

My vet calls bones "natures toothbrush".

Have to wonder who is sponsoring this guy's association - his comments seem a little directed

[labsrule]

Most ridiculous thing I have heard a vet say, what a load of rubbish and obviously in cahoots with the pet food companies that he sells product for . It is a proven fact that chewing on bones does in fact clean a dogs teeth . One of my 3 black labs is not allowed bones due to a gastropexy he had as a result of bloat before I adopted him and there is a noticeable difference between his teeth and the teeth of my other two, that get bones daily as there is a hell of a lot less build up on their teeth and they look in much better condition than the one that is not allowed bones:thumbsup: .

Edited January 26, 2009 by labsrule

[Diva]

The local vet who goes on the radio here was telling people on ABC talkback that feeding any bones at all was now considered a recipe for disaster, he recommend no bones in the diet, much better to clean your dogs teeth or have a vet do it. I nearly choked on my b'fast cereal.

I had cause to attend his clinic for something as it's 5 minutes from me, but saw another vet. I deliberately mentioned that I mostly feed a raw foods diet with lots of meaty bones and a little BARF, wanting to hear the reaction. She said that's fine her only concern was that meat raised by modern production methods didn't have the nutritional content it used to(which is true by the way) and I should make sure the diet included access to enough trace elements. No mention of bones being bad.

So much for the radio advice!

[anniek]

The local vet who goes on the radio here was telling people on ABC talkback that feeding any bones at all was now considered a recipe for disaster, he recommend no bones in the diet, much better to clean your dogs teeth or have a vet do it. I nearly choked on my b'fast cereal.

I had cause to attend his clinic for something as it's 5 minutes from me, but saw another vet. I deliberately mentioned that I mostly feed a raw foods diet with lots of meaty bones and a little BARF, wanting to hear the reaction. She said that's fine her only concern was that meat raised by modern production methods didn't have the nutritional content it used to(which is true by the way) and I should make sure the diet included access to enough trace elements. No mention of bones being bad.

So much for the radio advice!

the celebrity Dr Jack on 3AW was talking a while ago about how it is fine to feed cooked bones. He actually repeated it several times as he said a lot of people wouldn't agree. Maybe things were a bit slow at his surgery that week!

annieK

[Diva]

The local vet who goes on the radio here was telling people on ABC talkback that feeding any bones at all was now considered a recipe for disaster, he recommend no bones in the diet, much better to clean your dogs teeth or have a vet do it. I nearly choked on my b'fast cereal.

the celebrity Dr Jack on 3AW was talking a while ago about how it is fine to feed cooked bones. He actually repeated it several times as he said a lot of people wouldn't agree. Maybe things were a bit slow at his surgery that week!

annieK

No wonder people find it confusing

[Staff'n'Toller]

I think there is some fear these days (this seems particularly with young Vets) that to say "yes it's ok to feed bones" leaves them very liable should something happen.

Everyone makes their own choice- I certainly do but I am careful about which bones to feed.

The reality is that in the clinic we do have to do enemas to clear out a bunch of bone fragments eaten by a dog that's gotten stuck in the bowel, and we do (I just helped with an after hours surgery last week) have to take larger pieces of bones higher up in the bowel by way of surgical Laparotomy- not a nice surgery for a dog to have at all and there is a big risk of complications post surgery.

For the amount of dogs that eat bones every week the proportion of dogs that have trouble is very very small, but to deny there are never any problems with feeding raw bones is a naive opinion- not that anyone here has- I just needed to make the statement for others reading or searching later.

Hocks and weight bearing bones commonly cause slab fractures of teeth and over time major tooth wear, neither of these are huge problems but there are ways around it IMO.

Mel.

[RL1]

Both my dogs have beautiful white teeth. They both chew raw bones 5 days/week.

[Ravyk]

Anyway, he said bones were a very inefficient way of keeping your dogs teeth clean.

And he said why? And he was referencing to a 'bone here and there' rather than regularly? He explained this?

Bet he didn't.

I hate sweeping statements without detail and reinforcing accurate explanation. Especially via the media channels, as so many people 'out there' hang on their very words and take them so literally.

I said I feed my dogs raw meats in the morning and bones at night time & she asked the vet guy and he said that raw food is a bad idea and premium food from your vet is a better idea and that feeding bones offers little for your dog and were an inefficient method of keeping teeth cleaned so if he was commenting on what I do, then he was commenting on feeding a bone every day but who knows.

He didn't really expand past that.

hes probably paid to advertise the bloody premium food!! some vets are paid by companies like the "scientific diet" to try to get their clients to change over to them

according to Dr Ian Billinghurst's [creator of the BARF diet] book "Give your dog a bone" [which by the way i have found to be the most useful book about raw feeding], [this is condensed from the chapter on bones]

bones contain minerals dogs need, protein, fats, fatty acids, fat soluble forms of the vitamins A, D, and E, blood forming elements in the marrow [inc iron and copper], amino acids [inc lysine-for normal bone growth], anti-oxidants and enzymes. basically the only nutrients bones dont contain is vitamin B and amino acid methionine [which is in abundance in meat]...

"bones are natures toothbrush for dogs"

"As dogs chew on bones, rip the flesh off bones, crush bones, that very action cleans teeth and massages the gums, stopping tartar, gum infections, tooth root decay and dental abcesses..."

"its not hard to pick the dogs that eat bones. they look and act healthy...their teeth are clean. no sign of tartar, nice healthy gums and a doggy breath that does not smell like a sewer..."

another interesting thing i found in the chapter but is off topic

"if you feed your dog lots of raw meaty bones, those hard feces that result, cause the anal sacs to empty"