Bones For Puppy

[Sandra777]

Aiieeeeaaaa!!!! You have scared me to death :D Seems like EVERYTHING you give a dog needs to be given under supervision!

Well ask yourself - would you leave a two year old child unsupervised with things it could potentially stuff down it's throat?

[koalathebear]

Well ask yourself - would you leave a two year old child unsupervised with things it could potentially stuff down it's throat?

Very true and puppies seem to want to try to eat EVERYTHING. We've just bought a new house and before we can let Elbie run around in the backyard, we have to puppy proof it. No easy task given that before the sellers moved out they seem to have dumped all their rubbish in the backyard - little bones, cigarette butts, small broken plastic toys, LOTS of blackboard chalk, foam, bubble wrap ...

[koalathebear]

An update on the bone situation ...

marrow bones: So, Elbie has (in his short life) been given the opportunity to gnaw on two HUGE marrow bones. It gave him four doses of fun as the butcher cut them in half for us. He had them under supervision and scooped out the marrow, licked them to death and gnawed on them a little. They were taken away from him before he could try to bite down on them as I read that marrow bones can be bad for his teeth. As I've also read that the marrow is fatty and could also be bad for him, so we've decided to stop giving him marrow bones for now. Poor Elbie He loved those bones so much.

lamb flaps: We sometimes got lamb flaps from the organic butchery at the Belconnen Markets, Elbie seemed to enjoy them a lot. Last week we went in and they had run out but the young guy told us to come back again the following week because he would put aside some lap flaps for Elbie. We came back yesterday, one guy said there were no flaps left but then the other guy said: "No no, I've been saving them flaps out the back!" Sure enough, he emerged carrying a ridiculously large number of lamb flaps which he gave to us for only $4.

food for dog and food preparation for dog: We went home and I spent the afternoon cutting the flaps in half, cutting off the fat and putting them in little freezer bags to pop into the freezer so that we don't waste any flaps. In the past we've had some lamb flap wasteage because we didn't want to keep the flaps in the fridge too long in case they went off.

Then at Aldi I'd bought a large roll of devon which I then cut into lots of little pieces and popped into freezer bags. A bit sad that devon for humans is cheaper than puppy roll for dogs?

My family would be horrified that I spent far more time preparing Elbie's food than I did my own. Even more horrifying, our fridge and freezer are now filled with human food and food for the dog. I've labelled Elbie's food "for Elbie" - I didn't like writing 'Elbie' on the bags because it made it sound like it was pieces of Elbie or something. How gruesome.

The lamb flaps are given to him under supervision because a girl at work recently gave her dog lamb flaps, it swallowed part of it whole and it ripped open part of his stomach resulting in major surgery Then again, we give Elbie rawhide bone chews all the time but we supervise him - taking them from him every now and then to investigate their condition and then we toss them out when they're too manky.

dry kibble: I've read heaps of bad feedback about Hills Science Diet on here but Elbie's been on science diet (yes on our vet's recommendation) since he was tiny. When we first got him, we had him on supermarket Pedigree and he had the runniest poos ever. Since being on Science Diet, he has been super healthy with a very shiny coat and seems very happy. He gets one cup in the morning and one at night - we skip a cup of if he gets a bone and he gets a bit less if he's had a day of training with lots of treats.

training treats: On Sundays when he goes to Dog School, we gave him a tiny bit of kibble in the morning but the rest of his brekky is used for training treats. On Dog School days, he also gets Aldi low fat cheese (very tiny pieces) and broken off bits of Supercoat dog biscuits.

Our dog is so food-motivated, I swear he loves pretty much all food! We never have troubles giving him tablets - just pop it into his kibble and it's gone! The Tucker Ball has been good for slowing down his eating. Funnily enough the only thing he doesn't seem to like eating is broccoli!

Edited August 16, 2010 by koalathebear

[BCPuppy]

Always such a dilema knowing what to give our furkids isnt it

Marlin has had bones since she was 6 weeks old at the breeders, she is not a gulper fortunately, the worst we have had was a rib getting stuck across the top of her mouth and that was easily fixed with a flick of the finger. At 5 months she was daily getting a choice of bones, lamb offcuts, chicken wings, turkey necks, chicken necks, chicken drumsticks, roo chunks, chicken carcass, we get great big bags of meaty bones that are mainly roo and goat.

Recently introduced her to brisket and the other night when we had guests she had a smallish lamb shank that kept her occupied for hours Infrequently I giver her a quarter marrow bone, not my favourite as I find it makes her a bit smelly and poo is runny. Sometimes the supermarket bags of offcuts are great and all meat, but occasionaly i do have to cut the fat off. Know what you mean about the dogs diet being better than our own, I have it down to about an hour on a Friday preping the next weeks food and putting each days into a bag ready for defrosting, Marlin is raw fed, and a couple of days are bones only days. I have labels DAWG MONDAY ect. Couldnt put her name on them either OH swears she has more freezer space than we do.

[lilli_star]

I've labelled Elbie's food "for Elbie" - I didn't like writing 'Elbie' on the bags because it made it sound like it was pieces of Elbie or something. How gruesome.

Oh that's so funny! ;)

I give my 14 wk old Labrador puppy shank bones a couple of times a week. It's what we always fed our dogs on when I was a kid- still can't order them in a restaurant though now that they've become 'trendy' because of that! ;) She has the meat stripped in less that 10 minutes! Then she doesn't seem that interested. I've given her a few marrow bones (they're shin bones, right?) that I get at the supermarket and are cut down the middle. I gave her one today, but there wasn't any meat on it :p Won't bother giving her the other half. What else is there (bone-wise) thats okay for dogs?

I find lamb flaps are very fatty. And I worry that she might inhale it and choke on it, so I don't leave her alone with one. She's had neck bones too, but not for awhile.

Ruby loves turkey wings too- I buy the end that looks like a big chicken drumstick. I only give them to her under supervision though- they way she eats them (almost the entire thing!), I'm worried she might choke on some. She had one yesterday, and I had to laugh- she tried to bury the last 5cm of so of bone left in the grass/weeds! Her first bone burial- awwwww!

[RiverStar-Aura]

Zeus is a major tough chewer so he's had marrow bones (after one night he's devoured the marrow inside and eaten the ends off it) so I usually just stick with giving him small treats now instead. After Poochie's teeth issues (from eating only canned food and table scraps) I want to look after his teeth as best I can so I now occasionally give him Pedigree Denta Sticks which I love watching him chew. He lies down and holds them upright in his front paws and gnaws away at it.

I refuse to give any dog pigs ears as I was given one free and gave it to Poochie. Huge mistake!! Due to her lack of teeth she tried swallowing it whole after it had softened. It got stuck in her throat and I had to give her the doggie Heimlich to get her to cough it back up. She did, eventually, but when I tried to pull it out of her mouth she went "feral" on me and growled and snarled, which I knew she would because she'd always done that with bones and raw things so she swallowed and choked a second time before I could finally get her to cough it onto the ground and I stepped on it and threw it out.

Gah! What terrible things!

[Tokkie]

I gave Nandi (almost 5 months) a marrow bone yesterday, did not leave it with her to long..... this morning she started vomiting.... she did not stop, even when there were nothing left.

I had to take her to the vet and he gave her an injection to stop the vomiting....... she slept for the rest of the day, but is looking better now.

I don't know if it was the bone, but I won't give her a marrow bone again. :D

[lilli_star]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope she's feeling better soon.

[koalathebear]

I gave Nandi (almost 5 months) a marrow bone yesterday, did not leave it with her to long..... this morning she started vomiting.... she did not stop, even when there were nothing left.

I had to take her to the vet and he gave her an injection to stop the vomiting....... she slept for the rest of the day, but is looking better now.

I don't know if it was the bone, but I won't give her a marrow bone again.

Oh, poor Nandi. I am so sorry she had such a terrible time. We're not giving Elbie marrow bones anymore because we heard that they're too fatty and can cause runny poo - it makes sense that they can cause nausea as well. *hug*

[Genabee]

An update on the bone situation ...

marrow bones: So, Elbie has (in his short life) been given the opportunity to gnaw on two HUGE marrow bones. It gave him four doses of fun as the butcher cut them in half for us. He had them under supervision and scooped out the marrow, licked them to death and gnawed on them a little. They were taken away from him before he could try to bite down on them as I read that marrow bones can be bad for his teeth. As I've also read that the marrow is fatty and could also be bad for him, so we've decided to stop giving him marrow bones for now. Poor Elbie He loved those bones so much.

lamb flaps: We sometimes got lamb flaps from the organic butchery at the Belconnen Markets, Elbie seemed to enjoy them a lot. Last week we went in and they had run out but the young guy told us to come back again the following week because he would put aside some lap flaps for Elbie. We came back yesterday, one guy said there were no flaps left but then the other guy said: "No no, I've been saving them flaps out the back!" Sure enough, he emerged carrying a ridiculously large number of lamb flaps which he gave to us for only $4.

food for dog and food preparation for dog: We went home and I spent the afternoon cutting the flaps in half, cutting off the fat and putting them in little freezer bags to pop into the freezer so that we don't waste any flaps. In the past we've had some lamb flap wasteage because we didn't want to keep the flaps in the fridge too long in case they went off.

Then at Aldi I'd bought a large roll of devon which I then cut into lots of little pieces and popped into freezer bags. A bit sad that devon for humans is cheaper than puppy roll for dogs?

My family would be horrified that I spent far more time preparing Elbie's food than I did my own. Even more horrifying, our fridge and freezer are now filled with human food and food for the dog. I've labelled Elbie's food "for Elbie" - I didn't like writing 'Elbie' on the bags because it made it sound like it was pieces of Elbie or something. How gruesome.

The lamb flaps are given to him under supervision because a girl at work recently gave her dog lamb flaps, it swallowed part of it whole and it ripped open part of his stomach resulting in major surgery Then again, we give Elbie rawhide bone chews all the time but we supervise him - taking them from him every now and then to investigate their condition and then we toss them out when they're too manky.

dry kibble: I've read heaps of bad feedback about Hills Science Diet on here but Elbie's been on science diet (yes on our vet's recommendation) since he was tiny. When we first got him, we had him on supermarket Pedigree and he had the runniest poos ever. Since being on Science Diet, he has been super healthy with a very shiny coat and seems very happy. He gets one cup in the morning and one at night - we skip a cup of if he gets a bone and he gets a bit less if he's had a day of training with lots of treats.

training treats: On Sundays when he goes to Dog School, we gave him a tiny bit of kibble in the morning but the rest of his brekky is used for training treats. On Dog School days, he also gets Aldi low fat cheese (very tiny pieces) and broken off bits of Supercoat dog biscuits.

Our dog is so food-motivated, I swear he loves pretty much all food! We never have troubles giving him tablets - just pop it into his kibble and it's gone! The Tucker Ball has been good for slowing down his eating. Funnily enough the only thing he doesn't seem to like eating is broccoli!

I can see where Elbie gets his spirit from! His Mum has a great sense of humor!

Genevieve gets kibble for most meals. I give her a couple of tins of sardines a week, spread over the week, in with her kibble.

She gets a raw egg as a treat on Sunday afternoons, outside, where she can drag it around and not make a mess of my floors! I have been giving her chicken wings a couple of times a week, and like you, if she has a bone, she doesn't get her normal kibble. I am thinking about moving to turkey wings though.

If she gets a lot of treats (usually her kibble) during the day, she gets less kibble at dinner time (or gets her remaining quota as a treat as we often do training anyway).

I give her frozen carrots to chew on... which she just crumbles and drags everywhere. She does have a lamb ear and a rawhide bone on the go, they seem to take her weeks to finish... unlike other dogs, she gets bored of them and forgets about them, then goes back to it (for all of 5 minutes) three days later... She also likes chasing ice cubes around. She doesn't like anything green (I wonder where she gets that from?? ).

I think it has been said before, you feed what ever works best for your dog!

[Parkeyre]

How about a kangaroo Leg or tail?

[Tokkie]

How about a kangaroo Leg or tail?

Are they less fatty, where can I buy them?

Thanks, she is still not feeling 100%..... but much better than this morning.

[Archerlove]

We don't want to give him chicken bones - the idea is to give him a big bone that's going to keep him occupied but not having any choking hazard.

He chews on rawhide bones but only under our supervision - we would never leave him alone with one.

Pardon my ignorance.Do dried pigs ears pose same threat as rawhide bones?

[aussielover]

Yes, pigs ears should not be given without supervision. A chunk could break off, especially when it gets all soft and gooey and they could possibly get them stuck in the roof of their mouth (happended to my puppy this morning) causing some discomfort.

There is also a small risk of choking and obstruction

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

I gave Nandi (almost 5 months) a marrow bone yesterday, did not leave it with her to long..... this morning she started vomiting.... she did not stop, even when there were nothing left.

I had to take her to the vet and he gave her an injection to stop the vomiting....... she slept for the rest of the day, but is looking better now.

I don't know if it was the bone, but I won't give her a marrow bone again.

it might have been the marrow as it is really rich

[koalathebear]

I was reading the other day that meaty beef bones are good for puppies. So far, Elbie's just had lamb flaps and the occasional marrow bone (I assume it was a cow's) - although we've stopped with the marrow bone because I heard that they were fatty.

Can anyone give me advice for good things to ask the local butcher for if I want to get nice meaty beef bones? Thanks!

[aussielover]

I have finally found some bones mindy can eat.

She is fine with lamb flaps and lamb shanks, i believe they have even helped firm up her poo.

I did try her on a beef brisket bone, which appeared to be quite meaty but she later threw up chunks of bone

[koalathebear]

I have finally found some bones mindy can eat.

She is fine with lamb flaps and lamb shanks, i believe they have even helped firm up her poo.

I did try her on a beef brisket bone, which appeared to be quite meaty but she later threw up chunks of bone

Lamb flaps are awesome. Elbie LOVES his lamb flaps and we like saying: "LAMB flap!" with gusto around him. When we open the fridge, he gives us very hopeful looks

I'm sorry Mindy can't eate beef brisket ... But I'm glad she can eat lamb flaps!

[Sayreovi]

Can anyone give me advice for good things to ask the local butcher for if I want to get nice meaty beef bones? Thanks!

If you find out, let us know! I haven't found any decent beef bones ever, the ones in the butchers/supermarkets are those big knuckle and leg bones with little too no meat on them.

My puppy wasn't raised on bones so has been supervised carefully with them, she can tackle all the chicken pieces now and lamb flaps, once she is a little older she will be given lamb necks. Funnily enough she has a better technique then my older two dogs who have been eating bones for years, in that she stands on the piece with both front feet and rips with her teeth. Her dad especially is weird in that he doesn't like getting his paws dirty so will 'dance' around his food getting the best angles before laying down gingerly next to it

[annette.tas]

My local pet meat place has Beef NECKS regularly. The vertebrae are far too big even for my Rotty to chew, but there is LOADS of meat on them, and the spoinal cord is nice and springy which they love!

Also scored a couple of wallaby frames the other day, and all 3 dogs enjoyed the legs, feet and all. Made for furry poo :D

My Rotty likes to chomp & gulp, so his bones are generally frozen. Usually just Chicken Frames, but also the wallaby legs, frames and beef necks get a look-in