Dried Bones

[KumaAkita]

with winter setting in and we're (thankfully) getting lots of rain, I'm looking at something we can give Kuma to chew inside. By way of background, our backyard is completely dirt - we've just finished building - so there's no way he's going to be outside in the rain and mud... we have a mudbath out there!!!

I was thinking about those dried bones and knuckles you can get at the supermarket or good pet stores. Are they good? bad? indifferent?

He is getting bones regularly, but I'm not so keen on having him chewing that in the house.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[laneka]

My dogs were given a dried marrow bone last year and I had to take it off them as they splintered

[mokhahouse]

The only time I gave one of these to Mokha he spent the rest of the night vomiting up bits of it. They splinter and I would never buy one again.

[Tilly]

I have given my boys dried lamb necks - they were rather crumbly but the boys loved them. They didn't splinter and seemed rather soft.

Dried roo tails are harder. One of my boys will eat most of it while the other seems to just pull the meat off the bone.

[Red Fox]

I found dried roo tails to be okay as my dog would pull all the meat out then I would throw the bones away. Occasionally I give dried leg bones too (roo) but they are binned as soon as the meat has been ripped off and the knuckles have been chewed as they can and do splinter.

One thing about dried bones though - when thet are slobbery they STINK!

If it's for inside perhaps a stuffed kong would be better?

Or lay a tarp down on the floor and let him eat raw bones on that

[matilda1]

I use the rawhide knot bones, but un coloured or flavoured.

katie likes them and I have never had a problem.

Edited June 26, 2010 by BellaDonna

[Ravyk]

I personally wouldn't touch the dried bones.

I have trained my dogs to eat their bones on towels inside. Is it possible for you to do something similar? Or feed the bones in the laundry or another tiled area?

[VJB]

Dried bones gave my dog a bad case of diarrhoea .. I also don't leave raw hides around unsupervised. Best thing is a kong so far for inside. My dog doesn't usually leave crumbs around, and cleans up after herself fairly well.

[Stitch]

Unfortunately I have found that easy things like dried bones and raw hide chews are not suitable for my dogs.

The leg bones splinter and the raw hide chews are highly processed - to get them white they have to be bleached, :D then they add artificial flavours to make them acceptable to dogs.

I say unfortunately as it only leaves messy things like real marrow bones or turkey necks etc. that are unsuitable for consumption on my carpet.

All bone chewing here has to be done in their wire crates - they don't mind though!!

[KumaAkita]

Thanks everyone

We're working on the process of getting him to chew his bones on his mat, still a bit messy at the moment but I'm sure he'll get there. He just likes to eat everything on the rug in front of the TV - does he sound like a boy or what??!!

The answers I'm getting are pretty much what I thought - I just wanted to confirm my suspicions.