What Can You Do If Your Dog Eats Cooked Bones?

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Wonder if anyone has any suggestions about what I can do to help bones go thru?

Dogs is 10 kg boy and he ate cooked bones that look like chicken or turkey. After he got at them for about 5 mins all that is left is shards of a long bone, very brittle.

The vets are all closed now and of course I can watch him and if he shows discomfort,I will know the cause. They haven't eaten yet and I wonder if instead of the chicken necks they were going to get , maybe I should feed canned dog food instead. My dogs normally eat good dry food and have small compact poo. If I feed a can of My Dog or such they would immediately have softer larger poo.

I can call the vet tomorrow and maybe theer is something else you can add to food like an oil? But any ideas? Hopefully it will all go thru but I thought adding food like soft can food might help?

And I have learnt a lesson. I did have a niggling idea that the neighbours were throwing food over the fence. Once he found a chicken leg which I took off him. It is not my fence but more over into the reserve we all back on to. I was talking nearby to a friend and didn't notice today that he was doing more than just smelling the grass. Crap!

Thanks

With a bit of luck it might all pass.

[Tralee]

You would have to be very unlucky to have a choking event or a splinter bone severing the oesophagus.

Dog's stomach acid is many times stronger than ours, and usually the bone is expelled partly digested.

The problem with cooked bones is the build up of calcium, at least that's one of the myths.

My dogs have eaten the odd chicken bone many times without incident.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they feast on them or that they aren't watched.

You might want to let the person know that you are concerned about your dogs that pick up the bones that are thrown onto the reserve.

[OSoSwift]

I would give him tinned food, not bones or dry food you want his poop to be as soft as it can be. They can form very ahrd compact poo that is very sharp and prickly. If you have some liquid parrafin you could give him a few mls of that as well.

Maybe have a word to the neighbour, are they doing it specifically to feed your dogs?? If so tell them they get the next vet bill!

[Rebanne]

I was always told give them some bread if they ate something sharp. No idea if it works but have heard it several times.

[Erny]

As above.

And just to provide you with some comfort so that you don't worry yourself into a sleepless sweat overnight ..... when I was a kid our family dog (Labrador "Prince") used to get raw red meat (don't know why chicken didn't seem to be a staple part of most dogs diets back then as it seems to be now ). He also used to get excema. I think this was mainly due to flea bite allergy (didn't have the stuff to guard against fleas as we do now) but the Vet at the time told us red meat made the blood hot and this would increase the itchiness. He told us that from that day forth we had to cook all his meat (bones included).

..... We didn't know any better back then and maybe even the Vets didn't know any better back then. But the point of this post is to tell you that for many years to come we cooked all Prince's meat, including lamb shanks and lamb necks, which he ate daily alongside some cooked vegies and whatever of the table scraps we might have had left over. We also used to give him the bones from the roast ( :D yummmmm, did he love that!!) and we never had an issue with splintered bones.

I am not saying that people should now get slack and feed their dogs cooked bones, even occasionally - because yes, unfortunate incidences can occur. But I wanted to help ease your mind a bit by suggesting there is a good chance your dog will be fine and will not suffer any injury as a result of eating the cooked bone.

Obviously just keep an eye on him over the next 12-24 hours and if you think things are not right, get him to a Vet. At least you know what he's done and can be on the look out.

Edited January 5, 2011 by Erny

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THanks for the advice and reassurances.

I think some canned food as a special treat. Might try bread but doubt he would eat it.

I supose it should be OK but I try hard to watch what he eats and he gets into something I would never feed. Just this once I bet the chances are more that it will be fine.

Now I know they chuck food I will watch him better. Probably call him to heel past the spot from now on.

Thanks. I knew DOLer's would be able to help.

[persephone]

Some fibre like metamucil/psyllium husks were what my vet advised ..as this is insoluble and provides both a 'cushioning ' of any sharp bits- and also a lubricating effect on the bowel lining.For a munchkin like yours. probably only at most a scant 1/2 teaspoon ..moistened/soaked for a few minutes before adding to food.

If nothing like that- I would be using half a weetbix Something which will bulk things up a bit

Most likely there will be no trouble- lost of dogs live on cooked bones!

[Nekhbet]

my lot have all eaten a cookd bone in their time. I just dont feed them or give them a soupy mush of food which the stomach doesnt have to try to squeeze too hard (small meals only) and they've all been fine.

Saying that my grandmother used to snip up cooked bones with pliers for her rottweiler ... lived till 16 years old somehow

[Miss Danni]

There is a very well known vet that feeds her dogs cooked chicken bones all the time, doesn't seem to do her dogs any harm otherwise I'm sure that she'd stop doing it!

[skip]

THanks guys.

He left me a present walking today and is so far oK. I am just a stresshead.

[Kelpie-i]

Slap your neighbour

Only kidding ;)

[ruffpup]

As above.

And just to provide you with some comfort so that you don't worry yourself into a sleepless sweat overnight ..... when I was a kid our family dog (Labrador "Prince") used to get raw red meat (don't know why chicken didn't seem to be a staple part of most dogs diets back then as it seems to be now ). He also used to get excema. I think this was mainly due to flea bite allergy (didn't have the stuff to guard against fleas as we do now) but the Vet at the time told us red meat made the blood hot and this would increase the itchiness. He told us that from that day forth we had to cook all his meat (bones included).

..... We didn't know any better back then and maybe even the Vets didn't know any better back then. But the point of this post is to tell you that for many years to come we cooked all Prince's meat, including lamb shanks and lamb necks, which he ate daily alongside some cooked vegies and whatever of the table scraps we might have had left over. We also used to give him the bones from the roast ( yummmmm, did he love that!!) and we never had an issue with splintered bones.

I am not saying that people should now get slack and feed their dogs cooked bones, even occasionally - because yes, unfortunate incidences can occur. But I wanted to help ease your mind a bit by suggesting there is a good chance your dog will be fine and will not suffer any injury as a result of eating the cooked bone.

Obviously just keep an eye on him over the next 12-24 hours and if you think things are not right, get him to a Vet. At least you know what he's done and can be on the look out.

I don't know your age, Ernie, but even humans didn't get much chicken back in the 50s and 60s - it was too dear. Special times only for all I knew off in Sydney and other places around Australia, like Christmas and Easter. From my memory, only after KFC started up - late 60s at King's Cross - did chicken start to become affordable.

And like you, our dogs got all sorts of stuff, especially the leftovers we kids wouldn't eat. Plus bones from the Sunday baked dinner. They used to get garlic and onions in the leftovers too as our own meals changed. None ever choked on a bone or other problems like that.

BUT ..... as you suggest, we all knew a lot less (and worried less too). Maybe ignorance was bliss!