Bone chips in dog mince?

[Adrienne]

I haven't been able to get hold of my fave single species dog mince for the last three weeks so caved yesterday and bought another brand. I noticed my little dogs were being kinda careful when eating it and had a close look at it....it had chips of bone all through it - like Nerd sized bone chips. I got stuck into it with my fingers and after a very messy 15mins of 'cleaning' the mince was able to give it to my dogs. I am chucking the rest. What do others think? I think this is terrible, a trip to vet for dental is expensive! It's the equivalent of serving up food with olive pits in it - OUCH! 

[Rebanne]

I have no idea what size a NERD? is  Try a proper butcher if it's a common meat. Sometimes they will mince stuff for you.

[_PL_]

I can't believe I know this @Rebanne but a Nerd is a little lolly.  

 

Small compared to others, but way too big for bone chip size. I'd be picking them out too.    

[Rebanne]

38 minutes ago, Powerlegs said:

I can't believe I know this @Rebanne but a Nerd is a little lolly.  

 

 

thank you @Powerlegs

[Adrienne]

I contacted BigDog today to give them feedback about their Roo mince and my concern about the bone chips in it being a risk for dental injury for the animals that eat it and was told they have provided this recipe for twenty years and not received one complaint about bone chips in all that time. Remarkable.

 

I did a few searches for reviews on the product and it seems others have been concerned and as well several reviews raised an issue with their dogs vomitting yellow bile like vomit one day to two days after eating Bigdog mince (which one of my little dogs did the day after). Others dogs were becoming constipated and several had been advised by the vets that bone chips can cause internal build ups that the dogs cannot pass. Yikes.

 

So I will go all out now with my two cents worth! I have been totally happy feeding my dogs high quality kibble (main stay of diet) along with 100% raw frozen Roo mince from Canine Country (there is nothing else in the mince - no bone, no other ingredients, no vitamins, no fortifications of any kind). It smells neutral and clean. 

 

Late last year due to supply/transport issues my local produce store did not have my preferred foods in stock and so I branched out (first with kibble) to another brand. The dogs adjusted to eating it okay though three months later I noticed both my dogs were building up a kind of scum on their teeth and I had to start brushing their teeth more frequently. I have bought my original kibble again and hope this makes a difference. Does anyone else have experience with kibble types being better or worse for teeth condition?

 

I have found a new retailer for my preferred mince and they are offering me a discount because I will buy it a box at time.

 

I know people say bones are important, but in my experience chicken necks are a pretty safe way to get some bone into your dogs diet without putting them at risks of dental injury, and big marrow bones are great for some enrichment licking and a bit of cartilage chewing on the lovely big soft end of them but these should be taken away as soon as they become hard and sharp and not left around for indiscriminate long term chewing. Dogs can be injured from bones!

 

When I lived in far western NSW we shot kangaroos and fed portions of them to our dogs and from what they ate of them left to their own devices was the meat, and some (but not all) organs , they didn't want to chow down endlessly on bone!

 

I know we live in an age in which people are now cooking for their dogs etc..but some people might take comfort in knowing a plain good quality kibble, clean single source mince and a few chook necks will see their pets happy and healthy for a life time.

 

 

[batgirlbc]

Keep in mind they're soft raw bones so I don't think would cause any problems for your dog. Mine chews big bones so consumes a lot of bits of bone - I think it's a good thing in that sense as her teeth are in top notch condition and clean. Something you don't get with wet and barf foods.

 

I didn't know what size nerds were either. They're the little colorful things in a packet aren't they? Think I remember them from my childhood a LONG TIME AGO!!!!

[Dogsfevr]

Interesting that your happy to promote marrow bones which are one of the worse damager for teeth as its a hard bone & full of marrow that can push a dog towards pancreatitis. LIke giving them a box of Crunchies to eat .
 

For teeth ,health & chewing chicken feet all the way full of so much goodness 

 

 

[Adrienne]

On 13/3/2023 at 8:32 PM, Dogsfevr said:

marrow bones which are one of the worse damager for teeth as its a hard bone & full of marrow that can push a dog towards pancreatitis.

How much? How often? How long does that take?

[_PL_]

16 hours ago, Adrienne said:

How much? How often? How long does that take?

 

Big weight bearing bones have white marrow which is the bad stuff. Especially bad when butchers cut them up the middle to give dogs easy access to the marrow. If you like to give bones, select ones with that red honeycomb looking marrow but not ones that are going to splinter. Depends on what's available and the size & strength of the dog so you have to select carefully. 

 

Or the chicken feet mentioned.  They are kind of creepy looking LOL but low fat and the collagen contained is a very healthy bonus.   

 

 

[Mairead]

Acute pancreatitis or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency? High fat diets not good for the sick pancreas but never heard/read  marrow mentioned as a cause or risk factor.

I gave the raw weight bearing bones to my medium sized dogs. Sometimes cut longitudinally but some butchers regarded cutting that way too dangerous for them to do, so I asked for cut across in short sections. The dogs went for the marrow, then the softer joint ends of the bones. When the marrow was gone I took those sections away. When the joint ends were gone I took those away too, having learned that the shafts were too hard for old (teenage) teeth to survive unscathed. I gave new bones after a meal so they weren't stuffing themselves on an empty stomach.