Vet Advised No Bones

[Guest Tiggy]

Did you try 'soft' bones such as chicken wings/frames and turkey wings? I wouldn't feed brisket bones because their too hard and you said the butcher cut them into smaller pieces which are easy to swallow without chewing properly, big pieces are best. Vet's usually recommend marrow bones which are also too hard. The hardest bones my dogs get are lamb/goat necks and kangaroo/ox tails. These take them a good half hour of ripping and chewing. Leg bones are too hard as their weight bearing bones. The one exception I've found is turkey drumsticks. While your dog isn't allowed bones you should get minced chicken bones from the butcher. Hope your pup is feeling better .

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Have you tried chicken wings or chicken necks?

Admittedly he's a real guts when it comes to any food which is gulped down really quickly - the vet said the only thing to do is divide his meal into smaller portions and give a bit at a time. At 9wks of age he gulped down a whole chicken neck in one go and still does, so I now cut them up. I haven't tried chicken wings as yet.

I think this is part of the problem. Most dogs will happily work on a big bone for a good while, and by you cutting them up, this negates the dog having to do much work to eat the bone. Most dogs will gulp food if they can...but you can retrain them to go more slowly by giving them bigger bones that force them to chew and work hard. It's impossible for a dog to swallow a whole piece of brisket, for example. And swallowing a whole chicken neck is common in the medium sized dogs and larger dogs, why would they bother chewing it?

Why not try some of the following:

1. Give larger portion sizes (bones).

2. Allow the dog time and seclusion to eat his meals.

3. Increase the variety of bones you offer.

Not all vets agree with feeding raw bones to dogs but that's b/c they've been told that raw bones create all kinds of problems when it's usually cooked bones that do this. There is nothing wrong with your dog's motions containing pieces of bone. Nor is there anything wrong with your dog vomiting up a piece of bone. Both of these events are normal, and as your dog matures, these things will happen less frequently. My dogs' stools rarely contain bone any more and they rarely vomit bones up, but both these things happen from time to time. A dog will learn to chew his bones thoroughly as long as he's given the time and space to do so and the bones are not too small to begin with.

I have a large dog (greyhound), medium sized dog (mixed breed with staffy in her) and a tiny dog (mini foxie x chihuahua). They are fed chicken frames, chicken wings, chicken necks, lamb brisket bones, lamb ribs (flap), beef brisket, lamb neck, beef ribs, roo tail pieces, and rabbit chunks when I can get them. Each dog has bones of appropriate size. The smallest dog gets lamb neck chops (or one chop to be precise) when the others get a large neck portion, and she gets chicken necks or wings but no frames, but that's b/c she only needs a small amount of food compared to the other two. She happily tucks into a portion of lamb flap (containing at least two ribs plus the flesh) and while she doesn't eat the actual bone very often, she does strip the bone bare!

I hope this helps!

[BasTyra]

Can you hand feed him chicken necks? That's what I do with griever 'cause he's a bit of a gobbler.

[bark]

I think this is part of the problem. Most dogs will happily work on a big bone for a good while, and by you cutting them up, this negates the dog having to do much work to eat the bone. Most dogs will gulp food if they can...but you can retrain them to go more slowly by giving them bigger bones that force them to chew and work hard. It's impossible for a dog to swallow a whole piece of brisket, for example. And swallowing a whole chicken neck is common in the medium sized dogs and larger dogs, why would they bother chewing it?

Why not try some of the following:

1. Give larger portion sizes (bones).

2. Allow the dog time and seclusion to eat his meals.

3. Increase the variety of bones you offer.

What you've said puts the no bones argument into perspective and I understand your point about bone size however I'm not clear on chicken necks. My pup is 10kg and a small dog, should I give him whole chicken necks which I know will be gulped down in one go?

Chicken wings aren't on his menu as yet but I'm thinking about adding them when I can supervise him to see how he goes.

[Guest Tiggy]

I fed my Staffy pup chicken necks until she stop chewing and started swallowing them whole. Why aren't you feeding chicken wings?

[noisymina]

One option with thenecks is to freeze them in meal-sized batches and feed them slightly defrosted, but still frozen enough to be well stuck together. This means the dog has to work at the hunk to get them separated - and slows the process somewhat.

[BasTyra]

What you've said puts the no bones argument into perspective and I understand your point about bone size however I'm not clear on chicken necks. My pup is 10kg and a small dog, should I give him whole chicken necks which I know will be gulped down in one go?

Chicken wings aren't on his menu as yet but I'm thinking about adding them when I can supervise him to see how he goes.

I feed chicken necks to my dog. He's a gulper so no I dont trust him with the whole chicken neck. Sometimes when he steals half the neck from my hand he almost chokes on it so yeah... Just hand feed them, and keep a good grip on that last vertebrae! If you think the last vertebrae is too big for your doggie, then throw it out and feed another neck.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Is the chicken neck small enough to fit down in one gulp without getting stuck and causing the dog to choke? If it slides down without any problem, then it's probably safe to allow your pup to have them as is, but I think if you can give them frozen in a group ALA Noisymina's idea, that works too. I know many greyhounds that can swallow a *turkey neck* without chewing...

BTW - many dogs find chicken necks go down so easily that they don't bother to chew them. IMO if you want a dog to chew a chicken neck, it's either got to be a very small dog (chihuahua size!) or a very frozen chicken neck or two!

[bark]

Is the chicken neck small enough to fit down in one gulp without getting stuck and causing the dog to choke? If it slides down without any problem, then it's probably safe to allow your pup to have them as is, but I think if you can give them frozen in a group ALA Noisymina's idea, that works too.

Some of the necks will glide down his throat and some of them are more stout at one end which will choke him - which I could hand feed. I like the idea of freezing them in meal portions or groups - Good one Noisymina

When I finish the batch of necks in the freezer, I'll include chicken wings or even alternate between them.

I love this forum with all the great advice I receive.

[Guest Stevie'sGreat]

I've been reading everyone's posts here with great interest. My Stevie is an 8month LabxGRetriever who can swallow a chicken neck in no time at all. She unfortunately is at home alone through the day (I'm working on getting a playmate for her, just need to convince my husband that two older dogs won't be much harder work than one big puppy!). We've been leaving her lamb joints and veal and lamb marrow bones in the mornings when we go to work, and we just find the little tubes left at the end of the day. She sometimes then keeps cracking them open, making splintery looking pieces, but she loves the marrow.

It's the best diversion for her, she has other toys but spends most of her time either sleeping or chewing, even if the chewing is a chair or a table leg! Hasn't caused any major damage yet...

I've got two questions - should I be taking the splintery pieces off her at the end of the day? Also, is there a limit to how many bones she has, e.g. in a week? I'm going to get the huge beef marrow bones next, see how she goes with them.

Thanks

[petaj]

Stevie'sGreat: Like I said in my post above, marrowbones can get dangerous once the cartilage ends have been chewed off and dogs with bones should really be supervised. There are a few things you could try to slow down the progress your dog makes on the bone before you get home, for example in summer you could freeze it in a block of ice and let the dog entertain and cool itself by licking until the bone is freed. Then of course there are the other usual suggestions for entertaining dogs eg kongs, reward balls, other chew treats/toys etc. You can get marrow treats if you don't want to deprive your dog of the taste.

I would say the limit on the number of bones to be fed would depend on how well you are able to incorporate them into a nutritionally complete and balanced diet for your dog that maintains it at the right weight (ie don't let their appetite be spoiled before good quality dinner and don't let it get tubby on the meat etc - include it in the daily ration allowance). Also watch the state of the teeth for excessive wearing or chipping.