raw bone question

[sakirby]

i have another question about raw bones for those of you that give them. oscar is on all raw now so, i am ready to give him a raw bone to try. do i give it as a substitute for a meal? he is only 4 months old so, he is eating three meals a day. should i take the marrow out? what do you do with the bone if he hasn't finished it? freeze it again? fridge? is it bad to leave raw bones out?

[Borgan]

I view the raw bone as more of a treat unless there is a substantial amount of meat on it. Leave the marrow! They love it! But give it to your dog outside, as they can be pretty messy!!!!

[sakirby]

well, i gave oscar his first raw bone today. he is chewing it right now. i have NEVER seen him so enthralled, so occupied. i swear he would chew on that thing ALL day. as long as it is there, he is chewing on it. forget everything else. people even came in my apt. today and he didn't even care. he was chewing his bone. one annoying thing is that i live in an apt., so, i can't give it to him outside. i fed it to him in a bowl, but he eventually got the bone out of the bowl and all around the kitchen. guess i have to mop the floor tomorrow with disinfectant :) thanks for your help guys. oscar has most of the meat off of the bone so, i figure it is safe to have it out of the fridge at this point. right? thanks for all of your help all.

[franp]

Try putting a mat on the floor.For some reason ,Dari will take all of her treats, bone included to a mat..

The marrow is VERY rich;he may have a loose stool today.Do not worry.If he does, go to the health food store and get some bone meal.Put about an 1/8 tsp in his food to firm it up.

One of the reasons that raw fed dogs have firm bm's is the bone.And it is a really good way to help if your dog has a loose stool from eating something wrong.

[sakirby]

thanks franp. i took some of the marrow out, and i don't think he really even got to it. he was so concerned with getting all of the meat off the bone. i am giving it to him for round two soon :) you don't give dari raw bones unsupervised do you? is it something i should be around for when he is eating?

[franp]

Dari gets marrow bones to chew on unsupervised. But all the meat is gone by that time.She is just chewing on the bone ; which is way too hard and thick for her to break.She has barely worn any of them down.

Your dog is a pup and as such I would not let him have anything unsupervised.Even a marrow bone; which is so hard..

[quinnybear]

what is the difference between raw and cooked bones. my two are not raw fed so should they only be given cooked bones? will raw bones hurt them? and i have been told never to give them pork bones, raw or cooked. are they bad for dogs? just looking for treat options and want to be sure i give them what is right. thanx.......... :confused:

[gmacleod]

Cooked bones should never be fed to any dog - and that includes smoked, sterilized and dried. Cooked bones are brittle and can splinter which risks perforations. Raw bones, conversely, are pliable and easily digested.

It doesn't matter that you feed kibble if you just want to give your dog a bone for recreational chewing and to help keep his teeth in good order. Just be sure that the bones are raw.

On pork - I don't believe there is any problem at all with pork bones. Same rules as any other bone though, it needs to be raw.

[gmacleod]

LOL - Maybe I should have stayed in New Zealand ;) They don't even have that disease there.

As is the case with many foods, it is wise to freeze pork for several days before feeding (and that will kill the AD virus, which is not thought to survive long in pig meat anyway). Same goes for any offal, in fact. Just a standard precaution.

But it's also worth remembering that most of the raw food (especially if you're making your own, rather than buying pre-made) you're going to feed your dog is offcuts from the human food chain. And the processes in place to exclude diseased animals from the human food chain are fairly robust - including exclusion of animals infected with aujeszky's disease. If the pork in question were wild, or sourced from those animals rejected for the human food chain, I would be rather more cautious.

[sakirby]

after oscar has chewed all the meat off a marrow bone, is it safe to leave him the bone as a chew toy? it seems pretty hard now.