Hi, my 6 month dog is currently on burns and nature diet. I would love to try her with some raw bones etc. as a treat but am slightly worried about just going for it. Ive a whole chicken waiting in the fridge for us humans but i have been looking at it all day wondering if it would be ok to pull a leg off (before i cooked it) and let her have it as a treat? I am not planing on feeding her completly raw food but she is a dog and i reckon she would love it occasionally as a treat. I just dont want to upset her stomach. Any advice greatly appreciated, i dont post alot on here as i do not have as much experience and advice to give as many other posters but regularly read through interesting and eye opening posts.

Better off with a wing, but a leg will do, if you are a bit nervous, bash it a bit with a steak hammer or a rolling pin.

The worst thing that can happen is that she will reacquaint herself with it either seconds, minutes or hours later, but don't worry, dogs appreicate the opportunity to eat it all over again.......... :D

I was thinking of doing the same for my doggies.. but i was just wondering - does it have to have been frozen first?  I remember reading somewhere that any raw meat given to dogs must have been frozen for at least 24hrs.  Might be mistaken, but sure I read that and have put off giving anything like that as a treat. Thanks
~Clare

Our pup has 1 or 2 chicken piece/s a day straight from the freezer (so still frozen) since we bought him home at 8 weeks! I think he would be very grumpy if he didn't have his chicken now, he loves it :D

You are probably thinking of the following rare circumstances which has led to people recommending that mince is frozen before being fed.

It is not a problem in chickens as far as I know.

Neosporosis Caninum

Bovine neosporosis (Neosporum Caninum) is a protozoan parasite which infects the heart, brain and other tissues of the developing fetus and can result in abortion.  Neospora requires a two-host life cycle.  A dog that has eaten infected placental material or cyst material from the brain, spinal cord, retina or possibly offal of infected cattle develops eggs in the intestines which are passed in the feces, which in turn can be ingested by the cattle.

Neosporosis caninum can also infect puppies through vertical transmission, though it apparently can affect dogs of all ages.  The most consistent sign of canine neosporosis is paralysis of limbs, especially hind limbs.  There are several serological tests that can detect antibodies to neosporosis infection in dogs.  The parasite causes brain lesions with following neurological problems, and there is little chance of recovery with most infected dogs being euthanised.

By far the highest incidence of neosporosis caninum in dogs has been found among farm dogs.  One of the main sources of infection for dogs is eating aborted foetal material or placenta or offal from infected cattle.  It is highly unlikely for muscle tissue to have cysts, tissue cysts of N. Caninum are not normally observed in muscle tissue of adult cattle.  Raw beef would have little chance of infecting dogs, and it is considered that freezing would kill it,  but cysts that form in neural tissues are resistant to freezing surviving up to 14 days at 4c but non-infective after 24 hours at  -20c.

Thanks :)  Looks like chicken wings are on the menu for Dexter tonight.  He will be pleased!!
~Clare

Well I gave her the leg and she looked like she didnt know what to do with it! It was licked, buried, buried again as obviously the first hole wasnt good enough, brought into the house and tried to eat it on the couch, hid it behind the telly, took it outside and buried it again and after a few more episodes of this she ate half of it and has gone to sleep lol. Im not quite sure what she thought of it but its knocked her out, shes usually ready for a walk about now. cheers for your help tohme.

dogs also love chicken necks they clean the teeth and a relatively cheap i give my girl a couple of chciken necks once a week and a huge shin bone of a steer it takes her the whole week to get thru it but she loves it and its more of a boredom killer then food she loves to scrap the marrow out first and then star on the meat and tendons left on it then just  naws the bone for the rest of the week she has never had bad breath and her teeth are perfect

I dont wnna seem stupid, but i have never done this. As you all are knowledgable im sure youll know :-) i have  a spitz and a yorkie - is it 100% safe? just seems dangrous to me - raw meat and bones? wont they get ill and get the bones stuck?
Thanks

Nothing in life is "100%" safe, dogs die from choking on commercial dog food, balls, etc etc just as recently two children died from choking on meatballs; it does not mean that one should never ever feed meatballs.

Most healthy non immuno compromised dogs have no problems eating raw meaty bones, after all, that is what they would eat if they had to hunt for their food, they would catch and kill say a rabbit, and eat it, fur coat and all.  They have been designed to cope with this.

I am sure there are dogs that have had problems with stuck bones I have personally never had an issue with this in 5 years of raw feeding and the many people who I know who feed raw (to all sizes from toy to Giant breeds) have not had any problems either.

If, however, you feel at all anxious about it, then just don't do it, plenty of dogs live well into old age having never touched a piece of real meat/bone their whole lives; it is not essential just a choice. ;)

ps you do not seem to be stupid at all, most of us who started raw feeding had exactly the same fears the first time we gave a chicken bone ie "what if MY dog chokes, gets impacted, etc etc etc" perfectly reasonable to have some apprehension about this.

thanks thome - i might just give them some raw chicken breast and see what they do although i know my mums cats love it so im sure they will.its the bones really that worry me - but them they have bones.
Ill try them and see what they do - i did think f the wild facto before i posted :-)

its a perfectly sensible question alot of people are unsure but its bad to feed cooked chicken bones because they have been known to splinter and the dog can have to have the bone removed either from its throat or stomach it is a concern but you have to take some precautions like if you have a large dog that tends to swallow everything whole and you want to give it a bone make sure its a large bone (for instance a steers shin bone) because its way too large to fit whole in the dogs mouth and the are also very thick and tough and very hard to break most dogs will just naw on a bone until its too slobbery and dirty and then will stop my dog does this for a week and then doesnt want it but want a new one

Well thanks to this post I tried Dexter with his first raw chicken wing :)  It took him a while to realise what to do with it, he was more than happy to carry it around showing off and whack it on the floor before he found it was edible.  I was really impressed actuallly, as I too was a bit concerned about the bones getting stuck - I could actually hear and see his jaw grinding the bones.  I've never seen him eat anything like that before, normally I'm sure he swallows it whole, but he took his time and chewed it thorougly.  24hrs later we've had no ill effects :)
Thanks!!
~Clare

There is no actual problem in dogs swallowing raw meaty bones whole, eg chicken wings, except that some will reacquaint themselves with it, and then usually give it a few chomps (dogs do not do chewing) the second time.

My GSD used to swallow chicken wings whole at 8 weeks and sometimes still does........

i have read the posts but just wanna check before i do it!! ( im a bit dim!!) am i correct in saying its fine (or as good as) to give a dog raw chicken (on or off bone)?! How come it would make a human really ill but not a dog? sorry to repeat stuff, just wanna be sure!!

Raw chicken bones came up in discussion on a recent anal gland visit to the vet!  He is an older very experienced vet who I have every confidence in and interestingly he said in all his years of being a vet he had never known a dog need to have a raw chicken bone removed.

Weezie dogs have different digestion.  You wouldn't catch me rummaging through the dustbins, pinching the cat poo out of the cat tray or licking the tops off cow pats!  Trust us - dogs cope!

raw chicken bones arnt bad for a dog however cooked chicken bones are because they splinter when chomped on. 

raw chicken bones does not splinter

If I spent all day eating grass I think I would probably be a bit ill, but sheep, cows and horses do ok on it! ;)

yep i guess your right!! just wanted to be sure, 1st dog and all that!! well looks like my pup is in for a treat this xmas!!

i feed my two whippets and staffie  on raw food 50% they love it. never had any digestive problems and poo is easier too pick up.

I wanted to give my lab raw bones (lamb/marrow) but none of my butchers do them is it ok to give chicken wings straight from the freezer
gill