Just wondering, I know there are places such as Landywoods and Berriewoods where you can get rmbs from but what about more recreational bones such as beef marrow, knuckle etc..? Do people get these from butchers, as my friend reckons that they aren't allowed to let people have them anymore due to health regulations or something...

I get marrow bones from my butchers, also I think landywoods do them too.

Speedy reply :D

You are right about Landywoods, must have missed that somehow. Not sure if marrow might be too rich for my boy - would it be easy to dig some of it out?

Wonder if anywhere else does other bones too. I don't think we even have a local butcher!

You are right about marrow possibly being too rich. I learnt this only when my dog nearly died from haemorraghic diarhheoa after giving her a marrow bone as a treat. At £400+ for vets bills, it was the most expensive "free" bone I ever had :rolleyes:

That must have been a horrible experience for both you and your dog, bedruthen. Hopefully she is ok now..? Done some googling to find out more and I think I may give the marrow bones a miss, and find something less likely to cause stomach upset.

Zarah I have PM'd you :-D

Hi All,
interesting article here, scroll down half way to see comments on Marrow bone.
(I feed knuckles etc.. but avoid marrow as we'r wheight watching!)
Composition of bone and nutritional value of RMB's

whoops typed it wrong!
try again... :rolleyes:
Bone comp again!

Good link, Gal, when you finally got it right ;).  The bone analysis seems very scientific and therefore very interesting but, of course :), I don't really agree with his comments regarding commercial food when we all know that dogs thrive into their late teens on these foods in the UK but of course this is a US based site and I believe standards are rather different.

Thanks for the link :)

hi zara    my local pet shop sell roasted knuckle bones, tried my dog with one, he loves em plus no diahorreah  (is that how you spell diahorreah)

can i ask - may be a really stupid question but if you give them knuckle bones do you have to reduce their food intake or do they get only a littl eof at a time that it doesn't make a difference to them.

the only ones i have seen, look very fatty but maybe some of you could tell me a bit more

thanks
anna

lol..not at all anna :D
(when Im training I tell my students "the stupidest question is the one that wasnt asked!" *wry smile* )

Marrow bone (cortical tubular bone) does contain fat.
Knuckle bones are softer honeycomb tissue (cancellous bone)
You do get some fat,connective muscle tissue etc on the Knuckles but I would say not enough to make any major nutritional impact, thats why they're favoured as 'recreational' bones.
   I would say it very much depends on your dog (size/breed/propensity to over eat or put on weight), type of diet and excercise levels as to how closely you should take into account 'any' added fat from recreational bones, the ones that really do make a difference for the worst (IMO) are the deep fried variety of bones you see in petshops/PAH etc.
  RMB's are a different kettle of fish and of course should be taken into account with feeding levels (if for example your a half and halfer barfer ;) )
HTH? :D

do the knuckle bones help clean the teeth or are they unable to be chewed enough in a way that will help.

also the only knuckle bones i have seen are in PAH and i am guessing that they are the deep fried ones?

thanks for the reply - i like to keep my dogs at a right weight to keep them as healthy as i can (plus dogs look horrible and out of proportion when they are fat )

anna and two slim dogs zig and pesto

p.s i did use to barf but unfortunately my parents are not willing to store it all and carry it on when i am at uni :( they loved it when they were on it tho :)

I'm not convinced deep frying bones will add a great deal to the fat content.  You've got a lot of bulk to surface area, thing french fries compared to good old British Chips :)  Deep frying too, is done at high temperature and stays at high temperature when the cold food is put in because of the larger amount of fat sealing surfaces very fast and thus limiting penetration of the fat into the food therefore being, contrary to popular belief, healthier than shallow frying where the larger, in proportion, of cold food can drop the temperature preventing sealing.  Not a lot of people know that :D

very interesting thankyou. would you therefore say that i would not need to reduce their food intake even if i brought the knuckle bones from PAH? the reason i ask is because i will not start giving them knuckle bones if it will mean that their complete foods needs to be reduced - purely because the complete is nutritionally balanced and i do not want to unbalance it by giving extras (they already get pigs ears).

thanks
anna

No,Anna my point of view at least is that you have nothing to fear
(..except Isabel's explosions she was "only suposed to blow the Bl@@dy doors off!!")
she seems to have transmogrified into Micheal Caine ;) ;) ;)

>Not a lot of people know that<

As always the Sensai is right! and makes perfect sense, I didnt know that.

(good luck for Uni Anna, are you a fresher?)

i am going to chester uni in september to study animal behaviour (you may have read i have had some experience with my dogs problems which are gradually being sorted through hard work but will be worth it in the end) and welfare.

at the moment i am spending time with my dogs, doing lots of trampolining, taking my PAT dog to Great Ormond Street Hospital and volunteering at london wildcare. so all in all having a great gap year.

thanks for all the help
will be off to PAH to get some knuckle bones for my lucky dogs to have.

anna, pesto and ziggi