I posted a few days ago regarding my dogs yellowing teeth, and people kindly came up with lots of good tips. I think it may have been Teri who said raw bones help. I have bought a bag of raw bones from the butchers today, which she said you could freeze, but we don't have any room in our freezer. Can anyone tell me if you are supposed to boil the bones before giving them to your dog? As i am a little worried after reading the post about the dog who ate raw mince, which hadn't been frozen, and died as a result.

Raw ...no boiling ...just as they are :) If you are worried about disease ...freeze them for 24 hours (or get someone else to freeze them for you?) then feed them :)

As said you feed the bones raw. It is cooked bones that are dangerous for dogs as cooking them alters their makeup and they become difficult to digest but, more importantly, they become brittle and will splinter which is very dangerous so definitely DO NOT COOK THEM.

Thankyou glad i asked now. I will try and squeeze one in my bursting freezer. I take it without freezing there is a chance of him becoming ill.

Well ...yes....but a very small chance. There is a small chance of a lot of things ;)

I was going to say that as well Mel :)

Don't thing dogs in the wild get chance to pop their meat in the freezer before dinner :D

Don't eat many home grown cows though ...do they ;) :D :p

Depends where they shop :D

Sometimes I feed the bones without having frozen them - depends if I still have any left in the freezer on the day when I go to the butchers' - usually it is breast of lamb that I have fed without freezing first.

They will keep in your fridge for a while and perhaps you could then put them in the freezer when you have a bit more room - a dog's digestive system is different to ours and they can eat meat that is at a stage in its life that we would not even comtemplate looking at never mind eating

They can also eat meat that has been frozen, defrosted and frozen again -unlike us.
When I get my chicken carcasses from the butcher he puts them in a carrier bag to await collection and then stores them in his freezer. When I get them they are one big frozen lump so I put them in cold water just long enough to be able to separate them into right amounts for a meal and then put them into my own freezer and, so far, Harley have had no adverse affects from eating them.

I think i will freeze them just to be on the safe side, not sure how small a small chance is! :) . My husband has fixed the freezer door in the garage so there is plenty of room for storage now. Hopefully they will help in removing the plaque.

Louise,

You can stick a room temperature raw bone in the microwave and zap it on high for a minute or two.  It's not going to cook the bone, but it will kill any nasty organisms the heat can reach. 

BTW, I zap my dish sponges the same way - it was a tip I saw on "How Clean is Your House" a couple of years ago.

Neosporosis canineum is killed by freezing not heat so if you freeze the raw meat it will be killed off, mircowaving it will have no effect at all

Thanks everyone they are all in the freezer just to be on the safe side.

Moonmaiden,

Neosporosis canineum was the subject of another thread ... it's not the only nasty that can harbour in raw meat.  Salmonella is killed by heat, for one.

It's not going to cook the bone, but it will kill any nasty organisms the heat can reach.

Just wanted to give a heads up to the fact the NC can't be killed by heat so freeze then thaw to room temp & then zap should kill off most nasties