Hi

my dogs dont currently have any bones as am paranoid about them choking - but haveing problems with their teeth(see health forum) am wondering if a bone to chew might help.

What sort of bones are suitable for toy poodles and how ofetn?

Many thanks - Jane

Hiya,

I would have thought a lamb shank would be suitable, big enough to stop them chewing bits off (well, my dogs dont, and they are bigger than a min poodle), a couple a week maybe?

Em

I have 2 shih-tzu's and they gety the lot,chicken wing TIPS,beef soup bones,lamb shanks,marrow bones they also get lamb off cuts which have heaps of meat still on them but you must watch them with the off cuts as the bones are little and they could swallow them,once they have eaten all the meat i bin the bones.It truly warms your heart watching your dogs chewing away on a big bone it seems to be pure bliss for them:) I have never had a single problem with giving them bones,dogs are made to chew & rip meat off bones .
They get a bone each every second day + the wings,i hope thats not too much?? My vet has commented on how dazzling their teeth are:):):)

give bones a try your dogs will love you even more for it;)

~christine~

out of interest... does anyone know of any good bone alternatives for dogs that still give them the benefits (clean teeth, etc) of bones ? i'm a vegetarian who is squeamish at going into a butchers ! i am happy feeding my girl canned food and meaty treats though - im not one of these vegetarians who enforce a vegetarian diet on their dogs, i just don't like butchers.... although im sure they're lovely people :D

sarah

Nylabones - the plastic variety and the edible varieties are good.

Stacey

Do you guys have "greenies" over there?(i'm in Australia) they are specifically to clean dogs teeth and they absolutely luuurve them,their website is www.greenies.com .
Cant you get someone else to get the bones for you? I dont eat meat either,i have to hold my nose when i walk into the butchers i cant stand the smell,i even get whole green tripe and chop it up myself which is utterly the most foulest thing i have ever done,it makes me wretch! but i could not deprive my dogs of any of it,i would feel much too guilty,handling bones isn't yucky at all,dogs NEED bones to gnaw on and like i said they are in heaven when they get one,all that unnatural stuff just does'nt compare,the only "pretend" bones they eat are the greenies,what about chicken wings,can you give them a try?They are excellent for their teeth and they enjoy them,you can get these and other bones from the supermarket.
You must look after your dogs teeth especially the little dogs as they are more prone to tatrar which usually means tooth extraction,when my shih-tzu Emma first came to me when she was 2 her teeth were covered in tartar but now my vet cant beleive she is the same dog as her teeth are beautifully white now,her previous owner did'nt give her bones. The only other option would be to brush your dogs teeth regularly with doggy toothpaste or as someone else stated try the nylabones,my dogs would not touch them tho. I am honestly not having a go at you i just hope you reconsider,you and your dog dont know what your missing out on.

good luck,let us know if you change your mind:)

~christine~

Im not a veggie...but i am really squeamish about bones, they knock me sick!

I found the best thing for cleaning teeth is actually chicken wings, its not just crunchign up the bone that cleans them, its ripping away at the meat as well, and wings have a good meat to bone ratio, AND you can get them in your supermarket, so you dont have to go to a butcher.

Em

So do I just go and buy some chicken wings - give them say 1 each and let them chew away? Sorry - i know this is sounding really thick but I have never given them anything like that - also Chrisitine mentioned that her small dogs get chicken wing tips - what are the tips?

I cant believe I am 44 yr old mum of 3 and asking questions like this lol lol

Jane

If you look at a chicken wing, it comes in 3 parts just like your arm. The "drumstick" is like your upper arm, followed by the section that has 2 bones side by side like your forearm. The wing tip doesn't have much meat in it and is quite slender, ending in a rounded but pointy 'tip'. That's the section Christine was talking about.

do u cook the chicken wingy thing ? do they come cooked ? do they cook themselves ? :D oh the confusion of meat... i became vegetarian at 14 and so never really learned how to cook the stuff !

hehe, i wouldnt know where to start with cooking a chicken wing, though i believe my housemate has been known to nick the dogs ones out of the freezer an fry them for himself (pig).

For dogs, dont cook, never ever give cooked bones.

For dogs who have never seen a real meaty bone before, if you can, get hold of a pair of pliers an firmly grasp one end of the wing , wilst the dog chews the other end.
My own dogs do occasionally attempt to swallow one whole, (usually if someone is on a dinner stealing mission), but IF this happens, dont panic, the chances are the dog will rapidly realise that its entirely the wrong idea, and will bring it back an have another go (gross but thats dogs for ya).....the chances of the dog damaging themselves, whilst there, are minimal because at this stage, the bones are still covered in a protective layer of meat. Again, if your dog seems to have swallowed large chunks of food, and ISNT sick, dont panic, he will digest it!

So yeah, watch your dogs when they eat, the first time there are a variety of different reactions to wings.
my own dogs did this.....
Saffi "Oooooooooh blimey this is good, ill save this for later"
Rocky " Chew it? Are you mad woman, i INHALE my food"......."oh i see if i dont chew it, ill puke, um, okies, ill eat properly then i spose,,,,,, no chance of a sandwhich i guess?"
Dill " This is food, ill eat it.....is it someone elses, if it is ill eat that as well"

At 6 weeks old, dill could just manage the wing tips (he is a small lurcher), by ten weeks old he could eat a whole one, though it took him a little while. Now at a year old, a wing takes around about 3 minutes to eat.

Some dogs might just want the skin cutting open on the wings, or maybe hold it under a hot tap for a couple of seconds, to take the chill off it (i defrost mine so they are room temp at feeding time).
Persevere though, at first your dog may treat it like a toy, some dogs even think they are being poisoned! because they simply are not used to real food!

Em

I have tried giving the whole wing but they just cant or dont want to eat it,you'll know what i mean about the "tips" when you get the wings it's the very tip of the wing,the last joint,geeez this is hard to explain??:) i usually buy the whole wings then cut the tips off and give to dogs and boil the remaining part,pick the meat off(bin the cooked bones) and feed it for their dinner.
As stated above never,ever give cooked bones they can cause alot of internal damage,i can get them in the supermarket in a pack of around 10.

~christine~

p.s feel free to ask as many questions as you want,the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.

I'm really confused, my vet told me not to give my dog any bones. My partner once fed him some pork bones from some ribs that my partner had eaten (he did this behind my back) and my dog was so very ill and the emergency vet had to be called, he was x-rayed and from what I recall they had sort of 'compacted' in his gut, they made their way out eventually but he was very sick and had horrendous diarrhoea. I would LOVE to give him a bone (though he is convalescing from another illness at the moment) but am so afraid to normally as he does have a very sensitive tum and is easily upset. I have tried him with raw food (which he has no interest in at all) and he has no interest in vegetables or fruit, he has been known to chew a carrot but always spits it out, never swallows it, no interest in anything else other than 'dog' food (his appetite has never been big and he's a lab!). I am astonished that people give chicken bones, I was always brought up to believe that chicken bones are the worst as they splinter so easily and are sharp. This forum is definitely a revelation to me. I really want the best for my dog and am concerned that his teeth may suffer in the long term but at the same time I'm worried about his sensitive tum. Any suggestions?

Hi there,

It's COOKED bones that cause the problems. I don't feed pork to Murph because it gives him an upset tummy but he is raw fed and had chicken wings, portion, oxtail, chicken carcasses. He's been fed this way since we had him 9 months ago.
If a dog has never been raw fed, it takes a while for the stomach acids to build up to cope with digesting bones so I guess if a dog fed on complete food got hold of a bone, it might cause problems but there are countless number of folks on this forum who will give positive stories of feeding their dogs raw food.

TTFN

As has been said many times before NEVER feed cooked bones to dogs, they are brittle and will splinter. Raw bones, whilst they still pose a risk (just as anything does) are safer. Remember dogs were designed to catch, kill and eat raw meat; not pop down the supermarket and open a tin/packet :)

You say he was not interested in raw food at all but what type was it? Although many dogs love eating carrots etc vegetables must either be pulped or frozen in order to break down the cellulose and cell walls in order that the matter becomes available to dogs, otherwise it will act as fibre and go out the same way it went in :)

If you wish to explore raw feeding it is best to read up on it extensively first and perhaps join a forum such as Britbarf where you can get knowledgeable advice from people who have been successfully feeding raw for years. It requires a bit of thought and planning.

I love watching my dogs eat a species appropriate diet and would never change; but raw feeding is not for everyone :)

Sarah,

Raw bones can splinter and can cause problems, which is why your vet said not to feed any bones. Cooked bones are more likely to splinter - but raw ones can and they can also cause blockages.

However, that has to be balanced against all the other things that vets seems to consider okay for dogs to chew - which can also cause problems. There have been cases where dogs have chewed up and swallowed and ended up in surgery as the result of "indestructable and safe" chews. Kongs and nylabones, for example. Rawhide can cause problems. There was an article in one of the dog magazines this month about a dog that ended up at the vet because of a blockage from one of the steralized natural bones sold in pet stores.

I do not feed raw nor would I give my dog any bone I thought she could swallow. I have given her raw beef knuckle bones, however, if that makes sense. :-) I given up on those though, because all she does is cry and bury them in the garden.

You can stuff a kong with food your dog likes and that can help with tartar. You can feed the edible Nylabones, which are hard and fully digestible. You can also try him on the plastic nylabones, which he may like, some dogs do.

Stacey

Well thanks everyone for your responses, very informative, you are obviously much more knowledgeable than I am! I will take on board what everyone has said and think about trying him on some bigger bones when he has fully recovered (obviously uncooked!) By the way, at the risk of sounding completely thick what is a kong????

PS: edited - he has tried nylabones and is interested for about 5 minutes then leaves them!

I am the opposite way around to Stacey - I never give my dogs bones I don't expect them to crunch up and swallow so they don't get marrow bones etc (had some bad experiences with these so won't feed them).

With my last litter I gave them chicken wings to "play" with from 3 weeks and they were eating most of them by 4 weeks and could eat a chicken carcass (given time) by 6 weeks. Vegetables are minced very small as although dogs can digest bones they can't digest plants so well (think of grass, sweetcorn, carrots looking the same coming out as they go in!). Even ruminents have 4 stomachs so they can break down grass.

Chicken wing tips have minimal meat on them - whole wings would be better as they are more balanced meat to bone.

Most chickens you can get from butchers are unlikely to be more than 10 weeks old and so the bones are mostly unformed and consist mainly of cartilidge.

Christine

oh the poor little baby chickens.... so young :(

"I am the opposite way around to Stacey - I never give my dogs bones I don't expect them to crunch up and swallow so they don't get marrow bones etc (had some bad experiences with these so won't feed them)."

.. but I am going to try some raw rib bones, and hold them for her and see what happens. :-)

Stacey

Thank you Kerioak, very informative, just one thing, if dogs don't have the same ability to digest vegetables as, say, we do (and certainly not considering their physiology -v- ruminants as you explained) then should we be giving them vegetables at all? And if so what are the benefits considering that most complete foods (I have presumed) provide the essential vitamins & nutrients? (may be showing my naivety here - I am a trusting soul) I've always fed my boy Waffcol complete (chicken & corn as he is sensitive) but usually mixed with minced chicken & gravy (cooked) to add a bit of interest/moisture and also because he won't eat anything dry. I've wanted to feed him different things for some time (like bones & raw stuff etc) to supplement his main meals as he has always had problems keeping weight on him (even though he is a black lab) and his appetite fluctuates, I thought that different things may raise his interest but always been too nervous to try anything new. This forum has definitely opened my eyes and has got me questioning his whole diet.

Dogs can metabolise veggies/fruit if the cell walls are broken down ie via a juicer. The benefits are that the vits and mins are fresh from "live" food and not artificial and added after all the goodness has been processed out of it. Just like it is better to drink a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice rather than have a pill (and all the other things that are in the pill).

The more people question the diet their dogs are on the more informed they will become and hence the choices they make will be as a result of their own knowledge and learning rather than pet food manufacturers for the ultimate benefit of our pets!