A friend of mine told me he gives his GSD a baked pork bone every week that he gets from the supermarket. I told him that I didn't think that cooked bones should be given to dogs b/c of splintering and especially not pork. Told him to give raw beef bones instead. He thinks I'm talking rubbish and said that raw bones can cause food poisoning and thinks Barf is dangerous. I know there are fors and againsts regarding Barf. Just interested to know what you all think. Don't have time to do a search as I'm off to work now, so would appreciate any info on this. Thanks.

If you don't have time to do the search, you probable don't have time to go into the ins and outs of this discussion with your friend :(  It's all a matter of personal opinion - I feed my dogs raw bones occasionally - dogs have far higher tolerance to food bugs than we do - their stomache acid is that much stronger, however, they aren't as resistant to sharp points, which do tend to come from cooked bones.  Interestingly there are no food guidlines/rules covering bones as treats for dogs.  Why does your friend think a cooked bone is any safer bacteria wise than a raw one?  Bacteria grow just as well on coooked meat as raw.........  He might also like to think about where the idea that raw is bad has come from - for hundreds of years dogs were fed on raw meat and cooked left overs (fuel was too hard to come by to actually COOK food for a mere dog) - it wasn't until commercial dog foods were made avaialble that the idea that cooked foods are better for dogs came around........

Thankyou for the reply Digger, it wasn't just Barf I wanted to know about really, I have given him a book about that now. It was cooked bones I really wanted know about and if it's better to give an uncooked bone or are either sort dangerous. Have tried doing a search but for some reason it's not working tonight.

Raw bones are always better than cooked ones.  Cooked ones may shatter and splinter.

Some cooked bones are also dripping with fat so not too healthy!

Best of all raw ones are free! :D

<<<<<<<<<<<Best of all raw ones are free!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Unfortunatly not around here if you get them from the butcher :( they HAVE to charge now. Ok, a raw bone costs about 13 pence!!!!!!!!!!! I think I can just about afford that LMAO :D :D :D :D
Lea :D

They don't HAVE to charge, they may CHOOSE to!

I get big bags of bones from the farm shop and our wholesalers and they don't charge me anything. :)  I once got a few tiddly bones at Morrisons and they charged me 30p! so they can keep theirs ;)

Kath.

Lana lurves her RAW beef bones - Our butcher doesn't charge us, he even saw's them up into smaller bones that will fit neatly into the freezer :D  My hound was outside all morning with her bone, I love to see her really working at it...Clean those teeth my beauty :D :D
Gross though - she left it for five minutes, when I went over to check it, it was covered in greenbottle eggs so it went in the bin!!!
Sarah
PS Have never and will never feed any cooked bone of any sort (but dont have a problem with raw pork myself)

When my dog was around 6 months old I gave him a couple of cooked bones as a treat. He was very sick and had terrible bone dioreer. Very very upsetting I felt terrible. He was very dehydrated; I was giving him water through syringe at one point. Needless to say he made a full recovery and a year and a half latter he still has not been given another bone.

They don't need them, I just give him pigs ears now he absolutely loves them, are good for his teeth and no risk of making him ill (Apparently)

You should NEVER feed cooked bones...cooking makes them splinter.Raw bones are fine but shouls be supervised...as should pigs ears,raw hides etc since they can all cause choking
Archer