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[Eza]

What kind of a bone can a dog eat?

Sometimes it is nice to give the dog a bone. The butcher has sometimes bones available. And in some soup packages are bones included to make a tasty soup. So sometimes a dog can get a bone.

But it seems, that a dog should be get and be never given a chicken bone. The story is, that a chicken bone will be cut into small parts when the dog chews on the chicken bone. And the small parts can hurt the gum of the dog.

Does somebody know if this story is true?

Edited by Eza, 27 November 2010 - 07:25 PM.

[sheepdog]

The best bones to use are big RAW bones. Once cooked, they become brittle and can break off in sharp pieces and injure mouths and throats of dogs. Also, eating too much bone, raw or otherwise, can cause constipation in dogs. But bones can be of great benefit to dogs. They are a good way to releave bordom if your dog has to be left at home alone while you are gone to work or somewhere, and they are a very good way to keep those teeth nice and clean and when the teeth are clean, there is less bad breath in dogs. Chicken and turkey necks are often recomended for cleaning teeth. (raw of course)

Now, for the chicken bone thing. That warning has been around for ages. And yes, it could happen. But your dog could get struck by lightening too, just about as often as choking on a chicken bone. The same holds true with chicken bones as it does other bones, raw bones can be chewed up into smaller pieces without fracturing into splinters like cooked bones, so they are not really much of a danger. I've seen dogs get choked on rocks, so dogs, much like small children can find just about any way to get into trouble if they have even half a chance. When I was a kid we had a bird dog, English Setter. For 2 years the basis of his entire diet was cooked chicken bones left over from the restuarant at the bottom of the hill. It never bothered him in the least, and he lived to a very old age.

And just a note about "raw." Some people have concerns about samonillia bacteria contamination when feed a dog raw meat and bones. You have to realize that a dogs digestive system is much different than ours. There are very few bacteria that can survive the stomach acid in a dog, so samonillia is not a big problem for an otherwise health dog. Only if a dog has other health problems will it be an issue. Usually just in young pups that have not had time to develope a good immune system, or older dogs in failing health from old age might have a problem with it.