# Raw feeding after surgery



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

A little background: last Wednesday, Peyton got ahold of a cooked chicken bone from my neighbors and had to have it surgically removed. It didn't perforate her intestine but it came awfully close. 

Well it's been 6 days since Peyton's surgery and she's doing great! She's eating the Primal Turkey Grind with no issues whatsoever in three meals per day with a Sucralfate slurry given beforehand to coat her stomach and intestines. My vet said I should do chicken and rice for 2 days and then start slowly weaning her onto her old food again. Of course he doesn't know I'm a raw feeder so this complicates things a tiny bit. I figured I'd do the Primal Grind for about a week after the surgery and then start weaning her back onto PMR but to be honest I'm slightly terrified to give her bones, especially chicken bones again. I thought of smashing the bones with a hammer first but that just causes unnatural splintering. I've thought of holding the chicken for her and making sure she really thoroughly chews it before she swallows. I've thought of breaking the bank feeding her nothing but cornish game hens since their bones are so soft and tiny. 

I'm sure her intestines are all healed up by now, but I'm still very worried about it. Probably for no reason, but sheesh, can you blame me? She gets her stitches out next Monday. 

What do you guys recommend to do to get her back onto PMR?


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

if you're worried, and need more time....and want to wait until the stitches come out...because it was a bone, after all....

and even though it was cooked, it would be perfectly understandable to be a little wary of raw bone....

is she a gulper? if not and she's a careful eater, then i don't see any reason why you can't start her on some chicken, which is a very soft and porous bone....and ease your way back into raw, as well as her...

or you can wait.

just think about why you're waiting.....if you think it's a good idea to wait to get the stitches out, i can understand.

but, if you're scared about bones, understandable.....then it might be time to get back on the horse....have a glass of wine at the ready


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Could you get the butcher to grind you some chickens into a really coarse grind? That way she would get the bones from the chicken and have to digest them, but they would be small enough not to get stuck. 

I grind up chickens with a really large hole grinder. It leaves the bones just big enough that I can hear the dogs chewing them (about the size of olive pits). But, mine are real careful chewers. If she is a gulper, it might not work as well as just holding the meat while she chewed it carefully. That's probably the way I would go at first.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

I guess what chowder said with the grinding meats/bones. Or you could try adding eggshells to boneless meats. You can also buy pre-ground bone meal I believe, not sure that would be ideal however.

When Popi had her hernia closed, I fed boneless chicken for two days, and then with super tiny crushed eggshells fir the rest of the first week. It was more of an external surgery however, and she was fine with bone the next week.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks for all of your advice guys! Unfortunately, Peyton is a gulper, so I think the ground with larger chunks of bone would not work well for her. I think I'll just hold the chicken and make sure she chews it really thoroughly for a couple of days and see how she does with that. In the mean time, I still have about a day or two left of the Primal grind so I'll just use that up first.


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