# Bones



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

this thing with bones is making me crazy.

i give my dogs, let's say....a baby back pork rib.....malia (36 lbs) eats it no problem, but she splinters it and gnaws on it and some of those splinters seem deadly...but no problem and life goes on.

what, then, is the difference between the splintering she does with bones and butcher cut pork necks, for instance....that are odd shaped with sharp edges?

on another note.....i guess malia's jaw is getting stronger, because she bit a chunk off of a deer's shed antler.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

It's the bigger chunks that my dogs tend to break off that they could easily swallow whole that bother me about pork necks. That's why I stay away from them. But since your dogs are smaller I think they should be fine with pork neck bones.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i can see why you'd be bothered....but, bigger dog? bigger chunks? bigger splinters? 

isn't that the same thing? a splinter is a splinter? or a chunk with a pointy edge?

or a stupid antler that my corgi mix managed to break and eat? 

i'm not trying to be a pita....but i can't seem to wrap my head around it.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Are the pieces broken off by your dogs small enough to be swallowed but big enough to cause a choking hazard? Our dogs break off splinters all the time but they are always not a choking hazard. When I notice that they are I avoid that certain cut of meat. Pork necks are not that high quality to me and I can get better rmb's for the same price or cheaper.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> Are the pieces broken off by your dogs small enough to be swallowed but big enough to cause a choking hazard? Our dogs break off splinters all the time but they are always not a choking hazard. When I notice that they are I avoid that certain cut of meat. Pork necks are not that high quality to me and I can get better rmb's for the same price or cheaper.


ok. i thought, i guess erroneously, that pork was a good thing because of the b-vitamins....or are you saying you feed pork but the bones are not that high quality for you?

yesterday, malia was eating a baby back rib. it was about 3 1/2 inches long and about an inch wide...that includes the meat....

she gnaws and mashes and then cracks that thing and i've seen her swallow pieces that are about 3/4 inch long and about an 1/8 of an inch wide.

bubba, too. he can also eat baby backs....and he worries it to death until his acids or digestive enzymes soften it up and then he, too cracks it down the middle and then swallows the bones...and they aren't in a crushed state..

course, i've seen them do this with drumsticks.....

bubba doesn't get very many ounces per day....1/2 back usually....drumsticks..and turkey necks...and i'm going back to chicken wings and necks now that he can have skin again....

but is that it for bubba? chicken and turkey bones? 

and malia? 

i thought beef bones were important because of what's in them....which is why i included pork and lamb bones.....i figure the necks and breasts and ribs would be okay for my dogs. sigh.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

magicre said:


> ok. i thought, i guess erroneously, that pork was a good thing because of the b-vitamins....or are you saying you feed pork but the bones are not that high quality for you?


Pork is a good meat to feed and its usually pretty cheap around here. I like to feed Boston Butt pork roasts. My dogs are big and I split a Boston Butt between them for a meal.



> yesterday, malia was eating a baby back rib. it was about 3 1/2 inches long and about an inch wide...that includes the meat....


My dogs could and sometimes would just swallow that whole. As long as she crunches it a time or two it should be ok.



> she gnaws and mashes and then cracks that thing and i've seen her swallow pieces that are about 3/4 inch long and about an 1/8 of an inch wide.





> bubba, too. he can also eat baby backs....and he worries it to death until his acids or digestive enzymes soften it up and then he, too cracks it down the middle and then swallows the bones...and they aren't in a crushed state..


Dogs don't really have any acids or digestive juices in their saliva so it doesn't really soften up the bones any. He's just playing with it or experimenting to learn the best way to crunch them. Dogs also don'g "crush" the bones. They crunch them into small enough pieces to fit down their throat and they can get some amazingly large pieces down their throat. Swallowing large pieces of bone usually isn't really a big deal.



> but is that it for bubba? chicken and turkey bones?


He should be able to eat some other bones but if he can't it really isn't a big deal. A variety of bones is not nearly as important as a variety of meat sources.



> i thought beef bones were important because of what's in them....which is why i included pork and lamb bones.....i figure the necks and breasts and ribs would be okay for my dogs. sigh.


I never feed beef bones. I can just find enough other bones not to worry about dense beef bones. You should be able to find pork bones and lamb bones that are good to feed. I only feed pork and chicken bones. Lamb is just way too expensive around here. Can't find any for less than $4/lb.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I'm not saying that pork is a low quality source for bones or meat. Not at all. Just saying for the price of pork neck bones I would rather spend it on a higher quality cut of pork. I would estimate that pork makes up a third of our dogs diet. If I were to find pork neck bones a lot cheaper or for free I wouldn't turn them down. This is just a personal preference of mine, nothing more.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I'd much rather feed pork ribs than pork neck bones as with the ribs it would be a whole meal and the neck bones just seem to be more of a recreational chew since there is no meat on that bone. 

If you ask around you can find lamb breast bone, I pay more than the usual as I buy it from my community co-op and its hormone/ antibiotic free meat, it can be fatty but it also has some good meat on it too, the dogs can chew up those bones real good, you should have the option to have the fat removed or left on.:biggrin:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Leo hit the nail on the head. Pork neck bones just don't have the meat on them to make them meal worthy and make a better rec bone than anything. But I prefer beef ribs for my dog to have as rec bones because they actually have more meat on them than neck bones.

ETA: Yay!!! Leo has an avatar picture!!!!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

ah....i begin to see....LOL

when i get certain cuts of meat or certain bones, it's because i can get it on sale or markdown....otherwise, it's ridiculously priced...agreed.

the pork necks would be more recreational.....i was just worried about the cut by the butcher...

and pork ribs are not so meaty...at least the baby backs....aren't.....although we could buy regular pork ribs and they could play with the bone....who knows? we actually don't know what they are capable of eating....in the beginning, neither could barely get a back down, it was such hard work...now it's crunch crunch swallow.

and malia broke a piece of antler off....and it was a fat piece, too.

i agree about the variety of proteins.....ok. now we're on the same page.

everywhere i go to read, i read something different about bone, so i'd rather hear it here.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The thing that I have noticed being here for so long is that you have to find your happy place with your dogs. You know them, what they are capable of handling, and more importantly what they can't handle. While we as other members can offer advice and knowledge and experience in a general sense, what you have to figure out for yourself is your preferences and what works ideally with your dogs. Since all dogs are just slightly different you have to cater to their needs. I definitely have different preferences than other members here. I'm pretty sure everyone here does something different in the way they feed their dogs...what, when and how often. BUT we all live by the same standards and "rules" with raw feeding. That is one of the perks to raw feeding, it forces you to think outside the box! :biggrin:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> The thing that I have noticed being here for so long is that you have to find your happy place with your dogs. You know them, what they are capable of handling, and more importantly what they can't handle. While we as other members can offer advice and knowledge and experience in a general sense, what you have to figure out for yourself is your preferences and what works ideally with your dogs. Since all dogs are just slightly different you have to cater to their needs. I definitely have different preferences than other members here. I'm pretty sure everyone here does something different in the way they feed their dogs...what, when and how often. BUT we all live by the same standards and "rules" with raw feeding. That is one of the perks to raw feeding, it forces you to think outside the box! :biggrin:


i agree....i haven't found my happy place yet. i still want those training wheels on my bike....LOL

i can read books and forums all day long....

it's like going to medical school. diseases in a book do not prepare you for the real deal....

with raw, i have a blank pallette with these two....RFD knows about the fat issue and the overfeeding...from before we went raw again...

but only i am here, so i expect i'll get to a happy place with these guys.....but it sure is nice to have you and this place to help out until i do.


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