# fish and chicken bones



## chanaka (Apr 10, 2010)

Hi,
I am feeding my bullmastiff puppy (8 weeks old) a mixture of fish,chicken and kibble. Fish and chicken is boiled for 10-15 mins. I plan to gradually get rid of kibble and stay with fish and meat. May be move to RAW someday.
Currently after boiling I get rid of all the bones in fish and chicken before feeding. My main concern is if I add the bones (basically feed him the whole fish from head to tail) these bones will injure his digesting system (puncture by sharp edges etc.) while eating.
I've been told from my childhood that bones (specailly chicken bones) are bad for dogs because they can get stuck or make punctures. But if I understand the raw fed forums, these guys just feed them bones without any processing.

Thanks for all the advice.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

chanaka said:


> Hi,
> I am feeding my bullmastiff puppy (8 weeks old) a mixture of fish,chicken and kibble. Fish and chicken is boiled for 10-15 mins. I plan to gradually get rid of kibble and stay with fish and meat. May be move to RAW someday.
> Currently after boiling I get rid of all the bones in fish and chicken before feeding. My main concern is if I add the bones (basically feed him the whole fish from head to tail) these bones will injure his digesting system (puncture by sharp edges etc.) while eating.
> I've been told from my childhood that bones (specailly chicken bones) are bad for dogs because they can get stuck or make punctures. But if I understand the raw fed forums, these guys just feed them bones without any processing.
> ...


RAW bones are entirely safe and recommended to feed.
Never ever feed any kind of bone cooked. I would say the only exception to this is the bones in canned fish because they are so soft and fall apart to the touch. 

It sounds like you're going through an awful lot of work to feed the cooked meat and kibble. It would be much simpler to eliminate the kibble and just feed the meat and bones raw. :wink:


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## chanaka (Apr 10, 2010)

CorgiPaws said:


> RAW bones are entirely safe and recommended to feed.
> Never ever feed any kind of bone cooked. I would say the only exception to this is the bones in canned fish because they are so soft and fall apart to the touch.
> 
> It sounds like you're going through an awful lot of work to feed the cooked meat and kibble. It would be much simpler to eliminate the kibble and just feed the meat and bones raw. :wink:


Hi CorgiPaws, Thank you very much for the quick response.
Can you please elaborate on why we should not feed any kind of cooked bone and why raw bones are okay. What makes the difference?


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

chanaka said:


> Hi CorgiPaws, Thank you very much for the quick response.
> Can you please elaborate on why we should not feed any kind of cooked bone and why raw bones are okay. What makes the difference?


Cooking bones lowers the digestability rate, posing a risk to the lower digestive tract. It changes the texture as well, making them more brittle, and splintering rather than properly crunching when a dog tries to chew through them. 
Raw bones are highly digestable for canines (dare i say all carnivores) and that's the reason they can eat them with no problems. They are digested before they every make their way far enough in the digestive tract to cause any trouble. A cooked bone, however, could splinter when being chewed small enough to swallow, and remain undigested as it moves through the body, puncturing later down the road. This just doesn't happen with raw bones. 

Raw bones and meat in general are just healthier for dogs. Cooking kills enzymes important for optimum health. 


SOme bones you'll just want to stay away from, even in raw form, are any weight bearing bones of large animals such as femurs and knuckles of cows, as well as oddly cut bones like tbone steak bones, and some pork neck bones are oddly cut while packaging.


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