# Bones to avoid for small dogs?



## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Probably made a little mistake today. 

Gave the dogs a bit of pork neck bones, big enough so that they couldn't swallow them. While they had fun with them for a bit, I noticed that Patchie has a tooth thats looking sort of flat? Maybe the tip chipped? Doesn't look bad, and the other doggies teeth look fine. 
Are there any bones that should be maybe avoided for smaller dogs? Definitely won't be giving them any big weight-bearing bones. But are there others they might not be able to handle as well?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

If the tooth is chipped it would have sharp edges....

Pork neck bones should be safe for your dogs but just a bit large for them. I would try giving pork ribs or riblets for their pork bone meal. There really aren't other bones you should avoid with small dogs. Just make sure they are appropriately sized and raw


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I have a shetland sheepdog.. about 12lb.. and the only bones I feed him are from birds.. quail, duck, chicken, turkey etc. I tried pork and lamb bones and he didn't even make a dent on them.

I feed a bone in meal in the morning and a boneless red meat meal at night


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## Caligirl (Nov 8, 2010)

I'm glad to see this question asked! I had three small dogs that have been kibble fed up to now. I've recently been experimenting with RMB's occaisionally in hopes of getting the dental benefit.

Of the 3 dogs, one is doing chicken necks and backs just fine. One buries everything in the towel, and one back away and looks sad. The sad one has tried the Primal foods very reluctantly and then throws up. 

This week I bought some ox tail, thinking it would smell and appear similar to Merrick flossies which they like....but no luck getting the 2 hold outs to try it. 

My little carnivore however went right after the ox tail. The bone sounded so hard as he worked on it, that I took it away after about 15 minutes and gave him some Primal to round out his meal. I'm hesitant to give the oxtail again because I don't want broken teeth!

My dogs are Havanese and Chinese Crested. Should I be sticking only to bird type RMB's?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I would or maybe pork. Also fish bones would be suitable. Are you looking to switch completely to a raw meaty bones diet?


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## Caligirl (Nov 8, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> I would or maybe pork. Also fish bones would be suitable. Are you looking to switch completely to a raw meaty bones diet?


At this time, I'm not planning a full switch, but who knows what the future may bring IF I get comfortable with it! 

First I want to get them comfortable with it and I am only having good luck with the one. I can't understand why Marley is throwing up. Even one tiny tsp. of the Primal and he is urping it right back. I've tried the duck and the chicken in hopes that trying the prepared raw would help give him a taste for it and then he would attempt the raw with bones. 

Phoebe, the Crested, has about half a mouth of teeth which is normal for a CC hairless. She eats kibble fine and will work on flossies. Can she have RMB's or is there a huge risk there due to having less teeth? At this time, she's the one who bury's it in the towel. 

Also another concern at this time is I have my first grandchild coming next month and I am worried about germs--salmonella, e-coli and don't want to risk the baby getting sick.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

How much do your dogs weigh each?


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## Caligirl (Nov 8, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> How much do your dogs weigh each?


The Havanese weigh 15 and 16 pounds and the Chinese Crested is 11 pounds.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Thanks, I guess I shouldn't worry about it. Doesn't seem to be bothering her either, maybe it's just a worn out tooth? They also barely seemed to make a dent on the neck bones, just had them for fun.
Maybe I'll stick mostly to bird and rib bones .


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## hbwright (Jul 14, 2010)

Hey Christy  I would try to start a new post, especially about Marly and see what ideas they may have because I'm pretty stumped. For the crested I may try some quail or cornish hen. My senior cat seems to haber the best luck of those. She has proven she is capable of more but only when she thinks she's getting away with something. 

3 musketeers, how old is Patchie? I had a senior and her last years she had very worn down teeth. She also had separation anxiety and I would catch her chewing on things that would west them down. Is Patchie by chance older?


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## Caligirl (Nov 8, 2010)

hbwright said:


> Hey Christy  I would try to start a new post, especially about Marly and see what ideas they may have because I'm pretty stumped. For the crested I may try some quail or cornish hen. My senior cat seems to haber the best luck of those. She has proven she is capable of more but only when she thinks she's getting away with something.


Thanks! I will!


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

I have two 4# dogs and I use Cornish Hens & Chicken Back/Thigh pieces for their boney portions (my chihuahua will only eat the cornish hens). I also give them pork neck bones, pork & beef ribs, chicken & turkey necks and while they don't eat all the meat it gives their little teethers a workout.


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## Caligirl (Nov 8, 2010)

cprcheetah said:


> I have two 4# dogs and I use Cornish Hens & Chicken Back/Thigh pieces for their boney portions (my chihuahua will only eat the cornish hens). I also give them pork neck bones, pork & beef ribs, chicken & turkey necks and while they don't eat all the meat it gives their little teethers a workout.


Where are you getting the cornish game hens? Do you just buy them at the supermarket? Do you get them whole and them cut them up? 
I just watched the video of your little ones eating whole prey--wow! That's a little advanced for me, but wow!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Cornish game hens are available at supermarkets in the frozen section. They are more expensive than regular chicken is but we get them for our 2 pound kittens to eat and they power through those bones without an issue.


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

Caligirl said:


> Where are you getting the cornish game hens? Do you just buy them at the supermarket? Do you get them whole and them cut them up?
> I just watched the video of your little ones eating whole prey--wow! That's a little advanced for me, but wow!


Yes you can buy them at the supermarket. I have a place I get them for $2.08 for. I've also seen them at walmart. I get them whole and cut them up.

Thanks, yah that was their first 'whole' prey, I have a source for free mice....so figured I would give it a try, I fully didn't expect my chihuahua to even touch it. I've been raw feeding for 4 months. I had an opportunity about 3 weeks in to feed some chicks whole prey but I just couldn't at that time.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> we get them for our 2 pound kittens to eat and they power through those bones without an issue.


Huh?? You've got kittens? You kept that quiet! And, where are the photo's sunshine?
Sorry to go off topic here, I'm nosy and simply couldn't let this pass by.

I get cornish hens from the frozen meat section at Walmart, good for both the cat and the dog.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Well she is still only 6, and it only seems to be one tooth, but I have caught her trying to chew on odd objects before.
I'm not sure if perhaps she doesn't to have the jaw strength of the other two yet, but she takes a lot longer eating. Sparky and Popi finish and have time to bug her for another 15 minutes. She just "inhaled" kibble most of her life and didn't really have anything to crunch on.

I'd like to try giving them some cornish hen sometime, is the price difference from chicken a lot?

Oh and I have the odd question about mice, do they digest the fur? Call me weird, but furry poo just crossed my mind. Well I probably couldn't handle feeding them anything with the fur still on anyways =/.

Hey, I'd like to see those kitten photos sometime as well ;P


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

We did get kittens....both of our other cats have gone never to return. Sidekick died and Kitah ran off never to be seen. So we went to the shelter and got two new kitties. We don't have any pictures up yet, but hopefully we will get them up soon.

Cornish game hens are like $2 per pound here....which is over 2X the cost of regular chicken.


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## hbwright (Jul 14, 2010)

We do need some little carnivore kitty pictures. I noticed my youngest at just over a year powers through anything I give him now and it only took a couple days after giving him appropriately sized food to devour his food. 

I get the cornish hen only for the cats because it is more expensive. I'll also break them off the wings of whole chickens I get here but only buy whole chickens when they are on sale or the bargan bin. Sometimes I'll break off the backs to give the cats too but usually just throw each dog a half a chicken cutting it so the smaller half goes to the doberman and the larger to the boxer. The cornish hen I get is in Wallmart and I buy the larger ones in the 2 packs and quarter them for the cats. I have a friend of mine that I just found out is raising quail so I'm hoping for some help on that count because they are expensive but easy. Just throw a whole quail and let him go. Those come in a package of 6 for 9.99 though.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

3Musketeers said:


> Thanks, I guess I shouldn't worry about it. Doesn't seem to be bothering her either, maybe it's just a worn out tooth? They also barely seemed to make a dent on the neck bones, just had them for fun.
> Maybe I'll stick mostly to bird and rib bones .


i'm at the 9 month part of transition and from observation of my pug...he's my yardstick for small dog bones....

what he couldn't do nine months ago, amazes me now.

the corgi mix with her jaw structure can barrel through lots of different kinds of bone...

but the pug with his jaw structure and previously weakened teeth, mouth, jaw and neck....can now eat
bird and most fowl bones, although i don't feed turkey legs
rabbit bones, all of them
lamb ribs
goat ribs
llama ribs
turkey neck
pork ribs

the recreational bones they get are beef ribs and the occasional bully stick, which keep them occupied when i'm gone.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Update:
So I went back and took a reaally good look at all of their teeth again, of all 3, and... I see that all of Patchie's bottom-front teeth (between the canines) look very, well, bad, and I know for a fact that she does not use them while eating raw (she uses her doggie molars in the back), plus the injuries look old, no blood or anything.
She's the only one who does stress-chewing too, so I'm pretty confident now that her teeth have been like that for a long time and I never noticed with how dirty her teeth were on kibble. It's upsetting, but it just makes me glad she's eating raw now. Looks like I'm going to have to remove their toys while I'm gone from now on.

Can't wait to see how much better they will get at munching through their food over the next few months.


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## hbwright (Jul 14, 2010)

I did not fed 100% raw to my senior. She got ground trachea and RMBs about twice a week and when I started this heer teeth showed a major improvement. The majority of heer wear from stress chewing was also in the front and she had only little nubs left. Watch for swelling or other signs of infection in the mouth though because it can go systemic. It may come down to crating. Sometimes they find other things to chew on. Summer ate my door frame in a time of stress while we were on vacation and had neighbors watching. We ended up having to crate her when we would leave for more than a couple hours. Luckely she loved her crate.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

3Musketeers said:


> Probably made a little mistake today.
> 
> Gave the dogs a bit of pork neck bones, big enough so that they couldn't swallow them. While they had fun with them for a bit, I noticed that Patchie has a tooth thats looking sort of flat? Maybe the tip chipped? Doesn't look bad, and the other doggies teeth look fine.
> Are there any bones that should be maybe avoided for smaller dogs? Definitely won't be giving them any big weight-bearing bones. But are there others they might not be able to handle as well?


do you give patchie beef ribs? or ribs of any kind? they kind of force a dog to use the front teeth.....to pull the membranes off the bone..especially the smaller dogs who can't actually eat the beef rib.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

No, all she's had so far are chicken backs, leg quarters, and just the one time I gave them pork necks. 
I guess I will have to watch her and check on her teeth to make sure they don't get worse, good call though, with those teeth, I might skip the ribs for her or just feed them very sparingly to see how she does with them.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

3Musketeers said:


> No, all she's had so far are chicken backs, leg quarters, and just the one time I gave them pork necks.
> I guess I will have to watch her and check on her teeth to make sure they don't get worse, good call though, with those teeth, I might skip the ribs for her or just feed them very sparingly to see how she does with them.


give that dog a beef rib.....dogs are smart that way...what she can't do, she won't..until her teeth heal and her gums heal.....and her neck and jaw get stronger...

let her play...and see how much of an improvement there will be....you can strip most of everything off the beef rib, just so there's enough that she has to use her front teeth....i'm betting her teeth are tender and her gums are tender.....pork ribs and beef ribs.....that's the ticket..


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## hamblekg (Feb 1, 2011)

I have 2 pugs (20lbs) and a 100 lb (CJ) mixed breed; all get pork neck bones; no problems and all naw at the bones til they are small. I let the pugs take the bones down to a size i am comfortable with; but they still get pieces and they are fine with this. Cj just crunches everything; no problem. Something I found real handy were pig feet - I gave the boys one ea of these and they chewed and chewed for 2 hours! It was great :wink: I eventually took the remainders off them and garbaged them. They were more chews then food; cause they didn't get a whole lot from them. Pig tails are also a great chewy treat here but they eat more (aka most) of them. I keep the pig feet away from CJ thou; too small a piece and he tries to swallow whole. 
Just feed what you get comfortable with.


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