# Turkey Bones



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I have heard from numerous people that turkey bones, especially the leg bones are something they choose not to feed. They say that their dogs will even leave the bones after they are finished eating. 

What are your opinions on turkey bones?


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

Never had a problem with them.

(turkey meat ok we had to go tough love on her but she always gnawed at the bone  )

I like feeding them as the give my girl a good jaw work out. Yes they can look awful sharp when the dog shatters them but so far no problems and no complaints.


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## Mokapi (Apr 7, 2011)

I didn't have a problem with turkey bones right off the bat, but more recently, as Chip has started to really "get into" his meals, I've noticed him sitting there opening his jaw as wide as he can multiple times because the bone has become stuck on his teeth. He typically has to paw at his mouth to dislodge it. Turkey necks are my least favorite meal for him anyway, so I'm considering cutting out bone-in turkey from his diet and trying to replace it with something else, and only feeding the necks two or three times a month. It STILL takes him a solid 15 minutes to chew through a 3 oz. section of turkey neck, and with any other bones, pork rib included, it only takes about half the time.


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## Pimzilla (May 1, 2011)

I have not fed turkey yet, but is it really a bad thing that it takes twice as long to eat turkey necks compared to other bones?
I can see how it's annoying with it getting stuck in the teeth, but the longer my puppy is eating something the better I feel about it. It looks like she really enjoys chewing on bones. Actually it looks like she enjoys it that much I wish I could give her bones every day.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

We do Turkey wings, and necks and we've not had a problem, the larger necks are quite the workout for him, and the wings were as well. I'd say feed it and see what your dogs do with it, I don't really think there is a risk that is more than any other bone they can consume just make sure when you introduce them feed them the bone in turkey as a single meal so that way you can make sure their stomach can process it well.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Mine love turkey - necks are a favorite and during the holidays we really stock up. I buy all I can and cut them down to re freeze. Can't beat .28 per pound for meat.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i don't feed turkey legs, as my pug can't eat the bone.....for him, it's too much of a weight bearing bone.

turkey necks, in the beginning, really gave my kids a workout....i don't feed them anymore, now that they are eating other boney meals....

it takes time for a dog's mouth to get in shape, as it were, to handle bone...the teeth, gums have to get strong and healthy...the mouth, jaw and neck muscles have to strengthen......and depending on the size of the dog..that will determine what bones he can have.

in the beginning, my dogs could not get through a pork or lamb rib...now? i turn around and it's gone for both of them.

in my opinion, the longer the work out the better it is for the dog....


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## catahoulamom (Sep 23, 2010)

I feed turkey drumsticks every now and again as I can get them for only .68c/lb and whole necks are harder to find in my area. They're not my favorite to feed, as the past couple of times my bigger boy has refused them. I think the bone is just really dense for him. The smaller one will sometimes puke up a little bit of bile with a shard of turkey bone in the while we're sleeping after having a drumstick for dinner. Never the meat, just the bone. He's fine right after puking and it doesn't seem to bother him, but I do think the bones are a bit much for them to digest sometimes. I don't really have a problem with them, and will continue to feed every once in a while, but they're not my 1st choice as far as turkey goes.


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## Mokapi (Apr 7, 2011)

Pimzilla said:


> I have not fed turkey yet, but is it really a bad thing that it takes twice as long to eat turkey necks compared to other bones?
> I can see how it's annoying with it getting stuck in the teeth, but the longer my puppy is eating something the better I feel about it. It looks like she really enjoys chewing on bones. Actually it looks like she enjoys it that much I wish I could give her bones every day.


For other people, probably not. For me, yes. Chip is a very thorough chewer- he crunches even the little shards of chicken bone into very tiny pieces (size of my pinky nail or smaller)- so when he isn't spending all that time crunching through it and is instead trying to work it off of his teeth, it worries me. He gulps down the remaining bone instead of trying to work through it. I keep a close eye on his teeth, but the way it gets stuck isn't something that's good in my eyes. :| Turkey is also the only meal where he usually doesn't even eat all of it, which makes me think it's causing his jaw too much stress and is making it less enjoyable and more painful.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Mokapi said:


> For other people, probably not. For me, yes. Chip is a very thorough chewer- he crunches even the little shards of chicken bone into very tiny pieces (size of my pinky nail or smaller)- so when he isn't spending all that time crunching through it and is instead trying to work it off of his teeth, it worries me. He gulps down the remaining bone instead of trying to work through it. I keep a close eye on his teeth, but the way it gets stuck isn't something that's good in my eyes. :| Turkey is also the only meal where he usually doesn't even eat all of it, which makes me think it's causing his jaw too much stress and is making it less enjoyable and more painful.


we don't feed turkey at all....anymore. it was part of their transition and then a few months later, we stopped.....the dogs weren't crazy about turkey meat.....and since bubba only gets about three ounces a meal....i didn't like the size of the piece i would have to give him.

there are enough edible bones and proteins similar to turkey that i personally think the necks can be eliminated....especially if you don't like the way it goes down...


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## Mokapi (Apr 7, 2011)

magicre said:


> we don't feed turkey at all....anymore. it was part of their transition and then a few months later, we stopped.....the dogs weren't crazy about turkey meat.....and since bubba only gets about three ounces a meal....i didn't like the size of the piece i would have to give him.
> 
> there are enough edible bones and proteins similar to turkey that i personally think the necks can be eliminated....especially if you don't like the way it goes down...


What did you introduce instead? If I take out turkey, he'll be left with pork and chicken for his bone-in meals...not a lot of variety. I may be able to get bone-in goat or lamb. Would you use either of those instead?


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

I'll feed the wing drums (about the size of chicken drumsticks), but not the leg drums, only because my dogs are small, so...
1. too much bone for them
2. the bone is too big for them.

But there's also pork, chicken, and other meats you can probably find bone-in to feed instead of turkey.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

My 3, well 4 with Ducki, LOVEEE turkey! I cant wait for turkey prices to go down so we can buy a few whole turkeys!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Mokapi said:


> What did you introduce instead? If I take out turkey, he'll be left with pork and chicken for his bone-in meals...not a lot of variety. I may be able to get bone-in goat or lamb. Would you use either of those instead?


we did intro turkey and, in fact, fed it for about three months.....for bones, now, we use drumsticks or breasts or the entire cornish game hen.....we use lamb ribs and goat ribs and pork ribs....rabbit bones all of them...and there are others that if they eat them, great, if they can't...ah well...i always have my trusty drumsticks


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we now have the POWER to delete...just click edit post and look for delete this post


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

My guys love the taste of turkey but it's not really cheap here now. At Thanksgiving time I could find prepackaged containers of just necks and I'd grind those up for Chelsy (since there is no way she can chew on those necks). She does really well on turkey meat and those work out well for her when I mix them with some boneless meat. I can also find ground turkey on clearance sometimes and she seems to like the taste of that over chicken so I'll pick that up for her. 

I didn't give the boy the prepackaged necks because they had been cut in pieces already and looked too small to give the big boys.


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

Wallaby's first turkey experience was wings and the shards of bone scared me enough to not feed bone-in turkey again for a good long while. He gets necks probably once or twice a month now but that's it. After thanksgiving I'm sure I'll end up buying a few turkeys and breaking them down because they're so cheap.. but by that point Wallaby will be completely transitioned and have much stronger jaws and I won't be worried in the slightest.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Thanks guys. I'll see how turkey goes with my boys as well. I have heard some negative things and positive things from many raw feeders and from all of the things that I have heard both here and other places, it seems that the only way to determine whether to feed turkey or not is to try it with each individual dog. I haven't been able to find any cheap turkey so far, but Thanksgiving isn't all that far off now! I'm going to keep looking though, in the meantime.


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

I'm late to this conversation but we do feed bone in turkey.

Mostly turkey necks, but I have fed turkey drumsticks before as well. It all depends on the size of your dog, the power of their jaw and how much you trust them to chew what is appropriate. The drumsticks made me a little uneasy at first, but the further they got into raw it wasn't a big deal. They were more of a challenge and provided them with a pretty bone heavy meal. I haven't ordered them since, and didn't feed them much at all. I used up the box I had initially ordered and we are out now. Maybe in the future I will get more, but for now we have plenty of other bone in sources.

Know they dog!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Northwoods, my dogs are (and will be) bigger than yours. I do think I'll try turkey when I find it and see how they do. I think they will be fine. Dude is about 78 pounds (might be a little lighter now as he appears to have lost some of his thin layer of housedog fat!) and Buck should top out between 70 and 100 pounds (his dad was HUGE). His breeder thinks he will be around 80. 

I, personally, think Dude will be able to handle it, but should I wait until Buck is full grown to offer him a turkey leg? He is 12 1/2 weeks now and has the crazy jaw strength of a hyena, but I don't know if he would be able to do much with a turkey leg.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I would personally give things like turkey wings or breast meat with some ribs until he was maybe 6 months and had alot of his size if not bulk. My big guys have no trouble with turkey legs but I wouldn't give it to a youngster of my sheltie. JMHO:becky:


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

That was my thinking too, Liz. I don't think I would be comfortable giving Buck turkey legs until he is older. I agree. I'll wait until he reaches full size (not weight) for Buck. Dude will probably have to wait too. I haven't been able to find any cheap turkey so they will both probably have to wait until Thanksgiving.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I don't buy anything but turkey necks unless it is holiday time. Turkeys are so cheap for Thanksgiving and Christmas that I stock up then. Also, we have a food bank that gave me five turkeys last year because they had given out all their boxes and didn't want to store them until Christmas. There are some items my guys only get seasonally, turkey, ribs because they are on sale during the summer mostly, fish spring and summer as my husband fishes and beef when I get it through our co-op. Staples are chicken, turkey necks, pork and lamb lung.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Yea, right now, they are eating chicken and introducing beef. Not really what I wanted to add first, but it is what I have available for them. From the same guy (he owns a private farm and raises one or two cows per year) I will be getting some whole fish and big blocks of liver and kidney. Other meat is just so expensive and we don't exactly lead the most luxurious life.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

I so totally understand. We try to keep everything under $1. We are a single income family. I petsit and that has been covering the dog's food but there are slow times in pet sitting. I still think they are better off even if chicken is a big part of their diet than on kibble. It is a lot of work to keep the cost down but well worth it. The only reason tehy get a good amount of beef is we can get it through our co-op for $1 per pound. Otherwise hearts and ribs would be about it.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Liz, are you a part of the WA/OR co-op? If you are, did you order a calf?

Our guy will be butchering at least one cow in September so we are hoping to get a good amount of meat and organs from him again. Because of the car situation mentioned below and my hubby's atrocious schedule, we are still kicking ourselves about not being able to find time to go check out more butchers. We have to do a lot of our shopping at Walmart because he usually leaves at 2-3 am, is gone for up to 3 days and comes home at 12 am. The poor man then sleeps all day the next day before he has to be back out at work by dinnertime. And we all know that our Walmarts are open 24 hours a day! I think this weekend, though will be a good butcher visit day 

We are also a single income family. My husband is in the Navy and doesn't get paid much, but we make it work. We have one car, so there's not much I can do about working. If we lived on base, he would be able to walk and I would take the car, but we live in off base housing. Mostly it is when friends go on leave. Our base (and the off base housing) has a TON of dog approved housing so a lot of our friends have dogs.


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## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I recently bought lucky a whole turkey leg, chopped it up and it made 12 meals for her (she is only little) .. she was fine with the bone, took a bit longer to eat and was a lot of crunching going on but did fine, I don't get turkey often, the legs were on offer at the supermarket, about £3 for 1600g so I couldn't resist


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

We feed turkey bones here, Zailey loves a nice turkey drumstick. I haven't ever had any kind of issues with it..... turkey necks are also a staple of ours, and our go-to if anyone has less than ideal stool.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Yes, I am in the co-op but I am waiting for the grass fed beef to come up in August I hope. If it doesn't I will get a few calves next time. I also wanted to try the sardines but they went up in price and I didn't want to take a chance. I am looking in sheep right now and will let you know if I can get something for less than the co-op. I am near Tacoma are you over the bridge?


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Liz said:


> Yes, I am in the co-op but I am waiting for the grass fed beef to come up in August I hope. If it doesn't I will get a few calves next time. I also wanted to try the sardines but they went up in price and I didn't want to take a chance. I am looking in sheep right now and will let you know if I can get something for less than the co-op. I am near Tacoma are you over the bridge?


HAHA, that is SO funny that you mentioned that, as I just mentioned lamb/sheep on my thread!:lol: Let me know also, if you dont mind, if you do find any!!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

The toll bridge? Yes... I can't seem to get the grip of Washington very well. I don't know why it confuses me so much. I spent 20 years in SoCal. I have only lived here since December. We live in Bremerton.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Liz said:


> Yes, I am in the co-op but I am waiting for the grass fed beef to come up in August I hope. If it doesn't I will get a few calves next time. I also wanted to try the sardines but they went up in price and I didn't want to take a chance. I am looking in sheep right now and will let you know if I can get something for less than the co-op. I am near Tacoma are you over the bridge?


liz, if you're looking into sheep, would you let me know, too, please?


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## doggoblin (Jun 6, 2011)

Turkey is one of our staples and the dogs love chewing turkey necks. It helps we live about 2 miles from a turkey farm. They are used to getting requests for raw feeders and one of the people who takes telephone orders is a BARFer. We generally only purchase meat and turkey necks.


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