Bones Bones Bones
Help Me Help Jake:
He is 6.5 months old. He loves chewing on bones. He has experience with raw hide, of course. And cow knuckle bones. LOVES THEM!
But, a former corgi owner told me to never feed a corgi raw hide bones b/c down the road, it can cause Gastrointestinal upset/blockage, etc.... He said that he gave his corgi butcher bones.
So, I called my vet, asked a tech....grrrr, a tech... and she said to NEVER give a dog butcher bones (choking hazard) or raw hide bones aren't recommended either - that I should do the Kong/Peanut butter thing, etc... ie: "Chews" rather than bones.
Brought him in to vet for blood draw before neuter, showed her the plaque on his molars, and she (tech) said to give him raw hide bones. O.M.Gosh.
But why can't I give him REAL butcher bones??? And besides? What bones would I ask for? What are the risks in choosing real bones vs baked raw hide bones? He clearly has a genetic tooth tarter problem; I love him; I want him healthy. I feed him Wellness for Puppies, which will soonly be going to adult food because I want him to develop fully as possible. (that's a whole other story - we put him on adult food at about 9 weeks b/c the trainer said to so they don't grow too quickly, then vet said "No, they need the nutrients in the puppy food" so he is back on puppy food)
So: Bones???
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ludi on
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Weight-bearing bones of livestock are generally not used for recreational chewing as they are very hard, and could cause a tooth to chip or worse. "Puppy" kibble, when generically labeled as such and not SPECIFICALLY called "Large-breed puppy" kibble, can actually be detrimental to the growth of a dwarfed breed like a corgi. You want to promote slow, even growth.
Ace has immaculate teeth as he is on a raw diet. The bones he gets are chicken leg quarters. I take special care to monitor him chewing on the lower half. I have heard that chicken feet are an EXCELLENT tooth-cleaner for smaller dogs. You can graduate to chicken and turkey necks, or ox tail vertebrae when he is bigger. These are all soft, easy to "dismantle" foods and do a great job of cleaning your dog's teeth. They do carry a caloric value you'll have to take out of your dog's daily intake.
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Permalink Reply by Nora on
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No really suggestion, but just something I've been through similar as yours. I read books and also was told that rawhide might not be good for puppy, since it might cause stomac upset or blockage...BUT my pup loves rawhide!
I've tried beef chewy... My pup loves it as well, but when the chewy becomes smaller she will also try to swallow the whole thing... And, since it is made from real meat, the protein is relatively high...
Now, I use rawhide since the protein is low. BUT I make sure to supervise the dog with it, and throw it away as soon as the rawhide size becomes small. Never leave the rawhide with her alone, especially if you will leave for hours...
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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on
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Sidney gets raw knuckle bones from the butcher shop. The butcher slices them up so they are not so huge. Sid loves them and his teeth are really clean. You never want to give cooked bones because they can splinter. I just keep an eye on the size of the bone and once it gets too small I throw it out.
You can also try deer antlers or Himalayan chews (essentially a very hard cheese made from yak milk)
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Permalink Reply by sarah stravinska on
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Our Roxy has an antler that she adores. Keeps her teeth clean. Frodo and Penny like hooves. I think they are from cows.
Again, when the hoof gets too small I take it away. Chicken bones shatter into sharp pieces, so I don't give them to dogs.
Jake is so cute, but what is that thing he is wearing? It looks hot, I mean in temperature, not sexy.
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Permalink Reply by Ashley & Dan & Jake, our corgi! on
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=D That's his life-jacket! No worries - we were on Lake Superior - brrrr
thank you!!!
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Permalink Reply by Janna Banana on
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Unrelated but... I live smack-dab in the middle of the Great Lakes! I looove Lake Superior - absolutely gorgeous! :)
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Relief! I was thinking of my dogs, who think their collars are too hot right now. We are in Nashville where it has been over 100 for a week or so. Walks have to happen at dawn or dusk or dogs and people alike just wilt.
I would love to see Jake floating around in his life jacket. Does he like the water?
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Permalink Reply by Alex on
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If your dog has tartar problem already, no matter what you do, he will have problems. We used to give our Dee Dee rawhide until she started to have diarrhea when she had them. Then we switched to Nylabone which we found out later chipped her teeth & resulting her getting root canal. The only thing that helped her teeth staying clean was teeth brushing and periodical professional cleaning by vets. She's now old (12) and I'm afraid of giving her really hard bones, but if I knew about it earlier, I would've tried antlers. They are somewhat pricy, but only have heard good things about them.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Probably 3 of the 5 vets at my office recommed rawhide bones and aren't too worried about them causing a blockage because they are digestable. We had a dog in the other day who ate an entire bag of rawhide chips, the vet wasn't worried. For the butcher bones, I used to give knuckle bones from the butcher to Franklin to help clean his teeth, it helped a lot for his teeth until he broke a molar on one and it had to be extracted. So the big concern with real bones (raw or cooked) is the tooth breaking risk.
I feed my dogs T/D food. I get the large bites and give them 3-4 pieces with each meal. There was a hugely noticable difference after about a month of doing this. You can also get the Virbac CET chews which are enzymatic dental chews that do great for cleaning teeth, and of course brush as often as you can.
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