Well I picked up an uncooked marrow bone pack from the grocery store today and gave one to Dipper. It was nearly as big as his head. He circled around it and started barking at it. He doesn't bark very often so this is behavior I don't usually see. Gradually he decided to lick it and he liked what he licked.
I realized at the store that this thing was too big but the butcher said he couldn't cut it smaller because of the danger of losing fingers in the band saw.
So I took a manual hacksaw and cut the bones down to a more manageable dimension. This was more work than I had anticipated this afternoon.
I left a reduced piece in his crate with him and he was all over it. A few times he barked at it and finally when I checked in on him again he was crashed out, totally exhausted by this bone.
So I guess this is a success, but I'm surprised at the intense reaction. Greg N
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be careful with marrow bones. Franklin just broke is tooth last month on a knuckle bone which are supposed to be softer than the marrow bones. Any weight bearing bone causes a risk of breaking teeth, raw or cooked. I know many people who feed them with no problems, but since I just had a $1000 vet bill from a broken tooth wanted to put the warning out there :-) Also, make sure they are long enough that he doesn't get his jaw stuck in it. At the vet I worked at we had to sedate and saw many a marrow bone off of dog's lower jaws.
Its one of those things that sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn't. At 10 weeks I wouldn't worry because he won't have his adult teeth until 4-6 months anyway. Any tooth damage will just fall out with the baby teeth :-P My parents have given marrow bones to our dogs all my life and never have had a problem, but then I try to do everything right and safe with Franklin and he breaks a tooth. So its one of those things that it may happen, it may not. If you see below, John feeds his dog's marrow bones with no problems. Franklin is just one of those "if it can happen it will happen" dogs!
We get parboiled bones from the local boutique pet store. I thought bones were s'pozed to be good for cleaning their teeth.
I have seen them get their lower jaw into that marrow cavity, with dark visions of getting stuck.
12/12/12 Al has a cracked carnasial tooth (that's the biggest, most important one). From the beef bones, I'll bet.
Al's broken carnasial tooth here, 12/13/12. Note horrible palque. 6y.o.:
Your butcher is giving you a line. If the bone was more than 2" long, it can be cut shorter. My butcher stocks them as small as 2" and he has all his fingers (so do his employees). Try a new butcher. But, between my boys, they prefer the bones that are longer. If Redford has the long bone, Butler will ask to be patted. When Redford leaves the bone to get patted, Butler steals the long bone. They only get to chew bones when supervised.
We get our marrow bones about 2" long. I'm amazed at how quickly they manage to get the marrow out, and their teeth are so nice and clean. After they are through with the marrow they pretty much ignore the bones, until I refill the marrow space with peanut butter or baby food and freeze them. So far no tooth problems, but my dogs are not crazy chewers.
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