WARNING: Knuckle bones are NOT safe!
Well don't I feel like an idiot. I've been on here for months telling people who ask dental questions what to do about their dogs tartar, etc. to give raw knuckle bones because they won't break teeth. I was told this in my veterinary dentistry class and have been feeding raw knuckle bones for almost a year now with no problems.....until last night. I gave Franklin and Truck a knuckle bone bc Truck has horrible teeth and I use them to keep Franklin's teeth clean. Well last night he broke his tooth on a knuckle bone. Of course Franklin is one of those dogs that if it can happen it WILL happen, so I've always been SUPER careful of what I give him (food, toys, etc). Now I am faced with a vet bill of around $1000 to get the tooth pulled and I am currently an unemployed student. Not a good combination. Not really sure what I am going to do, I do have Care Credit but the hospital only offers 3 months no interest and then interest jumps to something like 29% so I may just have to charge the whole thing on a credit card or something. Augh, really bad timing for this because teeth are the ONE thing they can't fix for almost free at my school. The Dr.s at my school are so good and can do most anything, but of course not this type of extraction because it is very difficult. Having a small panic attack now to figure out how I am going to pay for this. But just wanted to put it out there DO NOT FEED BONES! I was always told knuckle bones are softer than weight bearing bones so they won't break teeth and that seemed to be true, but not anymore. Now I may have to resort to actually brushing teeth :-(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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The whole dog journal article is where I found good American made retriever rolls. I'm a little nervous about even trying compressed rawhide as I feel it doesn't soften as well as the thicker rawhide does. As John said, give to gulpers with caution because you don't want chunks getting stuck. Theoretically they shouldn't be able to break a chunk off of the ones mentioned in the whole dog journal article but dogs don't read so.... lol
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Permalink Reply by Lois B. Allen on
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So true. I wish my gulper could read the articles. She was in rescue a long time and may have been homeless and would eat until she died if she had the chance. I hope with time she will become less obsessed with food. What were the recommended brands of good rolls? Reese scared me to death one time shortly after I got her as she stole Randy's rawhide and gulped it down then followed it with her own. I am very careful about the sizes I buy and Randy protects his better as well.
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rolls made by Wholesome Hide or ones from Pet Factory (plant location is in Mundelein, Illinois and will probably be listed under other brand names).
I haven't bought one of these yet, still researching but I did find some American made ones at Petco that are rolled like the Wholesome hide rolls and they are probably about 6-8 inches long and still take Franklin 2 days to chew. When I went to order the Wholesome Hide rawhides from KVpet (listed in the article) the rawhides they were selling weren't specifically Wholesome Hide so I passed. I will research more after Franklin runs out of the ones I just bought. Take a look at the article posted by Cathie above (the first link), there are pictures of the 2 types of rawhides and you can really see the difference
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Thanks, I just bungled through it and am likewise doing more research. I appreciate your help.
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Melissa, As I mentioned, I was able to get the Wholesome Hide "Superthick" Retriever roll prepared by Wholesome Hids at www.whitedogbone.com. They are 10+" long and 1.5 - 2.5" in diameter. I was flabbergasted when I saw them but they are not too large for corgis. Randy is not the heavy chewer as, my gulper Reese but once she learned how she really goes at it but it is still slow going. So I think these may well be good substitute for the beef knuckle bones that I have been using. Reese went to den (under coffee table) with hers and growled quite a bit and I think she was treating it as prey and telling it she was killing it. Randy was in another room with his. Here are pics of them with their rawhide rolls.
These cost a little less that $5 each Plus shipping.
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they look so happy!
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Follow-Up. Once Reese gets one of these started, she will get down as much as she can. So the new rule is 30 minutes at a time and 3 times per day. It gives the rawhide time to dry somewhat between, but even with that I have ordered more.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Be careful about gulpers. That's how we lost Siri. She choked.
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Permalink Reply by Lucy & Ricky (Wendy/Jack ) on
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What are gulpers?
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Animals who grab as much as they can get and often swallow without chewing.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Throneberry on
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Sammie just had two teeth pulled for this exact reason. I would get quotes from other places. Mine only cost me $115 all together!
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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
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I recently called around local shops looking for someone, anyone who might have fresh raw bones for sale. Yuki's teeth need the help and I want to try to keep Ellie's sparkling white. I'm quite glad I couldn't find any that had knuckle bones for sale because I had forgotten about this thread!
I've ordered dehydrated lamb trachea as a chew, for now, as I read that they help a little bit. I'm hoping that they won't stink up the house. :-/ I've also read that non-weight-bearing bones, like ribs, are a good alternative to knuckles. Does anyone know if that holds true? I haven't found any posts, yet, saying that someone's dog has cracked a tooth on a rib bone, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened to someone.
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