So I've taken to feeding my Oreo (a mini schnauzer) an entire chicken. I'll put it down for a few minutes and then remove it. That cuts down on A LOT of time butchering the chicken into portions and allows the little lady to eat more and put on a little more weight (which she needs).
When the lady who does the allergy testing at the vet practice we go to heard about it, she mentioned concerns about feeding Oreo chicken with bones. Previously, her vet had mentioned similar concerns as well. Their main concern was that chicken bones, while soft and easily crunched up has a tendency to splinter. As such it is dangerous to feed bones, even if they are raw. Our vet mentioned too that she's had too many patients who had major problems from bones slicing a whole in the oesophagus or causing blockage. (A little background: Many dogs who visit this practice are raw fed because the vets are big advocators of raw feeding, thus most of the dogs vet saw with the problems are raw fed dogs having problems eating raw bones.)
On my part, I've seen Oreo vomiting a good 4-5 hours after a meal (supposedly the amount of time it takes to digest a raw meal) but all that comes up was meat, no bones. I have no idea where the bone went, I supposed they had gone further down the digestive system to bring up. How real are their concerns? Can it be possible that local dogs are just not too clever about crunching up the bones and letting the bones go down the wrong way? Should I just stop feeding RMBs?
Concerns over feeding bones
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Re: Concerns over feeding bones
This is why we stress to feed raw MEATY bones, so that the bones are crunched up with flesh around them.
No feeding method is 100% safe - dogs have even choked on kibble, and my vet says he sees salmonella cases in kibble-fed dogs but has never yet seen one in a raw-fed dog. (doesn't mean it isn't possible - just giving a feel for statistics).
I would want to know more about the cases your vet has seen - so many major problems! That's very unusual, and I wonder if there is a common denominator, or even if these bones have been cooked?
No feeding method is 100% safe - dogs have even choked on kibble, and my vet says he sees salmonella cases in kibble-fed dogs but has never yet seen one in a raw-fed dog. (doesn't mean it isn't possible - just giving a feel for statistics).
I would want to know more about the cases your vet has seen - so many major problems! That's very unusual, and I wonder if there is a common denominator, or even if these bones have been cooked?
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Re: Concerns over feeding bones
I'm not sure how the bones were fed, or if they were meaty, but I'm sure feeding Oreo an entire chicken, the bones were definitely very raw and extremely meaty!
As for the cases my vet had seen, the 2 cases that I know some details of, both involved raw chicken bones that got stuck in the oesophagus. In one of them, the bone was stuck for almost a week because in the first x-ray, it was not seen. It later resulted in the dog having ulcers in the oesophagus and subsequently in the stomach as well. Dog ended up having to be fed via a feeding tube! It took a month for the dog to recover. Needless to say, the dog never had an RMB ever after that.
I guess I just need some confirmation that despite my vet's concerns about feeding bones, feeding Oreo the chicken which still has its bones in is fine. I won't end up subjecting Oreo to such scary ordeals.
As for the cases my vet had seen, the 2 cases that I know some details of, both involved raw chicken bones that got stuck in the oesophagus. In one of them, the bone was stuck for almost a week because in the first x-ray, it was not seen. It later resulted in the dog having ulcers in the oesophagus and subsequently in the stomach as well. Dog ended up having to be fed via a feeding tube! It took a month for the dog to recover. Needless to say, the dog never had an RMB ever after that.
I guess I just need some confirmation that despite my vet's concerns about feeding bones, feeding Oreo the chicken which still has its bones in is fine. I won't end up subjecting Oreo to such scary ordeals.
Re: Concerns over feeding bones
All I can say is (while acknowledging that life itself is a risk) that I have fed raw since the 1980s, weaned and reared several litters on raw, have a large group of friends who all feed raw and some of whom are still breeding litters, and none of us has ever had the problem of a bone stuck anywhere in the gut. Ever.
That does not mean it can't happen - all sorts of things can happen whatever we feed our dogs - just saying my own personal experiences. If any of us had a dog that swallowed great lumps of bone, we'd either crush the bone or feed it at the end of a meal when the dog was less hungry. We have to adapt our feeding methods to suit our individual dogs. Sounds to me as if Oreo has got things worked out well.
That does not mean it can't happen - all sorts of things can happen whatever we feed our dogs - just saying my own personal experiences. If any of us had a dog that swallowed great lumps of bone, we'd either crush the bone or feed it at the end of a meal when the dog was less hungry. We have to adapt our feeding methods to suit our individual dogs. Sounds to me as if Oreo has got things worked out well.
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Re: Concerns over feeding bones
Thanks for the confirmation, Nettle!
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Re: Concerns over feeding bones
I got the same concern, I'm scared to feed my dog with bones because one of my dog died after feeding him chicken bones and vomit. Since then I only give Near (my german spits) dental bone and some bone from vet which is safe.