Share the Wonder: doggy's first raw chicken leg

maximoo · Post by **maximoo** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:11 pm

Maybe I can buy a free range/organic turkey (?) if it's not too expensive. Otherwise I'll try the turkey wings instead nobody is going to fuss with the tendons.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:19 am

They are rather expensive - stick with the wings.

staffygirl · Post by **staffygirl** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:40 am

I am quite shocked here with you all feeding raw chicken legs, I thought you were not supposed to feed weight bearing bones, which legs are.
I think a lot of you guys are in USA, but here in UK on all info about raw, it says never feed weight bearing bones, especially in chicken.
I only ever feed chicken wings and breasts because if this. I see a lot of you have been doing this for years, so I am a bit confused.

Noobs · Post by **Noobs** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:06 am

Nettle and Emmabeth are from the UK. Perhaps because chickens are so small the "weight bearing bones" rule only applies to large animals? I'm no expert, I'll let one of them address it.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:02 pm

Chickens in UK are only a few weeks old when they are killed, and being intensively reared, don't get much chance to run about. Their bones are softer than kibble!

So no problem to feed. Wild gamebirds can be older, and because they run about a lot more, their leg bones are harder, so I would avoid these.

Leg bones from big animals such as cattle and sheep are best avoided.

staffygirl · Post by **staffygirl** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:18 pm

OK thanks, its just every other site (UK) I have been on says do not feed rawchicken legs, due to weight bearing.

Noobs · Post by **Noobs** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:37 pm

Oh, man! I'm in the US and I just bought a package of legs and thighs for Murphy. AND the humans in our house don't eat dark meat. Oh well. Maybe we'll just use them for making chicken stock or stew or something.

mselisabs · Post by **mselisabs** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:12 pm

Noobs,

I don't know really anything about feeding raw but it sounds like they are only concerned with the weight-bearing bone. Maybe you can cut the meat off the bone and feed that raw, or cook it and mix it in with dinnertime!
Or send it over this way, we like dark meat

Noobs · Post by **Noobs** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:17 pm

Haha! Yeah I'll probably just cut the meat out and then boil the bones for chicken stock.

But if I could ship them out to you, I would!

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:36 pm

Girls, you can feed those thighs and legs to your dogs without any problems - see my previous post - I do it all the time.

Noobs · Post by **Noobs** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:28 pm

I guess I misinterpretted it since I'm in the US and figured maybe our chickens are older? I don't know. Anyway, I totally trust you Nettle with all your years of experience. Thanks for the clarification!

emmabeth · Post by **emmabeth** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:27 am

Unless you bought free range organic chicken legs.... its likely they were intensively raised just like our UK chickens..

Even then I think (not that i know much about organic standards in the US) that chickens for human consumption are killed very young even if they are organic free rangers and their bones really havent had chance to harden at all.

I would feed them, personally!

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:30 am

Yes, even organic free rangers are killed as soon as possible, which is very young indeed.

If a farmer offers you an 'old boiler' fowl that is several years old - she'll be great for soup but her bones will be hard. That's the only sort you'll come across that will be better not fed raw.

Noobs · Post by **Noobs** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:54 am

Great! Thank you for all the helpful info!

PS Murphy had two chicken legs for dinner last night because we took an extra long walk with lots of running (on a long line) at the park. Since we don't feed him raw every day it's sort of a treat for him, so when he gets extra activity like that I like to reward him with raw food. He loves it. Our solution for cleanup is instead of feeding him in the crate, I take him to our front porch and he eats on the steps while I read a magazine.

He gets so excited when he sees me take baggies out of the freezer and go for the front door when it's dinner time!

ithinkican · Post by **ithinkican** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 2:12 pm

I don't have any info on raw feeding, but Fundog mentioned store brand dog food vs. high end dog food. I know a little about that.

Some friends of mine are in a family of truck drivers. When I mentioned the research I had been doing on dog foods when I got Luka they started telling me about their truck loads to Purina.

Truckloads of cardboard- not for boxing stuff, but for grinding and putting in the dog food. Truckloads of chinese food trash, and trash from other restaurants (food trash, mostly). My friend told me she wears waders when she delivers to Purina because she ends up having to stand in an area of running water (draining, I guess) that has cow heads peeking up at her through the nasty water. The smell is unbelievable.

Store brands are usually made by the major pet food companies, like Purina. I don't know about other companies since she and her family only deliver to Purina, but after hearing what goes into the food I decided to spend the extra money on dog food made from human quality (USDA approved) food product.