I wanna add bones to my AA's diet but what?

booboo

It's been almost 3 weeks since we adopted our AA girl Mia. She lost weight when she was at the pound (desexed) then got sick a week later (ear infection, loose poos, etc). She wouldn't touch her dry kibble (Hill's Science) so I switched to boiled rice and boiled chicken as recommended by the vet when we saw him last week.

Anyway, she's finally better, eating with gusto (I've never had a dog eat so gingerly though... LoL) but I really want to add some bones to her diet for her teeth. I bought some chicken frames, a lamb shank to test out, and some chicken feet (claws removed) as treats. Do you have any other recommendations that your doggies love? Pros/Cons with the stuff I already bought? My hubs isn't that that thrilled with raw chicken bones since he's scared she's gonna choke on them. Mia's 5 years old and weighs 33 kilos.

Also, she seems to love eating rice. I know it's considered 'filler' food for dogs but is there anything really bad about feeding her that? We eat rice regularly in this household so it's no biggie that I cook more for her. I've been trying to read up on feeding BARF and I don't know if I do it 100% at this point... I'm still trying to figure out what food works for Mia.

Thanks a bunch! I'm learning so much from this forum!

TheWalrus

My dogs eat a lot of rice as I mix it in with their meat/vegetables/kibble. As far as bones I give them most of the bones off boar we take, and they seem to do fine with them. Pig bones should be no different. I just wouldn't give them a big leg bone right off as a dog that's not used to it can get so caught up that they chip or lose teeth. Ease them in.

Losech

Ribs, necks (whole, not cut up for a big dog) and oxtails (same as the necks) are some good bones. Conker can easily get through any of those and he's a 20 pound Shiba. Just feed them in big chunks since she could easily gulp one or two of the littler pork ribs.
For the chicken just stick to bigger frames and quarters. Or you could let her have a go at a whole chicken. Just make sure the bones are NEVER cooked. They can splinter that way. Raw bones don't.

I feed Conker prey-model raw. It's similar to BARF but without the veggies. Be sure to do a lot of research if you decide to do either of those.

jujee

I feed chicken feet with the claws still on hehe :P Mika loves the chicken feet.

Rule of thumb is to feed them a piece that is about as big as their head. Also do you know if your girl like to swallow things whole? If she does then that can be bad. Just make sure she chews on the bones.

shibamistress

I think you can give them almost any part of the chicken, though I will say my AA (9 months old, about 120 pounds) seems to have a hard time digesting chicken legs. He throws up after eating them a lot, and there are usually rather larger pieces of bone in his vomit that I think is good....obviously he's not able to chew the leg bones down enough (or doesn't). So I'm stopping feeding legs. (Thighs seem to be ok for some reason).

They won't choke on raw chicken bones, and the bones won't splinter. It's just cooked that they can't eat. Chicken is what I mostly feed my dogs (and I feed raw).

My AA is a really delicate eater too! He takes things so carefully, and he examines EVERYTHING before he eats it. He'll take it from me (and he's really soft-mouthed, so he does this very gently) then he drops it and looks at it and sniffs it and licks it sort of tentatively before eating. It's really pretty funny!

Honey's mom

Question...... Rib bones for dogs, should those not be cooked either? Or is chicken the only bone that will splinter after being cooked?

jujee

I believe it's all cooked bones. When you cook bones the moisture leaves the bone, so that can cause the bone to splinter.

shibamistress

Yep, they should not be given any cooked bones.

Saya

No cooked ribs either sadly pet stores sell cooked bones or smoked ones and they can cause issues. =\

Saya handles ox tails fine, but be careful because they can be gulped if the dog is a gulper Saya tears the meat off of it and then gnaws the bone and eats it she's pretty careful.

Bella my boxer has gotten turkey necks, chicken quarters and she has had chicken drumsticks I given it to her frozen to slow her down, but for a boxer she is pretty gentle with her raw food.

Always be nearby when new to raw Saya has been on raw for almost two years and I still watch her.

Saya gets pork ribs, lamb ribs, split pig's feet can't fine whole, and pork shoulder roasts.

The pork shoulder I usually cut some meat off for boneless meals, but keep enough meat on the bone to make it a meal which lasts Saya for a week or so.

Last night Saya got the rest of her pork shoulder which is just the bone with little bit of meat and fat around it she stripped the meat off and gnawed the bone down a bit I took it away once she got all the meat off and ate enough bone didn't want her to eat too much..

Saya has had lamb shanks before and handles them fine she can gnaw some of the bone on the joint part off I haven't gotten lamb shanks for her too much though so dunno.

Ox tails seem to be the only part of the cow Saya can grind the bone I never buy the marrow bones too dense for my comfort a bone to hold up a heavy animal like a cow is thick.

Good luck with it.

I don't give Saya rice, but if I make rice to make sushi or to have I usually give her some before I add anything to it. I usually mix in solid gold seameal gives it a nice seaweed smell I sometimes add in caned sardines or salmon and she loves it.

booboo

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I really need to research a lot more if I want to add more bones and raw food into her diet.

She's a delicate eater and not a gulper but the hubby's so scared of bones getting stuck in her throat (or worse) that I might have to find other treats that can keep her teeth healthy. I think unless an actual vet can tell him it's not a bad thing to give her raw bones, he won't believe me that it's fine.

Calia

Try getting some bully sticks as an alternative to teeth cleaning, keeps pups busy for a while and doesn't give them digestive issues like raw hide would. Though once your husband finds out what it is he may not want to give it to Mia either.

Saya

Saya loves bully sticks.

jujee

Most vets will not say that feeding raw is good. Most of them were not educated in nutrition. A lot of the vets were also sponsored by people like Science diet, so they will recommend that type of food. However, most holistic vets will recommend a raw or homecooked diet.

joshandjacki

Have you checked out the raw feeding group on yahoo? It has a lot of information and it helped us get started on raw and get over the fear of feeding bones.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/

If you are going to be using bully sticks, we found they are much cheaper at this website than pet stores
http://shop.bullystickdirect.com/

Hope this helps, good luck!!