# Concerned about Weight-bearing Chicken Bones



## FourIsCompany (Jan 29, 2008)

I have a couple of dogs who gulp their food and I'm concerned about giving them chicken thighs and legs. I've seen the X-rays of dogs who swallow them whole and I'm a bit concerned about this. 

My questions are: 

1. Can/should I smash the weight-bearing bones to insure they get broken up before swallowing? 

2. Do bones actually digest if not chewed up? 

3. Should I give the weight-bearing chicken bones at all? 

Thanks.


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## KCandMace (Apr 8, 2008)

Mine will sometimes got chomp, chomp, swallow. I have yet to see a big bone piece come out the rear. So yep, they dissolve.
You can break them with a hammer/mallet into smaller pieces if you want. But chewing them does help clean their teeth.
The legs are one of the main bones my 3 get. They cost less than wings and have a lot less fat.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Chickens are butchered at the age of 8 weeks. Their bones never get strong enough to actually bear weight. If you let a commercially-bred meat chicken get past 8 weeks of age their legs will quickly break under the pressure of the bodu weight.

These chickens have been selectively bred to gain weight VERY fast - there's no hormones or anything else involved.

So, on to the questions.

1. Sure you can. It can be great stress relief!









2. Yes. I had a foster lab that swallowed everything whole (including leg qaurters) and had no problems.

3. Yes.


Now turkeys - that's a whole different thing. Turkey legs ARE very hard. Turkeys age more before butchering so their legs HAVE to be able to hold up all that weight.

I don't give my guys turkey legs but I know people that do with no problem.


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

There's no real "weight" to bear, as chickens are killed at only about 12- 14 weeks old, so these baby birdie bones will be SOFT. Plus, predators never actually truly chew their food.







They only crunch it a bit so it's easier to swallow. Some dogs crunch-crunch-crunch, and some just crunch once and down the hatch it goes! The criteria for how many crunches is, "Is this floppy enough to slide right down yet?".. and dogs can guage that pretty well, even young puppies and dogs just newly started on raw for the first time!
Don't worry!

The bones do digest, to answer your question. The first week of raw, Grimm would (very rarely!) vomit a few bone pieces in a yellow foamy mess in the morning. No big deal. The body learns how to digest bones very, very quickly! No harm no fowl.. er, foul.







Your dogs will do super on fresh, delicious chicken bones! Just be sure to balance the meals so they are not eating JUST the RMBs. Some start by feeding chicken quarters or a chicken leg.. but Grimm for example needs at least 50% of each meal to be MM or else he gets constipated. But many do fine with more bone per meal. Usually though, we toss in MM to balance the meal out in the right proportions. Lauri's site has great info on how much MM to RMB ratio to use. 

Don't be scared to feed bones.







Chicken bones are the EASIEST for a dog! Turkey legs can be hard, can be splintery.. but lots of folks feed those, too. Turkey necks I can only feed in small chunks to Grimm, they constipate him-- but many will give bigger turkey neck pieces to their dogs. Chicken bones are our staple around here!


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## FourIsCompany (Jan 29, 2008)

Thanks, guys! 

I have fed my dogs raw meat (and bone) as a treat all their lives about once a week, even turkey legs, but now that I'm switching to raw completely, I have concerns because as I'm doing my research, I come across people who have had problems and I KNOW my vet is going to flip when he learns what they're eating... So, I'm trying to get as much info as possible. 

I've even considered changing vets, but I absolutely LOVE him for everything else he does... and I'm not sure we have a raw-friendly vet here... 

Anyway, thanks!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

You don't have to let your vet know what you are feeding.
My vet ranted at me when she found out, tunnel close minded vision on it...I switched vets immediately(had been going to this practice for 25 yrs)


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

For me, nutrition and training/behavior are two taboo topics I avoid discussing with vets. They simply do not have enough training in those areas so unless they've done a lot of their own research and gathered their own experience outside of vet school and the vet clinic, it's just not worth it. So if you like a vet otherwise, I wouldn't let those topics drive a wedge in the relationship.

Fortunately, the vet we use is fine with raw diet, us giving our own vaccines, a limited vaccine protocol and the many other issues that can cause strife between vet and client. But even if he wasn't I'd still use him because I love everything else about him, and would just avoid those topics altogether.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

I feed my gulper frozen food to avoid gulping. I don't want her swallowing bones whole and I also want her to have the benefits of chewing the bone.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

If they gulp, it doesn't matter whether it is frozen or not, with Karlo anyway! He is eating as fast as Onyx. I did give him a turkey neck chunk and it took him a long time to get that down, I almost took it away!


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Don't worry about your vet...my vet and I have kinda agreed not to talk about it. When he saw Anna he was like "wow her teeth are so white! What are you feeding her?" and when I said kibble mixed with raw diet he got kinda weird....I was like whatever and he gave me some sort of 1996 article written about raw diets not being good for dogs because it's not human grade food (although I buy my dog's raw at Publix, I don't know how much more human grade you can get!) and I told him I appreciated it, but I didn't need that. He kinda dropped it.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My vet tried to scare me with stories of worms eating away the brain of dogs because they were rawfed! Um, yeah...


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

We hand held quarters at first to teach ours how to chew! We also feed partially frozen as well.

I too switched vets around the time we started feeding raw. I didn't think my old vet would be as accepting of it. Plus, I had found a (better) vet closer that I liked and he is accepting of raw.


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

To be honest... I have had 3 vets because I moved a few times, and each was VERY happy with me feeding raw! One even put pressure on me to feed raw, because Grimm was so itchy, and never had good poops. Now he doesn't itch and has perfect poops!


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## Technostorm (May 24, 2009)

Hmm. very interesting topic. 

I'm thinking since my boy is now 11 weeks old. I can get very cheap frozen cut wings from Sam's Clubs. These are the same types we used to make buffalo wings. So I'm thinking maybe I can gradually switch him to raw by feeding 1 peice of the drumstick in the morning following my regulard meals? 

Should I thaw the drumstick so its easier to chew at this age? he loves ice cube and I find him sitting next to the fridge ice dispenser side constantly looking up. 

Dan


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## FourIsCompany (Jan 29, 2008)

Yeah, I'm not going to volunteer the information to my vet. I had mentioned giving the dogs chicken wings and feet now and then and he mumbled something about bacteria, which is the LEAST of my concerns. And I really trust him with my dogs' and cats' health and for that reason, I don't see changing vets. So, if he asks about their teeth or wonders what I'm feeding them, I'll tell him. And we'll agree not to talk about it, I guess... It's just that if we needed an xray and he saw a big bone in there... Eek! 

Technostorm, I hope someone can answer your question. I can't.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: Technostorm. So I'm thinking maybe I can gradually switch him to raw by feeding 1 peice of the drumstick in the morning following my regulard meals?


The problem with doing it this way is you have to figure out how much raw you are giving him and then decrease his kibble by the appropriate amount.

I would either do 1/2 and 1/2 or just switch over 100%.

Chicken wings are more bone than meat.


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## Technostorm (May 24, 2009)

> Originally Posted By: Lauri & The Gang
> 
> 
> > Originally Posted By: Technostorm. So I'm thinking maybe I can gradually switch him to raw by feeding 1 peice of the drumstick in the morning following my regulard meals?
> ...


Umm. I'm thinking Chicken wing: Drumstick portion which holds more meat then the other parts. He's estimated around 18 pounds now, so I'm thinking 1 drumstick of 2 ounces is enough for a day + lighten up his kibbles. 

I'm still finding myself hand feeding him kibbles because he won't eat off the stainless bowl. But will eat up anything else in the house LOL.. So in goes the drumstick in the SSbowl.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

Just to throw this comment in: I feed Jerzey turkey legs with no problem. You would not be able to tell the different between her eating at chicken quarter or a turkey leg as she crunches through them with the same ease!


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