# Chicken Bones and Dogs



## Redgrappler (Jan 22, 2010)

So I was a friends home for a Labor Day BBQ. He has three GSDs that are gorgeous. We were standing around the grill when he (my friend) snacked on a chicken leg and threw the remaining bone to his dog. Immediately I asked him, "dude are you trying to kill your dog?" He then stated that he knows about what people say about dogs and chicken bones and the danger that keeps being presented. He then made a statement, if a Wolf truly hunted the hen-houses across the country, the wolf would be extinct with that belief. Which got be to thinking, the statement actually made sense. 

My question, knowing that I am not a vet, and dogs love chicken bones, why is there a danger? Knowing I am not a vet and will always error on the side of caution, I was told that chicken bones present a threat to the digestive track of a dog much less a GSD, because it does not get digested and can scrape and cut the dig. track with the chards it forms when digested. 

Any thoughts?


----------



## janisinsc (Aug 26, 2009)

Once a bone is cooked it become more brittle and likely to splinter when eaten, unlike a raw bone, although I give my dogs neither.


----------



## mssandslinger (Sep 21, 2010)

in another thread there is a video of someone giving their pup a RAW chicken foot! i asked the same thing and they explained that all bones uncooked are fine, but poultry once cooked gets splintery. So your friends thoughts about wolves is okay in the fact that wolves did cook the chickens haha


----------



## kiya (May 3, 2010)

Cooked bones , not just chicken any meat, are bad because they become dry, brittle and splinter. I have had many many arguements with family members because of this. I will not give my dogs any cooked bones period.


----------



## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

He gave the dog a cooked bone which limits its digestibility.
Those wolves were getting raw , fresh kill , not cooked, stewed, bbq'd .

big difference.


----------



## CookieTN (Sep 14, 2008)

Raw chicken bones are a-okay and I feed them all the time. Cooked are more dangerous, because they are more likely to splinter.
Plus raw bones will have meat and/or skin on them, which acts like a cushion. Unless you take them off, of course. (I don't recommend feeding bare bone of any kind.)

My dogs have gotten into the trash and stolen bones from fried chicken before, though, and they were always fine. They're just more likely to cause trouble cooked. However, nowadays we put the bones in plastic bags before throwing them away so the dog doesn't get tempted.


----------



## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

As others have said, cooked bones are dangerous because they become hard and splinter, and loose their digestibility. 

I feed raw, for years now my dogs have been getting raw bones, never a problem. Raw chicken bones are quite soft – I actually tested this once by biting into a raw chicken thigh bone (so a chicken weight-bearing bone). It smooshed really easily – not any worse than eating a cracker. You can easily cut chicken bones in half with kitchen shears. 

Raw: Good! Cooked: BAD!


----------



## Snarly (Sep 7, 2011)

My dad always will and always have fed his GSD's all of the cooked bones! I tell him all the time not to because it can kill the dog but he continues to do it as it has never affected any of them. The day will probably come that I will have to say to him I told you so...
What are the symptoms that a dog has been affected by the cooked bones?


----------



## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

I know somebody who feed her dogs whole rotisserie chickens from the grocery store. She's been doing this for decades and has not had an incident. 

Would I do it? NO way! I do feed whole raw chickens, though.


----------



## Gilly1331 (Apr 16, 2011)

The only way I would ever feed a cooked bone would be if it had been in the crock pot on high for hours on end so that the bones turned to mush and were no longer "bones". Any other way of cooking no way...not chancing splinters or cuts in their bellies/digerstive tracks.

My guys are raw fed and get all sorts of raw bones form all animals.


----------



## MicheleMarie (Mar 29, 2011)

agree with everyone else. my dog eats a raw chicken leg quarter the size of his head at least once a day-if not two


----------



## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

And for those that know folks that give their dogs cooked chicken bones, that have never had a problem.. I had a friend whose dog got into the trash and are chicken bones, it then cost her several THOUSAND dollars in emergency surgery to save her dogs life when the bones perforated (sp) his intestines! And he only got a few bones, ONCE!


----------



## Jo Ellen (Aug 30, 2011)

My dog has been eating raw bones since she was a puppy ... raw chicken wings, ostrich necks, turkey necks and whole raw fish. I am careful to stay away from the hard-boned fish like walleye and catfish but she makes short business of mackeral, bass and trout. I don't worry about raw bones but I do supervise. I'll post the youtube link to one of her mackeral dinners


----------



## TankGrrl66 (Jun 29, 2010)

I have fed my dogs the following bones on multiple occasions with no incident: Chicken backs, whole chicken quarters, beef ribs.

Just yesterday I got a call from a family member of my SO. His dog was very sick from chewing on a steak bone...he hadn't even eaten the whole thing. Time will tell if he is going to be OK.


----------



## Pepper311 (Sep 11, 2011)

I have seen first hand working at a vets chicken bones getting stuck. It's scary and can be cause for emergency surgery if the dog can't cough it up. 

It's not a good idea. Not every dog will choke or get a bone stuck but it dose happen so why do it.


----------



## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

If you take a raw drumstick, strip the meat off and try to break the bone in half, then do the same with a cooked one-- you will see why wolves/dogs can eat raw chicken with no problem while cooked chicken bones can be deadly.

While chicken bones are dangerous because they CAN cause serious injury to the GI tract, that doesn't mean that every bone is going to hurt every dog every time. So I am sure plenty of people can say their dog ate a chicken bone and didn't die, but that doesn't mean the next time they will be as lucky. 
I've had a dog get into the garbage and eat cooked chicken bones, we were lucky and they were fine but that doesn't mean I would allow my dog to eat them. There are plenty of safe treats, so why would you want to feed them something known to be risky?


----------



## CookieTN (Sep 14, 2008)

One of my dad's childhood dogs died from some chicken bones he got into from someone else's trashcan.. It may have been his white GSD...either that, or the GSD was the dog that some man shot...


----------



## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

If he knows that chicken bones are bad... why is your friend giving them to his dog? Is he trying to prove the world wrong one bbq at a time? Seriously... what is he trying to accomplish? 

Some people have absolutely no common sense. Use your brain people.


----------



## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

My dog got cooked chicken off the counter once. He ate the whole thing. Then he threw up chicken bones for the next hour.


----------



## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

tell him "wolves don't BBQ"


----------

