# Ham Hock, raw or boiled?



## wyoung2153

I was wondering if I can give my 1 year old GSD a ham hock and if so should it be raw or cooked. I've heard many things.. some say raw is the best because cooked splinters and others say cooked ones are fine too. I know growing up my parents boiled bones gotten from the meat market and gave it to our labs and they did fine with them. Any suggestions from people experienced in giving their GSDs actual bones? Oh and if raw ones are better, is the raw meat ok for him too???


----------



## Lin

Raw! Cooked meat is fine to feed (though to do a homecooked diet requires a different balance than a raw diet) but cooked bones aren't. Though this is referring to bones that can be consumed.. Never feed cooked bones to be consumed, because of the splintering. Some people will feed cooked recreational bones (like a cow femur) to chew on, but there is still a risk of splinter as well as broken teeth due to the bone becoming harder after being cooked. 

The raw meat is fine, but if the dog hasn't been fed raw before he could get diarrhea from too much at once. So if its just a treat, I wouldn't let him have too much in one sitting.


----------



## Miss Molly May

wyoung2153 said:


> I was wondering if I can give my 1 year old GSD a ham hock and if so should it be raw or cooked. I've heard many things.. some say raw is the best because cooked splinters and others say cooked ones are fine too. I know growing up my parents boiled bones gotten from the meat market and gave it to our labs and they did fine with them. Any suggestions from people experienced in giving their GSDs actual bones? Oh and if raw ones are better, is the raw meat ok for him too???


I give Molly raw pork hocks once in awhile! Do not feed any cooked bones they do splinter.


----------



## wyoung2153

So am I to just let it thaw out then feed it to him? Should I take of some of the meat? It's a lot from the looks of it.


----------



## onyx'girl

If your dog isn't use to eating raw, the ham hock may be a bit rich...so you'll get runny poo as a result. I wouldn't remove the meat, but if it is fatty, that could be taken away before feeding.


----------

