How digestible are raw bones?

Question

I'm interested in starting to give our APBT raw bones every once in a while. How digestible are they? Besides sharp pieces or large chunks she can swallow, do I need to be concerned about how much she ingests?

Any information would be great.

Answer 1

If you give your dog raw, meaty, whole bones of a suitable size then she probably wont try to eat the bone itself, but try to scrape the meat off it. That's fine, the meat is digestable and she's not likely to crack chunks off to swallow on a fresh bone.

If the bone is cut in half so the dog can get the marrow, that can cause diarrhoea and the one is more likely to shatter in =to bite sized pieces, leading to digestive upsets.

But if it's big enough, raw and fresh (take it away at the end of the day), then there's rarely any problems.  

Answer 2

Fresh, never frozen, raw bones aren't supposed to be splintery.  You can find out all you need to know at BARF.com which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.

Answer 3

Watch your dogs eating habits.  If she tends to gulp, then any kind of bones can be dangerous for her (other than one she can't eat, like a Galileo bone that is inedible).  If your dog gulps food, then you can grind raw meaty bones and feed that to her.  My dogs ate ground raw meaty bones every day as part of a balanced raw diet.  I had a good mentor:

http://www.rawdogranch.com

They now eat kibble and for a separate meal they eat a bit of raw product that I am selective about.  I get organic meat that is fresh and not given hormones, antibiotics or c**p food.

Not that you have to do this, but I'm picky about my dogs eats!

If your dog does not gulp her food, you can get chicken backs, organic ones, for cheap.  There is good bone and meat on this for them.

It's best to use non weight bearing bones for their raw meaty bones.

Answer 4

Dogs shouldn't be given bones. Due to them splintering the bones with improper gnawing and chewing.  The "splinters can catch" in between their teeth, gums, tops of their mouth, their throats, esophagus, stomach, intestines or bowel.  Why risk causing your dog bodily harm, which could be fatal? Many things are sold @Pet Smart to replace the real thing that doesn't cause harm to animals.

I'm not trying to police you.  My hope is to inspire you in to finding another recourse which would be cleaner, healthier and less expensive in the long run for you. We all can use $$$ saving hints these days. Right?

Blessing to you and your APBT<><:)

Answer 5

They are highly digestible... make sure they have meat on them too. Also, you shouldn't feed RMBs with kibble... you might want to give her RMBs for breakfast and kibble for dinner. That is what I do with my boys and they are as healthy as can be :)

Answer 6

They actually have essential ingredients that dogs need.  Make sure they are raw though so they don't splinter and hurt your dog.

Answer 7

raw bones are 100% digestible. As long as she actually chews on the bone - best to leave some meat on it she will be fine. Dogs learn rather quickly and anything too big she's just cough back up and re chew before swallowing.

Too much as her piles will be white and crumbly as she passes them. If every now and then is like 2-3 times a week or every other week she will be fine

Queen bee - you never EVER give a dog a cooked bone. Not even one boiled for that amount of time. and raw chicken bones are perfectly fine