RMBs cause diarrhea?

    • Gold Top Dog

    RMBs cause diarrhea?

    I gave Piper a raw chicken drumstick for the first time today. I've never fed raw meat before because my mom wouldn't allow it with Jetta. lol But since Jetta still lives with my parents and Piper lives with me, I plan on feeding RMBs once in a while.

    She loved it, but within a few hours she had very very loose stools and awful gas! I thought RMBs were supposed to result in firm stools because of the bone? Is this going to happen every time she gets a bone, or is it just her tummy reacting for the first time to raw meat? I plan on giving her a bone about once a week or so just for fun and teeth-cleaning benefits.

    • Bronze

    I'm not a raw feeder, but I don't believe you're supposed to feed weight-bearing bones like drumsticks.  Wings, necks and backs are better choices.  I think the bones in non-weight-bearing parts are supposed to be easier to chew and more digestible.  I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with diarrhea, though.

    • Gold Top Dog

    If the drumstick has skin on, it might be the underlaying fat and the marrow that she is not used to that caused the loose stool. You might want to try a chicken neck for RMB next time, half a turkey wing (skinned) or at least skin the drumstick. The meat/bone ratio in the drumstick is pretty high in favor of meat so if your purpose is teeth cleaning (and fun), a part where there is more bone and less meat would probably work better.

    The weight bearing bones that people are often advised to stay away from are cow, deer, bison, etc long bones. Those are very hard and can lead to tooth breaks if the dog is a very heavy chewer and is allowed to go to town on the bone after all the remaining attached meat and tendons are gone. Chicken bones are pretty soft by comparison.

     

    • Gold Top Dog
    Ooops yeah I left the skin on. All that fat was probably the cause of her tummy upset. Next time I'll try something with more bone and less meat and fat.
    • Gold Top Dog

    Thalie
    If the drumstick has skin on, it might be the underlaying fat and the marrow that she is not used to that caused the loose stool.

     

      I agree; the marrow is very fatty and often causes the runs. Jessie can't have raw bones anymore because of pancreatitis, but when she could have them, I didn't like giving her turkey wings because the bone splintered a lot. I don't know Piper's age, but chicken backs and turkey necks are very high in phosphorus, which is important to know when giving bones to an older dog, especially if they have kidney problems.