Question For Raw Feeders

Mine eat the whole thing like a cookie - even the little girl does.  Crunch, crunch.  Things with larger bone get ripped and gnawed with great glee, and smaller slimy things (whole fish, whole small animals, and mammal  heads and feet) get torn up and picked apart.  Have you had your breakfast yet? [sm=lame.gif] [sm=rofl.gif]

I don't like to feed smaller bones without a little meat or skin on it.  I believe strongly that their bodies do best with the whole "package" if possible, though obviously in the wild if a dog found a wee raw bone stripped of meat, he wouldn't say, "Uh, uh - no meat on that one!"  They are called opportunistic for a reason!  []

I use chicken leg quarters a fair amount of the time and I do break the bigger bones with the meat cleaver.  For Miss Picky Sheba, the bones get further whacked and smaller chunks made, but yep, she eats the whole thing.

My dogs will crunch up an entire chicken, bones and all, and leave nothing. Even the 10-week-old puppy we had stay for a week managed to eat the bones, no problem.
 
If your dog isn't eating the bones you need to be providing a calcium source. Maybe your dog would do better if you ground up the chicken part or smashed it a bit with a hammer?

Lizzie isn#%92t getting 100% raw she just gets it for her evening meal. Morning meal consists of kibble (Exclusive Puppy) a dab of baby food, usually sweet potato or a bit of beef and an egg. In the evening she gets whatever im making for the days meal, yesterday chicken, today ground beef. Because of the fact that she is not fed all raw do I still have to worry about her not getting enough calcium?
 
The one time I fed her the chicken with bone and all it was a leg quarter and she just dragged it all around the kitchen and living room (yuck) and just sort of licked it to death. I felt kind of sorry for her so I chopped it up and threw away the bone. I tried breaking the bone to see if it was strong enough for her to munch on but I wasn#%92t too sure if I could give it to her so I threw it out. Maybe if I give her enough time to figure it out she will learn to eat it whole. Lizzie is sooo delicate its almost pitiful, lol.
 
She loves her meat though! She will sit up sooo straight whenever she sees the meet and if a chunk happens to fall on the floor she will dive after it like a starving wild dog.

Yes, you do need to balance the calcium/phosperous ratio for BOTH meals.  just a little every nite CAN cause bone problems if you don't balance properly.  This is why we all say RESEARCH before you jump in even with ONE foot.
 
Chop the bone into smaller pieces with a cleaver.  If she wants to drag it around, crate her with it or teach her to eat it on a towel.

The one time I fed her the chicken with bone and all it was a leg quarter and she just dragged it all around the kitchen and living room (yuck) and just sort of licked it to death.

 
Maddi did almost the EXACT same thing the first time I gave her a raw drum stick... I eventually had to throw it away whole as she just buried it in her blanket and left it. The next day I gave her one that was frozen and she ate it all. Now, she doesn't care if it's frozen or not. So, you might want to first try giving it to her frozen and see if it works.

Mine eats bones and all he loves them.
 
Another suggestion maybe you could try and give her chicken necks, she might be alright with these if you can get them, they are not as big as drum sticks.

I don;t  feed raw unless there is some stuff left over but this may or may not be significant...I have never had to remove a chicken bone, cooked or raw. from a dog.  but T--bones, lambchops, pork chops, and rib bones would very often get stuck..either on the roof of the mouth, throat or in the gut---for what its worth

Glenda is right; it is very important to thoroughly research how to balance a raw ( or home cooked) diet before feeding one, especially since you're replacing an entire meal with raw or home cooked food. She will not get enough nutrition from one meal of kibble a day unless you're feeding all of the recommended daily amount in the morning, which is why you must be sure her evening meal is properly balanced. Here are some links on raw feeding;
             [linkhttp://www.rawdogranch.com/rawdiet.htm]http://www.rawdogranch.com/rawdiet.htm[/link]
             [linkhttp://www.barfworld.com/]http://www.barfworld.com/[/link]
             [linkhttp://www.bravorawdiet.com/]http://www.bravorawdiet.com/[/link]
             [linkhttp://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/]http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/[/link]

Glenda has a recipe approved by a nutritionist if you want to home cook for Lizzie. Good luck with getting her to eat the raw chicken.[]

For a balanced calcium/phosphorous yummy raw treat, you could try raw tripe. You won't get the teeth cleaning effect, but I guarantee your dog will love you.  Tripe is already balanced, so you don't have to worry about balancing bone/meat.