Sharp chicken bones....?

• Sharp chicken bones....? whtsthfrequency Posted : 8/2/2006 10:53:42 PM I don't feed raw, but I decided to do an experiment. Raw bones are not supposed to sharply splinter, correct? So I got some raw chicken wings. I broke a bone. A raw bone, mind you. The splinters that broke were EXTREMELY sharp and hard.  This happened every time I broke or messed about with the bones, even when I tried grinding them with a mortar and pestle. This *really* worries me....I'm not trying to start a fight, but seriously...if so many people here swear by feeding raw, including small bones....how could this happen? LIKE 32 REPLIES 7482 VIEWS LAST POST EDIE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Edie Posted : 8/2/2006 11:01:51 PM I know what you mean about the sharp bones in chicken, i used to bash chicken wings up with a mallet and i saw those sharp pointy bits sticking out,which olny served to put me off of bashing them again,they now get all their bones unsmashed. I have been feeding raw bones for years and i still worry about splinters and stuff.However in all of those years and hundreds of pounds worth of raw bones later i havnt had one problem to do with sharp bones.I cant explain it,or how the dogs manage with the bones,but they do [] 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• sandra_slayton Posted : 8/3/2006 1:46:29 AM I saw a lab puppy at my vets's that was almost in a coma, temp over 107.  He had eaten a pork chop bone, it splinter and punctured his stomache and peritonitis had set in.  He couldn't be saved.  That alone has prevented me from giving bones to my goldens---even tho as I was growing up our hunting dogs ate cooked chicken, quail, pork chops, dove, duck, etc, etc bones and we never had a problem.   Zillions of dogs will eat bones and have no problem.  BUT if the one that does have a problem and dies is YOUR dog, then it is an entire different story as to how safe they are.  I have a hard enough time trying to protect them as it is and if I gave them something I had doubts about and the worst happened, I could never forgive myself. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• glenmar Posted : 8/3/2006 6:40:52 AM Just curious how you could break bone with a morter and pestal? 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• dyan Posted : 8/3/2006 6:53:05 AM I am really afraid of chicken wings...I don't know why but they bother me more then any other.. but I bet bones of an older chicken (or any other animal--including humans) are more brittle then young ones. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• mudpuppy Posted : 8/3/2006 8:55:42 AM was that pork chop bone COOKED? I'll bet a small fortune it was. Raw pork bones are really quite soft and highly digestible. Cooked, they get very brittle. Probably one of the most dangerous things you can feed your dog is a cooked pork bone.   Instead of going around smashing bones, try this experiment: toss an entire raw chicken wing into a vat of acid. Turns into rubber quite quickly. Guess what a dog's stomach is: a vat of acid. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• whtsthfrequency Posted : 8/3/2006 9:16:28 AM Glenda - it is possible I have a big heavy stone mortar and pestle that I use for grinding various hard spices, seeds, nuts, etc.   mudpuppy - its not so much the worry of stomach puncture, cause I agree with your acid remark. It is the going down the throat part that worries me.   Are chicken wings just bad examples then, in particular?   0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• ColleenC Posted : 8/3/2006 9:28:24 AM Personally, I would never feed any raw (or cooked) chicken or pork bone.  They splinter so easily.  I don't care if they don't usually splinter when raw, but there is that chance.  Not to mention salmonella. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• glenmar Posted : 8/3/2006 10:05:16 AM I've got one too, and thats why I couldn't figure out how you were doing it!  Guess I never thought to try that.   Last nite my crew had pork breast tip ribs....big long guys, and absolutely loved and devoured them! 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Julitza Posted : 8/3/2006 10:13:51 AM I was very hesitant about giving the bone when I gave chicken to Lizzie. I finally got the courage to do it, after some reassurance from the members here, and she left a fragment of the bone uneaten and the bone was covered in blood (well not covered) I almost died!!!   LOL I checked her teeth, her gums, everything, I thought she had cut herself with the bone (what a dummy) needless to say shes not dead and I give her chicken with the bone now.   I think wings would be a danger to the smaller dog who doesnt like to chew his food, I imagine it could get stuck! With a big dog though, if they swallow it whole I imagine it would go down. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• mudpuppy Posted : 8/3/2006 10:22:51 AM Most reports of raw-fed dogs having trouble with bones seem to be reports of dogs that swallowed big ieces of hard beef bones or broke teeth on hard beef bones, or were very inexperienced with bones. There is a learning curve involved, and I think the dog does have to induce higher levels of certain digestive enzymes to digest bones well. So be very careful the first few weeks of feeding bones.   I feed pork bones a lot, because they are so cheap around here and the bones are so easily consumed by the dogs. The only bone that has scared me is raw lamb femurs. My experienced dogs don't eat the shank of the lamb femur, they eat the ends and just shatter the shank to get at the marrow. And it leaves really nasty looking shards. I guess they know better than to eat it? they do consume the entire femur of the pig, it doesn't seem to be as brittle as lamb femurs. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• dyan Posted : 8/3/2006 2:52:54 PM I think wings would be a danger to the smaller dog who doesnt like to chew his food, I imagine it could get stuck! With a big dog though, if they swallow it whole I imagine it would go down.   I don't know, I have a big dog and I worry more about her choking on a chicken wing. I think I would feel safer giving it to a little dog that would have to take a while to gnaw on it.... Actually, If I have to worry that much about it,,, I don't think its worth it to me.  I do give her chicken necks though! 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Karen Posted : 8/3/2006 5:21:40 PM I suppose it depends on the size of dog and if it is a fast eater or not. My dog is big and has always eaten bones. I have never given chicken wings though, I give necks and breast bones (carcas), He has also had pork bones lamb bones and marrow bones and never had any problems. I do not give cooked bones. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Luvntzus Posted : 8/3/2006 5:46:12 PM ORIGINAL: dyan Actually, If I have to worry that much about it,,, I don't think its worth it to me.    That's how I feel exactly. I cannot bring myself to give Gingerbread raw bones- especially chicken wings. He's my little angel and I would never forgive myself if something happened to him! 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Edie Posted : 8/3/2006 6:05:20 PM My experienced dogs don't eat the shank of the lamb femur, they eat the ends and just shatter the shank to get at the marrow. Mudpuppy i get my butcher to saw the bone(lamb femure) straight down the middle,not in half,but lengthways.Yes he's got guts,and i dont know how he does it because they are so thin,but he manages.This way they can get the marrow out easily without shattering the bone. 0 LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login