Chicken bones/ My vet/ a bit of a lecture

You know I don't feed raw or bones.  But, of course, the bones were going to show on the x-ray she just ate it an hour prior.  It wouldn't be digested that fast. 
 
As far as the puncturing of the intestines, etc.  I think probably there is less of a chance with the raw bones.  But, maybe higher with raw chicken bones.  I think there is still that possibilty with any raw bone--sometimes here it sounds like they are completely safe which I (personally) don't think is true, just safer, maybe. 
 
And, I truly would be more worried about you getting salmonella than your dogs.  Not that they couldn't get it, but I don't think they'd normally get as sick as a human would if they did.
 
Just my [sm=2cents.gif]

OK. Doggy digestive system 101. Just so you know that I'm not playing Russian Roulette with my own dog's lives. []

In a person, or a horse, something is rolled around in the stomach for a shortish amount of time and processed quite a long time in the intestines. That's the Reader's, um, Digest version of the whole process, but the important thing to remember is short, stomach; long, intestines.

It's the opposite in dogs. Dogs hold things in the stomach for quite a long time. Either that or they try to barf something indigestible back up. Remember my story about the penny? The stomach would have been quite happy to keep digesting that thing down to particle size if it hadn't been, you know, poisoning the dog. And they've shown that wolf stomachs keep indigestible bone fragments that desperate wolves consume in the wild, until hair and skin come along and safely bind it for passage along the gi. Not that you'd feed pennies or indigestible bone to your dog!!!

The point is that the dog stomach takes care of bone very nicely. The kind of bone that you feed as part of a meal, is highly digestible AND will stay in the stomach as long as need be. Dogs are made to do this - they are carnivores, after all. I've seen them take down a sheep - they know their business. I'm sure their insides still know their business too. []

It's really a shame someone hasn't done a study on this. It would be simple enough to show. Just feed various raw meaty bones and do scans one to three hours after the meals.

Just don't go crazy. Feed size appropriate bones and never feed cooked bones or bones that seem to be splitting in scary ways. And if you aren't comfortable, that's fine.

until hair and skin come along and safely bind it for passage along the gi.

This is somewhat interesting to me as dogs that are just getting bones to eat do not have this fur/hair buffer.  So, somewhat concerned about that. 

They also do not eat indigestible bones. We regulate their bone consumption. Wild canids do all kinds of stupid things when they get desperate for a bite to eat. Like attempt to eat chunks of weight-bearing bone. ETA: They also eat stuff like bark when they get really desperate. []

a vet once chided me for feeding ANY kind of bone to my dog - doberman mix at the time. she said bone material eventually turns into something like a sedement and compacts into the intestines.....
i didnt argue.. the dog she was talking about was only a ten week old puppy and this was his first visit to a vet ever. i had only mentioned feeding him enjoying chewing on left over t-bone the night before..... this was before i learned that cooked bones are supposed to be worse than raw ones.


edit/add (what does ETA mean anyway? been meaning to ask)
also, when i do give my dogs bones, they are beef neck bones from the butcher, raw, still very meaty, stuff you would make stew with. but they dont EAT the bones... they chew the yummies off of them. later on if they're bored they might try to break the bone open to eat the marrow inside, but mostly they just dont care.
Cindi is a different story. i wouldnt be surprised to find anything from pennies to GI Joes and tonka trucks, besides bones, in her stomach..... btw, the lady from down the street says she wants her and is going to take over her care, YAY!

They also do not eat indigestible bones.

 
I'm guessing that there are bones that are considered indigestable.  But, wouldn't that be specific to the individual dog.  Like maybe Willow couldn't digest a bone that one of yours would have no trouble with, etc.[sm=asking03.gif]

I have always wondered how a dog can digest a chicken bone, raw or not, in such a short time. Can anyone prove that a raw chicken bone will be completely digested before it leaves the stomach. I don't think the transit time though the dog's digestive tract is slow enough to completely digest a bone, but I am not a vet, so I really don't know. 

like a sedement and compacts into the intestines.....
i didnt argue.. the dog she was talking about was only

 
I couldn't argue with the vet cause what you just said above here happened to my Cairn terrier.... I didn't feed him raw but Like I said he got into what the dogs were burying in the yard.... He had a huge compact in his intestines....So I guess I started to get brave again and thought oh why not... but now I think Im just going to stick to the madallions of Natures Variety with the ground bone in it...I just wanted the wings and the chewing to clean their teeth .....
 
Even thou I told him these were not cooked bones he said...  have you ever seen a splinter of chicken bone..? Believe me having a bad experience and a very expensive one 3 years ago I wasn't going to say anything but ask questions and listen...
 
Lori.. as for me getting sick from handling raw...I use rubber gloves

They also eat stuff like bark when they get really desperate.

 
My neighbors Golden retievers do this...It makes me crazy cause I know they would love to have a bone.... Yip...I did it...I got them rec bones...Ham bones...  you should have seen those two... Happy campers....
 
Lori when you mentioned how do we know they are digesting the bones... Well I see it in the poop..... But no matter what Im stopping the RMB...Im going with Rec bones.... Iv got big Bison Marrow bones and  they love to mess with those...
 
 

Like attempt to eat chunks of weight-bearing bone.

Emma does that. She's an idiot. She has three broken teeth, and last time she did it, it cost me $500 in barium and x rays, and almost cost her a surgery.

She happens to have a very touchy GI tract, though. She isn't a normal, healthy dog. She doesn't digest  even small bones (instead, she passes sharp, bloody shards), so she's  funny, to begin with.

Can anyone prove that a raw chicken bone will be completely digested before it leaves the stomach.

Someone here (I *think* it was Becca) had a dog have an accident. The dog had x rays like an hour after it ate a raw meal. The bones were totally digested.

Someone here (I *think* it was Becca) had a dog have an accident. The dog had x rays like an hour after it ate a raw meal. The bones were totally digested.

 
could it be that ... that dog was a better chewer than mine??? This again Is why I warned them that she ate this an hour and half prior to them doing xrays cause I knew they would wonder what in the world was in her stomach...

Emma does that. She's an idiot. She has three broken teeth, and last time she did it, it cost me $500 in barium and x rays, and almost cost her a surgery.

She happens to have a very touchy GI tract, though. She isn't a normal, healthy dog. She doesn't digest even small bones (instead, she passes sharp, bloody shards), so she's funny, to begin with.

 
Okay your scaring me[sm=help.gif]... I take it you don't feed RAW anything anymore???

I do still feed raw, I just don't feed her bones. I use calcium citrate to balance out her meals.

Emma is a very high maintenance dog, when it comes to food. She's not even remotely normal. I wouldn't worry about it. I don't, with Teenie. She eats whatever she wants, and does great.