EXPLORE THE BENEFITS, RISKS & BEST PRACTICES OF BONE FEEDING FOR YOUR DOG’S DIET AND DENTAL HEALTH
Article Index:
- WHERE I STAND ON GIVING BONES TO DOGS AS A VET
- WHAT ARE THE RIGHT BONES FOR YOUR DOG?
- RAW BONE FEEDING IS INSPIRED BY NATURE
- WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF BONES?
- WHY DO MANY VETERINARIANS STILL OBJECT TO BONE FEEDING?
- WHAT BONES TO GIVE YOUR DOG AND WHY
- TYPES OF BONES AND THEIR SAFETY [EASY-TO-USE CHART]
- HOW STRONG IS YOUR DOG’S BITE
- HOW TO AVOID DENTAL FRACTURES WHEN FEEDING YOUR DOG BONES
- HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU GIVE BONES TO YOUR DOG?
- WHAT IS THE IDEAL DENTAL BONE FOR DOGS?
- WHAT IF YOUR DOG WON’T EAT BONES?
- ARE CHICKEN BONES SAFE FOR DOGS?
- ARE BONE SPLINTERS DANGEROUS AND WILL THEY PUNCTURE YOUR DOG’S INTESTINE?
- ARE BONES GOOD FOR ALL DOGS?
- HOW TO SUPPLEMENT CALCIUM AND OTHER MINERALS WHEN YOUR DOG CAN’T EAT BONES
- WHAT IS THE RIGHT RATIO OF CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN A DOG’S DIET?
- CAN YOU LEAVE YOUR DOG ALONE WHILE CHEWING A BONE?
- CAN YOUR DOG CHOKE ON BONES?
- CAN YOU SUBSTITUTE RAW BONES WITH BONE MEAL?
- CAUTION: WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER FEED COOKED BONES TO YOUR DOG
- CAN CHEW TOYS REPLACE RAW BONES?
- CAN DENTAL TREATS REPLACE RAW BONES?
- WHAT ARE THE NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS AND SHORTCOMINGS OF BONE FEEDING
- HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR DOG GETS ALL THE MINERALS THEY NEED
WHERE I STAND ON GIVING BONES TO DOGS AS A VET
Unsure what the very best bones for canines are or even when it’s secure to feed them to your pup?
Over the previous 25 years, I’ve found the immense advantages of feeding uncooked bones to canines by way of private expertise and cautious statement in my veterinary apply.
My purpose on this complete information is to share with you strong, practice-proven insights and outcomes which have reworked dental well being in canines by way of aware bone feeding. This strategy dramatically reduces and even eliminates the necessity for anesthesia for canine dental hygiene, and the impact may be nothing wanting life-transforming.
WHAT ARE THE RIGHT BONES FOR YOUR DOG?
When choosing the proper bones to your canine, contemplating elements like measurement, form, and hardness to make sure security and well-being is essential. Your canine will profit drastically when you make knowledgeable selections and comply with finest practices.
However earlier than we dive into my suggestions, let’s contact on why uncooked bone feeding is smart and why I don’t hesitate to provide bones to my canine and suggest them to my canine sufferers.
RAW BONE FEEDING IS INSPIRED BY NATURE
When contemplating the very best food plan for our beloved canines, it is at all times a good suggestion to take a look at what nature provides. For instance, loads of proof exhibits wild canines, like wolves, foxes, and wild canines, naturally munch on bones as a part of their food plan.
This proof comes from observing these animals of their pure habitats, finding out the abdomen contents of deceased wild canines, and analyzing their feces (scat).
Out within the wild, bones present important vitamins resembling calcium and phosphorus, that are important for sustaining sturdy bones and tooth. Plus, chewing on bones helps hold their tooth clear and free from periodontal illness and gingivitis.
Canine tooth are constructed completely for a canine’s particular dietary wants. In contrast to the tooth of people and herbivores, your canine’s canine tooth have sharp, pointy premolars which can be nice for shearing meat and crunching bones.
In different phrases, our canine companions are well-equipped to deal with bones as a part of their food plan.
All of this exhibits that bones play an important position within the pure food plan of untamed canines contributing to their total well being and happiness. By studying from nature, we will make higher selections when feeding our canine pals.
Word: There may be nearly no useful distinction between the digestive tract of untamed and domesticated canines. If introduced to a histologist or anatomy skilled, they might not be capable to acknowledge one from the opposite. The one distinction is in measurement, which needs to be thought-about when providing your canine the proper kind of bone.
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF BONES?
1. Bone feeding retains your canine’s tooth wholesome and improves total well being and longevity.
Secure uncooked bone feeding has a dramatically optimistic impact on dental well being and is straight tied to defending the inner organs and constructing a strong basis of longevity. On this article, we’ll talk about some great benefits of uncooked bones, deal with frequent considerations, and information you to secure bone-feeding practices.
Dental illness is a priority for a lot of canine lovers not solely due to unhealthy breath, however It is also thought-about a number one reason for untimely loss of life in canines. The traditional strategy to canine dentistry can also be expensive, time-consuming, and unsightly for canines.
2. Uncooked bones will hold your canine entertained and match.
Other than the well being advantages, uncooked bones additionally provide train and leisure to your canine.
For instance, when given the proper kind and measurement of bone, your canine can have a good time chewing and gnawing which not solely strengthens their jaw muscle groups and cleans their tooth, but additionally gives psychological stimulation and leisure.
Thus, feeding uncooked bones will help forestall boredom and behavioural points in puppies and grownup canines, resulting in a happier and extra content material pooch.
3. Feeding your canine uncooked bones helps forestall abdomen bloating.
Canine that commonly eat bones are inclined to have extra muscular abdomen partitions and a decrease danger of experiencing bloat. Nonetheless, it is essential to do not forget that participating your canine in vigorous train, leaping, or leaping after any meal, particularly when it contains bones, needs to be averted.
The reason being that exercising a canine after feeding can improve the hazard of a abdomen twist and bloat, often known as gastric dilation-volvulus.
IMPORTANT! Permit your canine to relaxation and digest for 4 however ideally six hours after consuming bones.
WHY DO MANY VETERINARIANS STILL OBJECT TO BONE FEEDING?
I perceive that veterinarians who oppose feeding bones to canines might have the very best intentions at coronary heart. Nonetheless, these considerations typically come up on account of a necessity for extra schooling in pure canine vitamin that the traditional pet meals business nonetheless must assist.
Within the following part, I’ll deal with a few of the most typical considerations raised by my fellow veterinarians and supply my counterarguments:
Concern no. 1: Canine might break their tooth on onerous bones, resulting in painful dental points and potential veterinary remedies.
Reply: Dental fractures may be eradicated once you feed bones beneficial to your canine’s measurement. Massive and robust canines shouldn’t be given marrow bones or thick-walled bones.
Concern no. 2: Bones may cause blockages in a canine’s gastrointestinal tract, probably resulting in problems and even surgical procedure.
Reply: In my 25 years of expertise, I have not seen a gastrointestinal obstruction in a canine consuming uncooked bones. Though obstructions might happen, they’re prone to produce other underlying causes.
Concern no. 3: Sharp bone fragments can puncture a canine’s abdomen or intestines, inflicting life-threatening inside accidents and infections.
Reply: Though individuals typically fear about bone splintering, canines have advanced to eat bones. A canine’s abdomen acid has a pH between 1 – 2, which dissolves bones earlier than they attain the intestinal tract. Subsequently, splintered bones do not pose any extra risk than consuming different meals.
Concern no. 4: Uncooked bones can carry dangerous micro organism like Salmonella or E. coli, posing a danger to canines and their human companions.
Reply: The priority about micro organism is unfounded as a result of canines have advanced to take care of such pathogens. With correct preparation of uncooked bones and meat, I have not seen any salmonella infections in canines or their house owners. Minor publicity to pathogens might even assist practice a canine’s immune system.
Concern no. 5: Feeding bones may cause gastrointestinal points in some canines, resembling constipation from extreme bone consumption or diarrhea from the high-fat content material of marrow bones.
Reply: Constipation from consuming bones could be uncommon in canines with correct digestion. It is important to tell apart between onerous stool from digested bone and constipation. Laborious stool helps specific and preserve the right anal gland perform
Concern no. 6: Some veterinarians are involved that feeding bones may result in an imbalanced food plan
Reply: Based mostly on greater than 30 years in veterinary apply and 25 years of feeding uncooked meat, bone, and a plant-based food plan and witnessing the ends in hundreds of my sufferers and my canines, I am assured that such a food plan is superior to feeding processed kibble and canned meals that sits on the cabinets for months earlier than feeding.
No doctor would suggest processed meals to their human sufferers, and it neither is smart for our canines.
WHAT BONES TO GIVE YOUR DOG AND WHY
Within the following section, I am presenting you with a useful chart I created to make bone feeding simpler and safer for all canine dad and mom.
This chart divides canines into three measurement classes: small, medium, and huge, with corresponding suggestions for appropriate bones and their function for every group.
The chart additionally highlights 4 main goals of feeding bones to canines:
1. Play and leisure: Bones can present an fulfilling and fascinating exercise for canines, conserving them occupied and entertained.
2. Train: Chewing on bones workout routines the jaw muscle groups and includes utilizing their paws to carry the bones, offering a bodily exercise.
3. Diet: Bones are wealthy in important vitamins and contribute to a canine’s well being and well-being.
4. Dental hygiene: Deciding on the suitable bone measurement for a selected canine ensures correct dental hygiene, as crunching on bones helps clear tooth and prevents dental points.
The next chart permits you to shortly determine essentially the most appropriate bones to your canine primarily based on their measurement and meant function. Approximating the scale and texture needs to be comparatively straightforward if a selected form of bone will not be listed.
Choosing the right bones to your pup ensures they’re secure and completely happy.
HOW STRONG IS YOUR DOG’S BITE?
The chew energy of a canine can range drastically relying on elements resembling breed, measurement, and particular person traits.
Measured in kilos per sq. inch (PSI), giant canines like Rottweilers, German Shepherds, or Mastiffs sometimes have a chew pressure starting from 200 to 700 PSI, whereas smaller breeds like Shih Tzus, Chihuahuas, or Pugs might solely have a chew pressure between 50 and 150 PSI.
Massive canines shouldn’t be given sturdy marrow bones as a result of they’ll simply fracture their tooth on a too-thick bone. Alternatively, a dental fracture is way much less prone to occur in small canines.
HOW TO AVOID DENTAL FRACTURES WHEN FEEDING YOUR DOG BONES
Keep away from beef bones, buffalo bones, or bison shank bones, particularly for medium and huge canines, as they are often too onerous to your canine’s tooth. As well as, when massive canines chew on these inflexible bones, they could find yourself cracking their tooth – turning an affordable marrow bone right into a painful and expensive ordeal.
Little canines might not have an issue with giant marrow bones since they can not crunch by way of them. However, these bones do not do a lot for cleansing their tooth.
Certain, your canine might love attending to the bone marrow however do not forget that canines within the wild would primarily hunt smaller prey like birds, rodents, rabbits, goats, and generally deer. They would not eat massive animals like buffaloes or cows all that usually.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU GIVE BONES TO YOUR DOG?
To maintain your canine’s tooth in tip-top form and get monetary savings on dental payments, strive feeding the proper dental bones (see the chart above) twice to a few instances every week.
I do not suggest feeding bones every day as it could pressure the digestive tract. Moderation is vital in terms of including uncooked bones to your canine’s food plan.
WHAT IS THE IDEAL DENTAL BONE FOR DOGS?
The perfect bone needs to be onerous and crunchy however not too thick, giving your canine’s tooth ‘scale’ with out the danger of dental fractures. As well as, by selecting the right-sized bones to your canine, you possibly can hold them entertained and wholesome on the similar time.
Remember to take a look at our complete guide to natural dental care for dogs and study how one can keep away from most anesthesia when taking your pup to the vet for a dental cleansing.
WHAT IF YOUR DOG WON’T EAT BONES?
In case your canine is not a fan of bones or does not digest them properly, give them a balanced food plan with these 4 essential nutrients – minerals, nutritional vitamins, probiotics, and omega oils.
The one problem is dental care. With out bones, you may have to pay further consideration to your canine’s tooth to maintain them clear and wholesome.
ARE CHICKEN BONES SAFE FOR DOGS?
In my expertise, uncooked hen bones are high quality for canines. Their highly effective abdomen acids with pH between 1-2 will break the bones into smaller, extra manageable items earlier than they hit the intestines. As quickly because the bones are digested, the pH turns into much less acidic to guard the abdomen lining.
Word: Hen and turkey bones are typically heating and should trigger digestive upset in canines that are usually scorching.
ARE BONE SPLINTERS DANGEROUS AND WILL THEY PUNCTURE YOUR DOG’S INTESTINE?
Canine have advanced to have tremendous sturdy stomachs and intestinal partitions that can contract and bounce off the partially digested bones.
In case your canine swallows a chunk it may possibly’t digest simply, my expertise is that they’ll throw it again up. In 25 years, I have not had any intestinal perforations in canines, and I confidently feed my canine crunchy bones.
ARE BONES GOOD FOR ALL DOGS?
A small proportion of canines might not do properly consuming uncooked bones. In case your canine struggles with consuming uncooked bones, strive introducing them slowly by way of small parts and progressively improve the quantity.
Hold an in depth eye in your pup’s response to bone feeding, and in the event that they nonetheless do not do properly with bones, cease providing them altogether.
Keep in mind, each canine is exclusive, and what works for one won’t be appropriate for an additional.
HOW TO SUPPLEMENT CALCIUM AND OTHER MINERALS WHEN YOUR DOG CAN’T EAT BONES
When canines can not eat bones, it not solely impacts their oral well being but additionally reduces their nutrient consumption. Discovering different sources to assist their dietary wants is important in such circumstances.
One suggestion is GreenMin, a plant-based calcium and mineral complement and inexperienced superfood. This complement is designed to offer canines with the important vitamins they might miss out on with out consuming bones.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT RATIO OF CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN A DOG’S DIET?
The beneficial calcium-phosphorus ratio is 1.2:1 for puppies and 1.3:1 for grownup canines.
It is important to contemplate the digestibility and bioavailability of those vitamins, because the precise quantity of obtainable calcium and phosphorus in a canine’s food plan can range. For instance, cellulose in kibble comprises calcium and phosphorus that are not as bioavailable as in a uncooked meat, bone, and veggie-based food plan.
Subsequently, essentially the most optimum meal to your pup needs to be as near a pure, species-appropriate food plan as potential.
CAN YOU LEAVE YOUR DOG ALONE WHILE CHEWING A BONE?
The reply is easy — at all times be close by and supervise your canine after they’re consuming bones to make sure their security. In uncommon situations, a bone can get lodged between your canine’s tooth and you might should be there to help.
CAN YOUR DOG CHOKE ON BONES?
When you have a canine that likes to gobble meals down, give them chunks of bone bigger than they’ll swallow, so they should chew these items off.
CAN YOU SUBSTITUTE RAW BONES WITH BONE MEAL?
Whereas it may appear alright to feed bone meal, I do not suggest it. Bone meal normally undergoes warmth sterilization and processing, making it tough to digest and soak up.
Furthermore, bone meal merchandise are sometimes imported from China and different nations, elevating considerations about their high quality in mild of tainted pet meals scandals.
There is just one kind of bone meal I really feel comfy feeding- frozen, domestically sourced bone shavings. They’re excellent for canines that may’t eat or digest bones.
CAUTION: WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER FEED COOKED BONES TO YOUR DOG
Feeding cooked bones to canines may be harmful on account of their indigestibility, resulting in gastrointestinal obstructions. The parable of not with the ability to feed bones to canines stems from the confusion between uncooked and cooked bones.
When bones are cooked, collagen fibres break down and minerals grow to be extra concentrated. This makes bones onerous and indigestible.
NEVER EVER FEED YOUR DOG COOKED BONES!
First Support Word: In case your canine by chance eats cooked bones, I counsel you comply with my foreign body ingestion protocol, which has saved many canines from emergency surgical procedure.
CAN CHEW TOYS REPLACE RAW BONES?
Logically, whereas handy, chew toys cannot exchange the dietary advantages of pure bones for canines. Moreover, some toys and artificial canine bones comprise hormone-disrupting chemical compounds like BPA and phthalates, resulting in well being and reproductive points in canines.
In addition they have a major environmental influence, as supplies like PVC and microplastics are non-biodegradable and contribute to plastic air pollution.
If you wish to purchase your canine a chew toy, get one product of pure supplies or child-safe non-BPA plastic. I do not purchase artificial furry toys for my canine Pax.
CAN DENTAL TREATS REPLACE BONES?
Whereas dental treats can profit your canine’s oral hygiene, they often aren’t ample to exchange the scaling and cleansing results of pure bones.
Chewing on uncooked bones helps take away plaque and tartar buildup extra successfully than most dental chews and treats, as bones have a naturally abrasive texture that cleans tooth all the way down to the gumline.
Moreover, many dental treats comprise unhealthy or dangerous components, so checking the label earlier than giving them to your canine is essential.
Relying solely on dental treats may provide a special degree of dental well being assist, so incorporating bones into your canine’s food plan can considerably contribute to sustaining their total oral hygiene.
WHAT ARE THE NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS AND SHORTCOMINGS OF BONE FEEDING?
It is essential to contemplate the dietary worth of bones when feeding them to your canine. The standard of uncooked bones and their vitamins are straight associated to the standard of the feed given to the animals from which these bones are sourced.
As a consequence of intensive agriculture and soil degradation, nutrient depletion is a real concern in processed and uncooked pet food.
Subsequently, I like to recommend offering essential supplements alongside your canines food plan to make sure that they obtain all the mandatory vitamins for optimum well being.
A balanced food plan with dietary dietary supplements will assist fill dietary gaps and improve your canine’s probabilities for sturdy well being and an extended life. These dietary supplements ought to embody the next:
Uncover our Fab4 natural supplements for dogs and learn the way they helped lots of of canine dad and mom increase their pups’ well being and immunity.
HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR DOG GETS ALL THE MINERALS THEY NEED?
Quite a few mineral outcomes from our HairQ testing present that canines receiving bones with out dietary supplements nonetheless undergo from hint mineral deficiencies. As I discussed above, that is primarily on account of soil depletion and the shortage of important minerals in our meals sources.
In order for you extra data in your canine’s mineral and heavy steel standing, check out the HairQ test.
In case your canine’s outcomes are regular, it will provide you with peace of thoughts that you just’re heading in the right direction; if they’re irregular, at the very least you’ll learn about it and be capable to take the right steps. You don’t have anything to lose!
I want you good luck and your canine many completely happy bone-crunching years forward!
