Bones...no Bones...what's The Deal ? ? ?

[Glacier]

Just find something that works for your dog. There are 9000 different ways to keep their teeth clean. Every pet product company on the planet puts out something that they say will clean the dog's teeth. Find one Maximus likes and use it.

No matter what option you choose, someone is going to have a horror story about it. Everything from bones, rawhide, greenies, toothpaste...if you look for it or ask on a board, someone will have a horrible story and tell you to never use any of them. You will drive yourself crazy trying to find a perfectly safe, no bad reports ever product. I say pick one your dog likes and you are comfortable with and use it.

My dogs get all kinds of stuff. I've given them greenies, rawhide, pressed rawhide, pigs ears, beef hide chunks. They get raw bones a few times a week. I feed them raw meat at least three times a week. They eat moose, caribou, muskox, beef, chicken, salmon, whatever I can get for them they eat. I have a wild game butcher just down the road from my house. He gives us tons of meat scraps and bones. I've had somone tell me that they shouldn't get the weight bearing bones of a large animal, that they shouldn't eat fish, that caribou will give them worms, moose has some kind of parasite in it....ect, ect.....

They also get kibble, often several different brands mixed together. I often get bags of dog food from my co-workers and friends because their dogs don't like it or something. I've fed them Ol' Roy occasionally because I was too broke to buy a better brand. (we call Ol' Roy "puppy crack" cuz the dogs loose their minds for it!) Advocates of a raw diet will tell you that you can't mix kibble and raw, but every musher I know does just that.

Even though they eat a strange diet, my dogs are happy, active and healthy. They have clear eyes, shiny coats and strong pads, good nails. They are full of energy and all at heathy weights. It works for us.

[IRescue452]

Since Pepper had a chicken bone lodged in her throat as a pup we have never let them have them. Auumn gets beefbone occasionally, but if she splinters a piece off I throw it out, some of them splinter and some grind down good but as soon as I know she can get pieces off I throw it away.

[bckrazy]

Originally posted by sammy101
They do get rib bones,after we eat most the meat of them I've never had a problem with rib bones,and steak bones

Cooked rib bones (pork ribs are the worst) and steak boned are very, very bad. . imho. My sister fed Gonzo a cooked rib bone after we first got him, after I told her NOT TO. He seemed to eat it fine, but he couldn't go #2 for over a day and when he did there were chunks of bone in there. ew. We're just lucky the chunks didn't get lodged in his intestines. Needless to say, I beat up my sister after this, and Gonzo will never ever get cooked bones again

Seriously, I dont have too much advice on this otherwise. My vet knows a lot about animal nutrition and approves of BARF diets, but she advised me to never give Gonzo hard bones. He already has his large molar chipped, and if it cracked he'd have to get it pulled and stitched, which is a big deal. He has pretty weak teeth and doesn't seem to know how to properly chew a bone (he chews really hard with his back teeth, probably why he chipped one T_T) so it doesn't seem worth it to me. Maximus might love it. Large chicken bones probably are softer than beef knuckle bones, so that could work.