Two to three times a week the girls get raw meaty bones in place of their normal dinner. Raw meaty bones are part of a balanced raw diet, and a wonderful supplement to a kibble or cooked-diet as well!
Raw meaty bones (RMB) provide stimulation to dogs as they have to pull, rip, and tear apart the meat as well as crush the bones in their molars. It takes a dog much longer (on average) to eat a RMB than their normal dinner!
Besides being wonderfully stimulating for our dogs, RMB provide an important dental benefit to our dogs. Most of a dogs diet, whether it includes treats, kibble, raw hides, or other chewies, doesn't clean the teeth near the gum where most tartar and plaque will build up. Without RMB we often have a dog who needs more frequent dental cleanings, more invasive dental cleanings, and has bad breath.
The act of chewing RMBs, of crushing the bone and tearing the meat, rubs against the teeth near the gum and helps to eliminate the buildup. RMB aren't a cure-all for all dental issues, and some dogs have a genetic propensity to buildup that won't go away just from RMB usage, but universally RMB are helpful for cleaning a dog's teeth. In my pack we don't brush teeth or do dental cleanings - we just feed RMB 2-3 times a week and the teeth take care of themselves!
What RMB you choose depends on personal preference, dog size, availability, and cost. I feed poultry bones exclusively because they are the only bones small enough for them to easily eat as a meal. Usually I feed duck necks, turkey necks, chicken wings, and chicken backs. I prefer chicken backs because because I can buy them in bulk for about $0.55/lb, and they have a goodly amount of skin and muscle along with the bone! Each dog gets around 1.5 chicken backs a meal, for a total of 3-4.5 chicken backs a week. I aim to make the RMB around 10% of their total nutrition.
You may have been told to never give dogs poultry bones, but that applies only to cooked bones! When a poultry bone is raw it flexes and snaps clean, leaving smooth edges. Once a bone is cooked though, the structure changes and it becomes inflexible and brittle. A cooked bone will splinter when broken, and poses a serious health hazard to any creature that eats it! Always feed raw poultry bones, never cooked ones!
I feed the girls outside for easy clean up as well as having plenty of space for them to be separated but I can still see them easily. Never let a dog eat a RMB unsupervised, as it can be a choking hazard! I also recommend that owners know how to perform the Heimlich maneuver in case of choking. I have never seen (or known of) a dog who choked to death on a raw meaty bone, but I want to be prepared just in case!
Sappho is nervous about the camera so close to her food.
I back away several feet and she relaxes.
Of course RMB aren't totally serious business. They are pretty fun to watch! Below is a video of me feeding them to the dogs. Note my failure to correctly estimate how high Lucia can jump to get her bone!
Eating bones can be messy business, and afterwards the girls make sure to wipe their face and paws off before coming back inside!
This is a great post. I've been recently thinking of feeding Jake (AKA "Sammy") RMB but wondered which direction I should take. I'm going to follow your plan and see how it goes. I know he'll love it.
Cris, let me know how it goes! You can always email me at merrypawstraining(at)gmail.com too if you have any questions or concerns.
I would start Sammy out with something like necks - either duck or chicken, as those don't have any turns in the bones and are pretty straight forward. Or you can try chicken wings, which are a little complicated but the bones are so thin that they are easy to crack.
If you do the wings, try and pull the skin off and leave it hanging. Sometimes dogs don't know how to eat raw meat because they aren't sure how to get started, so you may need to break the neck or wing up into chunks at first, or else cut slices in the meat to give them some traction. Jake will get it though!
This is a great post. I've been recently thinking of feeding Jake (AKA "Sammy") RMB but wondered which direction I should take. I'm going to follow your plan and see how it goes. I know he'll love it.
ReplyDeleteCris, let me know how it goes! You can always email me at merrypawstraining(at)gmail.com too if you have any questions or concerns.
DeleteI would start Sammy out with something like necks - either duck or chicken, as those don't have any turns in the bones and are pretty straight forward. Or you can try chicken wings, which are a little complicated but the bones are so thin that they are easy to crack.
If you do the wings, try and pull the skin off and leave it hanging. Sometimes dogs don't know how to eat raw meat because they aren't sure how to get started, so you may need to break the neck or wing up into chunks at first, or else cut slices in the meat to give them some traction. Jake will get it though!