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| INDEX OF ARTICLES | WAITING ROOM | EXAM ROOM | SURGERY ROOM | X-RAY ROOM | GENERAL TOPICS | IMPORTANT TOPICS | LAB and PHARMACY | PET PHOTOS | PET SUPPLIES | PET PHARMACY |
RAW BONES OR COOKED
BONES... ARE EITHER SAFE?
This page questions the SAFETY of feeding
whole BONES to dogs.
Feeding raw foods such as
meat, eggs, fish, fruit and vegetables can be tremendously beneficial to dogs and
cats. Raw foods retain many health-enhancing benefits that cooked foods may
lack. ThePetCenter encourages pet owners to look into the advantages and
disadvantages of feeding raw foods. If you "do it yourself" by
composing a
homemade diet for your pets you must be very careful that the amounts and ratios of
nutrients are correct. The eventual effects of deficiencies, imbalances and
over-supplementing a diet may not show detrimental effects in an animal for months after
an improper diet has been fed.
For a report on the Nutritional Value of Bones, read this.
There are people who will tell you that feeding bones is natural and healthy for dogs, and that feeding bones promotes clean teeth and aids the nutritional status of the animal. Well, mushrooms are natural, too, and certain kinds will kill a dog if eaten. Pine trees are alive with vital cellular nutrients of all kinds, but does that imply that we should grind up pine trees and feed them to our pets in order to provide their "vital nutrients" to our pets? I will share with you just a few examples of many where a dog has been very seriously harmed by ingesting bones...YES, EVEN RAW BONES!
It is my belief that feeding bones to dogs is not perfectly safe to do. Many experienced and knowledgeable veterinarians feel the same. Yes, there are some veterinarians who encourage the feeding of raw, whole bones. Pet owners must decide for themselves what really makes sense and what just seems like a good thing to do. Lets go right to the first x-rays, below left, and I will show you a case that was presented to Dr. Ray Goodroad in Rhinelander, Wisconsin in December, 1998. This hound of about 75 pounds was found by his owner feeding on a dead deer carcass. The dog became very lethargic, attempted unsuccessfully to vomit and pass stool, and was dehydrated. This dog was feeding NATURALLY on RAW BONES and you can see the results.
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Click on the photo for an enlarged view. To return here, simply click your back button. |
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Now take a look at the two x-rays on the
right. This dog was straining to pass stool, was weak and dehydrated when presented
to the veterinarian, and had a history of raiding the neighbor's garbage cans. Both
dogs required four days in the hospital, anesthesia and sedation, repeated enemas, i.v.
fluid
therapy, antibiotics, and additional x-rays. If this treatment approach wasn't
successful, major surgery would have been necessary to save the dogs from an agonizing
death.
Now, for those of you who state with confidence that "Wolves in the wild eat bones all the time; so it must be OK for dogs to do the same", I would ask you this... How many times have you even seen a healthy wolf? How can you state with authority that wolves are NOT occasionally harmed by a bone splinter? I can tell you this: If a wolf unluckily happens to become disabled by intestinal bone fragments such as the dogs in these examples were, the wolf's cousins would dispatch the sick wolf in moments "...and unto dust thou shalt return". Hardly anyone ever sees even a healthy wolf, how much more unlikely would it be to happen upon a sick wolf when being a "sick wolf" is equivalent to a swift death sentence! We don't get many opportunity to do autopsies on dead wolves. For a list of unedited, honest replies from wolf care managers regarding the question of whether or not consuming bones is safe for wolves, look at this page.
Hard "round" bones are no different. As well
as creating the chance for major problems, such as death, gnawing on bones often results
in the cracking of the tips of the 4th premolars. These cracked teeth can lead to
root infections and SUBORBITAL ABSCESSES that require tooth
reconstruction or extraction.
I have seen these cases frequently in practice. Lets be practical... the
nutritional benefits from feeding bones to your dog are derived from the soft tissues
attached to the bone such as meat, cartilage, fat and connective tissue... not from the
bones themselves. Bone is composed of minerals that are common in many ordinary
foods. The scant protein matrix in bone is mainly collagen and dogs can't digest and
assimilate collagen! So where's all that great nutritional benefit that is
supposed to be coming from the actual "bone" really coming from? It
comes from the meat, cartilage, fat and connective tissue that happens to be along for the
ride. Read about the actual nutritional content of raw bone.
Just for fun, though, lets assume there are great benefits to be derived from feeding bones, but with that benefit comes the slight chance that drastic major surgery may be needed to save your dog's life as a result of feeding those bones...WHY DO IT??!! Very nutritious foods are available, some have ground bone as part of the recipe and the ground bone poses no threat.
The photos below (click on them to see the full view) show a common occurrence where a bone fragment has broken and lodged between the upper molars. These dogs are in acute stress and need attention immediately. Fortunately, these cases resolve easily simply by removing the bone manually. |
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For a view of responses from Wolf management experts regarding feeding bones to wolves, go here.
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