Chicken bones, when are they safe?

Dinnertime

Hi Darcie, After reading the Poop Smells Like…? info and what dog poop should look like when feeding a raw diet, I am finally convinced to buy a few books from SitStay.com and look into this raw food diet for my dog. Why are raw chicken bones ok vs. cooked? Do they not splinter? What do you do with the diet when you board your dog? I don’t have to board her often, but there are times my husband and I have to leave town for a few days. We have a fantastic dog loving boarder we go to, so how is it best to accommodate ease of feeding for the boarder employees and keep my dog on her diet? What about home cooked diets that start with raw ingredients like chicken and vegetables? Thanks! Jean

Dear Jean,

I am so happy for you and your dog. Just wait, at about two weeks into her new diet, she will come to you and thank you in her own special way. It might make you cry.

“Dog food”, which we know today as dog biscuits, was invented in the late 1800s and flourished during the 1930s when canned foods were too expensive to continue making. That little fact alone should give you pause. Dry food grew increasing, extensively popular in the 1950s and kept growing right up to today. It’s a multi billion dollar industry. If history serves us correctly, veterinarians have been flourishing since the 1950s, too. There used to be one for every several communities and they were mostly big animal doctors. Count the number of them in your town or city today. Why the need for so many vets taking care of dogs since the 1950s? Are these things related? (I put my chin in my hand and make a sad face.)

A lot of people are going back to basics for their dogs, the way dogs were fed 50 years ago by people who loved them just as much as you love yours. Back to real foods, simple foods, raw or home cooked foods. Back before vaccinations were prevalent but that’s a different post. Back before ‘allergies’, huge numbers of dogs dying too early of cancers, kidney failure, congestive heart failure, so many other maladies, and yes, a growing issue which is often directly related to the food in the bag… the refusal to eat. Why are dogs refusing to eat what’s in that bag? And why does their poop stink? Good questions. I like to trust the dogs, they are almost always right.

Chicken bones are easily chewed into digestible pieces. Some dogs swallow whole pieces without any trouble digesting. You can crush the chicken bone with a mallet if you’re concerned about your dog’s chewing, or lack of it. Dog’s stomachs are made for digesting large pieces of raw meat and bones. After a day of cleaning chickens (yes, we did that just like the guy who prepares your chicken on the grocery store shelf. Only ours tasted better than anything you can buy today, we had to work for it and it was as fresh at the table as it gets. My favorite thing as a child, was finding a whole egg inside. “Found one!” we’d yell.) But I digress. When we cleaned chickens, who got the legs, the heads and the insides at the end of the day? Right. The dogs and the cats did. And they loved it. The difference from this and what you find in some bags of food? It was fresh and healthy.

Cooked poultry bones are brittle, like the wishbone you break to get your wish at Thanksgiving. Snap! They can act like needles if swallowed. Many dogs can eat them and get away unscathed but it’s really not worth the chance of puncturing a gut. Your great, great, great Grandmother said it, your great Grandmother said it, your Grandmother said it, and I’m saying it. “Don’t feed cooked chicken bones to the dogs.” It nothing magic. It’s just common sense that’s been around as long as cooked chickens and hungry dogs.

Home made raw food is great! So is homemade cooked food, it’s head and shoulders over commercial foods. If you can feed yourself, you can feed your dog. You’ll feel good giving your dog fresh ingredients. The books at SitStay.com are really, really good, you can’t go wrong no matter which ones you choose. They will be a great source of peace and help for you.

If your boarder has freezer room, it’s easy to leave frozen food in portions for your dog. An adult dog will eat about 2% of it’s body weight a day in raw food. That’s about a little more than one pound for a 65 pound dog, two 8 ounce cups of ground up food. Take it out of the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge, and feed. They won’t even have to touch it. Or use freeze dried raw foods. We have several at SitStay.com, again, you can’t go wrong. We only carry things that we like, tested and true. Oliver loves the Stella and Chewy’s Lamb. Go to www.sitstay.com, click on Dog Food in the left menu, click on Raw Freeze Dried to see them all.

When I travel like I did earlier this summer, I like to take freeze dried raw foods. It takes about 10 minutes to rehydrate so not as easy as raw frozen, but I’m on vacation, I have nothing but time. I often pack a cooler with my food and the dog’s raw frozen, too. We picnic instead of eating in restaurants. We find a bench at a truck stop where we get lots of attention or a grassy spot that somebody hasn’t pooped on. Not only do I get really quality time with my dog, I save a load of money so I can spend it on gas instead. Oliver’s favorite meal? Canned tripe, whole fresh chicken, raw frozen, or freeze dried raw food. My favorite meal? Baked chicken, the meat of which I share with Oliver, boiled eggs, a salad, an apple, and a big glass of water we carry in jugs from our own home tap. I carry disposable plates, silver, and hand wipes with me. Desert? Once in a while, a walk through a drive through for ice cream.

I am so happy that you’re making the choice. Your dog is going to be so happy!

[A quick note to all of my readers: I am not against all commercial kibble or canned foods. Some of the them are as good as they can possibly be and you'll see great differences in your dogs if you change to a better brand. Although most are still cooked, they start with human grade food, not garbage. Real food and that's the difference. Learn to read your labels. It's fine reading. Some people are never going to change to raw food and that's just the way it's going to be. But if you don't, please feed the best foods that you can.]