Raw feeding question

[dorade]

Hi

We have a 3 month old working cocker.  I have been feeding raw, as did the breeder to some extent. Early this morning when I let puppy out for a wee she spent some time heaving (as if to be sick) with her whole body undulating violently. After about a minute she collapsed over sideways - I thought she had dropped dead frankly. I rushed over to her and she stood up and trotted into the house.

This lunchtime I took her out for a play in the field and she stopped to poo. I went over to have a look and to my utter amazement she passed an entire chicken thigh bone in one piece. I have no idea how this made it's way through her intestines, but it has made me very wary about feeding bones. I now think these two incidents were probably linked.

I would appreciate any advice anyone has.

Thanks :-)

[Holly Berry]

There are mixed opinions about feeding chicken thighs as the are technically weight bearing bones. Whilst bigger animals are definitely a no no, chicken because they are quite light are deemed to be ok.

Personally I don't feed them preferring wings or legs. I would hold meaty bones for her in the future to ensure she gets the hang of chewing them. It was probabaly too thick for the stomach acids to break down.

Hope she is ok 

[elaine.e]

Very scarey . I hope she's OK.

I don't feed chicken thighs to my 2 adult Cockers for the same reason as Holly Berry. One of my two is a bone gulper given the chance, so if he has a chicken wing or neck I hold it while he eats to make sure he chews it enough. My other one is a more careful bone eater, taking his time and chewing, so I feel able to give him a bit more variety and he has rabbit quarters and chicken carcass as well as wings and necks.

It sounds like your puppy is a bone gulper, so if you decide to carry on feeding bones you could try either holding the bone while she eats or trying something bigger that's impossible for her to gulp down. If you do that please supervise her so you can see how she copes. Otherwise, there are plenty of minces with bone in that you could feed to ensure she has enough calcium in her diet and they, along with meaty chunks, green tripe, offal and oily fish, can provide the variety needed for a balanced diet.

Have you thought of joining any of the raw feeding Facebook groups? A few are very much for "extreme" feeders who feed things like pig's heads and other large bits of animals, but most have a mix of people who feed anything from minces upwards. I can recommend Raw Feeding UK and A.R.S.E (A Raw Start Explained in case you were wondering).

[dorade]

Thanks for the advice.

Would it be ok if I minced the thighs to grind the bones?

I'm not on FB (and don't really need another internet black hole in my life), but thanks anyway :-)

[Holly Berry]

Not sure if anything other than an industrial mincer would get the bones small enough. You don't really want shattered bones with sharp edges. Mine tend to inhale the bone in minces  . Personally I would bone the thigh and feed with chicken wing which would also give a better bone/meat ratio.

[Patp]

How scary for you.

Jinley is fed raw but only has chicken wings for bones or if the poussins are on offer, she has one quartered (those are the only thigh bones I feed her).

When she was younger, I used to put the chicken wing in a sandwich bag and bash it up slightly with a rolling pin not so much to break the bones, more to crush them as they are usually quite soft.  She would still have to chew the wing properly to break it up or alternatively if you are still worried, bash the chicken wing up and cut it into smaller pieces.

[dorade]

Many thanks everyone,  I will stick with the chicken wings for the bone content of the diet. I want to continue with the raw as she turns her nose up at kibble, although I have only tried the fish4dogs.

[Emilyoliver]

I feed raw and kibble. Was giving puppy a chicken wing once a week, but every morning after he would wake up heaving. So i stopped giving him wings. He had a meaty bone recently and ended up with severe constipation (incl vomiting).  I think he has a sensitive stomach and has difficulty digesting bone material so I've stopped giving him bones altogether now. All dogs are different.

[LurcherGirl]

Only minced bone for mine, too worried to feed whole bones. I get the minces that contain meat, offal and bone all minced together.

[panda66]

Lila has thigh bones all the time.  I feel that they are OK as chickens go to be slaughtered at about 6 weeks so bones wouldn't have time to harden. I never see any bone in her poo  Wouldn't feed turkey bones though 

[bluegirl]

You can use chicken thigh bones but young pups cannot digest the bones as well as larger dogs plus they are greedy and will naturally try to gulp them down. Best way is to put chicken thigh in a plastic bag, get a hammer and bash the bone until its all in tiny tiny pieces that way if pup decides to gulp them down the bone is already small enough not to create problems. Failing that get the meat with the ground bones in it.