Charleys First Chicken Wing :)

[weenieangel]

Hi - I know many of you have been there and done this After reading old posts on Chicken Wings, i decided that i would buy some for Charley.

Cheap and cheerful ones from Sainsburys.

I followed advice on here to reduce a meal if offered one... bless him he took it out of his bowl and to his bed left it there and just kept running back to it then away from it and " chatting " to this foreign object

After 5 mins of this conversation and checking it wasn't gonna grow legs and run off he tucked in and it was gone in 5 mins, didnt have any probs with the bones it seemed - he was soooooooooooo excited after he finished it he had a mad half hour completely beside himself.

So if its ok - would 2 wings a week be ok to feed ( will be reducing his tea on the nights he has one ) ?

[Karma]

Two wings a week would be fine... you could either feed 2 at once in place of a meal, or 1 on 2 occassions, and cut back his meal accordingly.
Do make sure you leave a good 6 hours between feeding raw and kibble, though, as they digest at different rates and can cause tummy upsets if fed too close together! 

[weenieangel]

Opps ! didnt do the 6 hour gap, didnt realise that was needed, it was about 2 hours then he had his JWB luckily seems we have avoided any tummy upsets, but will remember for next time

[Rats and Dogs]

Well done for being brave!

I give them to Dougie and Tia too, and they don't even chew them! OH bashes up the bones first, and he feeds them to them, as I find it completely repulsive and tend to gag a lot, but if he isn't there, they get them served with food tongs!

[Countrygirl]

I decided to be brave and gave Ellie her first chicken wing this afternoon.  She got all excited, took it off me, carried it into the garden and sat looking at it.  She kept going back to it and giving it a lick and then sat back again looking at it.  OH kept telling her 'it is food, it's just not food as you know it'.  After about an hour of her going back and to to it and giving it a lick, I took it off her (the local wildlife can have that one later tonight). 

I took her a walk then and when we got back she shot straight to the spot in the garden where the chicken wing had been and sniffed all over the place.  I didn't give it her back though as it was time for her tea.  I will try again with another tomorrow and I am sure eventually she will get the hang of it.  I think the problem is she just doesn't know what it is.

I hope she does, as I would like to try her with more raw food (hoping to promote onto Natural Instinct one day, hopefully!!!!!!.

[SkyeSue]

ower....well I remember the first chicken wing  I was terrified of all sorts of dreadful things happening, but Chloe sussed out that it was delectable within a minute. She chomped her way through it with no problems and she now occasionally gets t wo as a meal. She absolutely loves them, as she does ribs and other raw bones. Unfortunately, I fell out with my local butcher (he gave me a lecture on why I SHOULDN'T feed Chloe chicken wings, so I refuse to go in the shop!) so now she has the occasional wings when I buy a complete chicken for myself, and sometimes I get her thighs or drumsticks. I am looking into getting her more raw stuff on-line, but don't think I could be bothered with all the faffing involved in feeding a complete BARF diet, though I have huge admiration for those that do.

[Rats and Dogs]

Unfortunately, I fell out with my local butcher (he gave me a lecture on why I SHOULDN'T feed Chloe chicken wings, so I refuse to go in the shop!)

What did the butcher say Sue? I expect it was the usual thing of how dogs can choke on bones...

Vets generally are very against it too, as they don't know much about it - I don't tell mine half of what Dougie and Tia get food/meds wise!

[jogillan]

Hi All,

I have been giving Milo chicken wings maybe once a week or fortnight for the last 4-5 months (he is 10 months old no), but haven't really had a great experience with them. Milo loves them of course but on three or four occassions he has vomitted up a chunk of bone. I think after the last episode where he spent all night gagging and wretching until he brought up a big piece of bone, I think I am going to hve to stop :-(
I don't know why Milo is having this problem while others don't seem to, maybe he just eats them way to fast??

Jo

[sarahbe]

I will ask the stupid question! I thought that we are not supposed to give dogs chicken bones because they can splinter? So why is it ok to give chicken wings? And do you give the whole wing or just the end bits?

[eljaybee1956]

Sarah, that is COOKED chicken bones! What I do for Master Jeeves is buy two or three chicken wings from the supermarket deli. When I want to feed him I take a meat tenderriser mallet, belt the bones and just give it to him. He knows what to do - straight out the backyard and two-three gulps he's back for the next one.


Jo - one question - is there a slow way for a healthy cocker to eat??

[mlynnf50]

Well done!!! I am too scared to give Selby bones incase he chokes, not even given him hide bones or ears or anything yet, I think I might have to pluck up courage and try, I think it will have to be a lunch time meal as I know the vets in then just in case.  Is there an age limit to when we start given bones and chews?   

Does anyone know why I cant get the little icons up?

[sarahbe]

Hey Eljaybee 1956- I am blonde you know! I really didn't know that. So raw is ok- yuck!
Is it realy that good for them?
And they eat the bones as well?

[Karma]

Sarahbe -

Don't worry, the chicken bone myth is very widly believed - hence why some vets/butchers insist that they can't possibly be given.
But there are a fair few people here (and in the wider world!) who feed a fully raw diet, including bones.... and many more who feed the occassional chicken wing.  They are very good at cleaning teeth - Honey will be 3 in August and has been raw fed since she was 8 months old - her teeth are in great condition! 

Chicken bones are actually some of the easiest for a dog to eat, as they are very soft (comparatively) and they have a high moisture content (which is what they lose when cooked, which is when splintering can happen). 

Jogillan - it sounds like he is rushing the chicken wings... you could try smashing the wing up so that he can't swallow too big chunks... or maybe try him on some larger bones (lamb ribs, for example).... This is the reason I stopped giving Honey Oxtail - the larger peices would wedge across her palate, but she would swallow the smaller peices whole, and spend the rest of the evening retching.... 

[jogillan]

Thanks for the tip I will try that! I have seen the benefits of giving him the chicken wings so was not keen to stop but was just about worried after he vommited the bone.

Jo

[SkyeSue]

Unfortunately, I fell out with my local butcher (he gave me a lecture on why I SHOULDN'T feed Chloe chicken wings, so I refuse to go in the shop!)

What did the butcher say Sue? I expect it was the usual thing of how dogs can choke on bones...

Vets generally are very against it too, as they don't know much about it - I don't tell mine half of what Dougie and Tia get food/meds wise!

Yes, you guessed right! Well I'd been getting marrow bones and lamb ribs from him but when I asked if he could source chicken wings, he just about threw a fit. He owns two huskies, and considers himself an expert on dogs, he knew Chloe was my first dog, and I wasn't prepared to stand there and let him lecture me like I was a kid. My vet is also dead against bones of any description....so like you, I just don't tell him what I give Chloe. Unfortunately, the co-op here (our only supermarket) doesn't do wings...but I can get drumsticks and thighs and neck of lamb, so she gets those from time to time.