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  1. #1
    House Broken Angela_WM's Avatar
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    Is it ever safe to feed raw bones to a senior?

    He's in perfect health... has a wheat allergy. I'm deboning chicken to cook for him. Some of the bones are full of marrow and look really high quality and I hate wasting them knowing that technically, he can eat them (question is should he?). The chicken has of course been handled safely. He is 13 though.

  2. #2
    House Broken Angela_WM's Avatar
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    Nevermind. I got my question answered.

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  3. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    The answer might help somebody else, what answer did you get?
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  5. #4
    House Broken Angela_WM's Avatar
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    NO to chicken bones because they could splinter in the throat, especially with such a large dog.

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  6. #5
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    Raw bones are great for dogs at any age. They need to be large enough that they cannot be swallowed or fractured. Beef knuckles are a good example. Recent research indicated that they not only help clean the teeth, exercise the jaw muscles and help with boredom, but while chewing a raw bone, the dog releases endorphins which help reduce pain. Old dogs with arthritis would benefit from this. Also, the marrow is very good for them; high in fat that the brain needs as it gets older.

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  8. #6
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    All bones are fine except from weight-bearing bones of large animals.
    Cooked bones splinter.

    If the dog doesn't have digestion issues I don't see why he wouldn't eat them, even as a senior. My dog is almost 11 and tolerates bones just fine. Be careful not to overfeed though, too much bone can cause constipation or diarrhea.
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  10. #7
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Raw chicken bones are OK.

  11. #8
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis Thomas, DVM View Post
    Raw bones are great for dogs at any age. They need to be large enough that they cannot be swallowed or fractured. Beef knuckles are a good example. Recent research indicated that they not only help clean the teeth, exercise the jaw muscles and help with boredom, but while chewing a raw bone, the dog releases endorphins which help reduce pain. Old dogs with arthritis would benefit from this. Also, the marrow is very good for them; high in fat that the brain needs as it gets older.
    Interesting. As you might know, I home seniors and have had one incur a slab fracture of a molar chewing on a raw knuckle. Guess just the luck of the draw or the position of the bone.
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  12. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by POPTOP View Post
    Interesting. As you might know, I home seniors and have had one incur a slab fracture of a molar chewing on a raw knuckle. Guess just the luck of the draw or the position of the bone.
    Yeah...it must really depend on the dog. Danny and Sunnie both had slab fractures (Sunnie lost a tooth but Dan's were reparable...Dan also had enamel chips or...I forget what it was called...about 6 years ago...he was still pretty young). The vet dentist and our vet both said to not give anything hard enough to hurt if you hit yourself in the head with it. No bone, antlers, Nylabones....mine get lamb's ears and big biscuits...and a lot of toothbrushing.

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  14. #10
    House Broken Angela_WM's Avatar
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    I was advised against anything related to chewing (other than soft things like a kong) by my dog's primary vet for him specifically... most likely because he's been seen there a couple of times for chewing something until his gums bled. I will bring all this up with her, though.

 



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