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  1. #1
    Best Friend Retriever annkie's Avatar
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    Raw marrow bone?

    I know you're not supposed to give cooked bones. But is it ok to give raw marrow bones to dogs that are not on a raw diet? I'm sure it's a silly question but I'm just making sure 🤷*♀️


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  2. #2
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    We give raw marrow bones to Thor frequently, but with some restrictions:

    * only full-sized. A lot of butchers cut them into smaller pieces for easier consumption but if thor gets a smaller one he'll try to swallow the whole bone. We buy giant uncut bones (~10-12 inches in length) from a local butcher for cheap. We store them in the freezer and give them to Thor frozen. He'll lick and lick and lick at the marrow as it thaws and not try to eat the bone itself. With the smaller cuts he'll go for the whole thing and it will make him puke for days. Luckily no obstructions because we figured it out pretty quickly.

    * always supervised. Once he gets through most of the marrow and gets bored he might start trying to tear apart the bone. Usually he'll go try to bury it somewhere in the cattle pasture. We'll try to catch him before that happens otherwise he'll dig up a sunbleached and brittle bone later on, and those are no good.

    * cut back on his next meal. Marrow is rich and calorie dense. We cut back his next meal to correspond to the amount of marrow he ate. This is a really fuzzy measurement - a lot of times he gets a marrow bone after a long day of hiking so we won't cut his meals back as much then.

    * EXTRA POOPS. On days where he has a marrow bone he almost alway has an extra poop before bed. If we don't let him out for the extra poop it will end up happening on our bedroom floor in the middle of the night. This is like clockwork - I'll go as far as setting a reminder in my phone whenever I give him a marrow bone to let him out an extra time before bed.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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  4. #3
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    I've fed raw marrow bones for ages. My only input beyond what Thor's mom mentioned is marrow is indeed rich and can lead to loose poo's, possible diareah. It can also have the opposite affect, Sophie will get rock hard poo's.

  5. #4
    Best Friend Retriever OHfemail's Avatar
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    Gabby gets a couple of raw marrow bones a week. Just as MightyThor said: make sure they're large enough - ours are usually about the thickness of a tennis ball and around 5" long. They can make a bit of a mess, so we've taught her to wait until we put her "rug" down (a beach towel), and she knows that she has to keep it on that. Once she's finished (always supervised and usually between 1 or 2 hours!), she goes outside to "wipe her face" off. She loves them, and they keep her teeth free of a lot of tartar build up. On the other hand, she will eventually begin to gnaw and crunch down on them pretty aggressively. That's how we know it's time to give it up.

  6. #5
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    Yes, great point about the mess. It’s raw beef so they are messy. Thor almost always gets them when he’s hanging out in my husbands shop (a repurposed horse barn) or on an outdoor patio but never indoors and never on his ‘good’ beds.


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    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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  7. #6
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Second everything Thor said. I don't get the 10-12" ones, but they are at least 6".

    I have my dogs trained to eat gross stuff on towels. It was really easy.

    Note that marrow bones are very hard (leg bones) and if your dog is opting to eat the bone vs. chewing off the meat and licking the marrow, you may have a broken tooth issue. I have personally fed my dogs marrow bones for a long time and not had issues, but I take them away once the marrow is gone and the meat stuff from the outside is also gone. If they are starting to actually chew on the bone, it's time to toss it (or save them up and make bone broth to feed to your dog). I know of lots of people who have had broken teeth on them but I cannot speak to how their dogs were with the bone or whether or not the dogs were supervised or if it was taken once they dog starting chewing. No clue. Just something to be aware of.

  8. #7
    Senior Dog Macy's Avatar
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    Macy gets the occasional raw bison femur. Frozen. She goes nuts for them.

  9. #8
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    Our guys get them occasionally as a special treat as well. They love them. None are power chewers, so we haven’t had any tooth issues from it.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  10. #9
    Best Friend Retriever annkie's Avatar
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    Good point about the teeth. I didn't think of that. I gave one to Archie this morning. He was occupied for about 1.5 hours! We have construction happening in our back yard and he has been going crazy clawing at the window for days! I gave him this bone and I think he looked out the window once the entire time. It's magic! haha. I wish I can have him eat this thing all day long. Gonna go check up on it now. Thanks guys!

 



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