Save on barn dog teeth cleaning.

[jetsmom]

I belong to a dog BB and keep reading about the benefit of feeding raw bones. One of the benefits is supposedly that it gets rid of tartar.

Two of my dogs were developing tartar, and I was hating the thought of paying 300.00-600.00 each at the vets for a cleaning, plus putting them through the anesthesia.

So I bought knuckle bones (raw) and have given them one a week for the last 2 weeks. The dogs LOVED them, and the tarter is 99% GONE!!!!! I'm a convert!

Apparently, raw bones don't splinter like smoked or cooked bones. Plus they have calcium, and mentally, the chewing is good for the dogs.

[dmalbone]

Raw bones are great for dogs. Many people balk at them because it's gross or whatever and think all bones are bad, whereas like you said... it's only the cooked ones.

[lalahartma1]

Yes, they are great! raw only! However my 8 year old pointer is starting to wear his teeth down due to overzealous knawing.

[emaren]

Can it be the cooked knuckle bones that you can buy instead of raw?

If only my dog would stop burying everything that I give her.

[jetsmom]

Can it be the cooked knuckle bones that you can buy instead of raw?

If only my dog would stop burying everything that I give her.

No. Cooked bones splinter. So do smoked bones.

You can also give raw chicken wings, chicken backs (great for little dogs). They crunch them up. Dogs have much shorter digestive systems and more acidic digestive juices, so Salmonella isn't an issue in healthy dogs. Raw beef rib bones also work.

[WorthTheWait95]

Do the raw bones stain carpeting? I've been thinking about picking some up but need to know if I should plan on only giving them when we're outside at the barn or if they can have them at home.

[jetsmom]

Do the raw bones stain carpeting? I've been thinking about picking some up but need to know if I should plan on only giving them when we're outside at the barn or if they can have them at home.

Yes. It's bloody, like raw steak. Feed outside, on tile or put an old rug down, if they'll stay on it.

[JWB]

We buy the packages of chicken legs (drumsticks) or chicken backs when they're on sale and feed them to our dogs for dinner.

They eat in their crates so there is no mess on the carpet but we do wipe down the crates with lysol after.

Absolutely DO NOT give your dog cooked bones to eat....

You can however give your dogs boiled sterilized bones like these: http://www.petco.com/product/6543/Red-Barn-White-Bones.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch (we put peanut butter in the middle to encourage reluctant chewers) as long as the bones are not breaking. If the dog is able to break of pieces of the bone, in the trash it goes.

Please don't try to save a buck by boiling and sterilizing your own..... Unless it's the correct piece of bone and it's prepared properly, the dogs will be able to break it.

Our veterinarian and training center recommend these bones to keep teeth clean. My hound dog took a while to decide they were worth chewing but now doesn't require any sort of stuffing at all.... He sits and chews every day. The vet always says his teeth look GREAT!

[kookicat]

My dogs love raw bones. :D I give them one each a month, and they last a good long while.

[IFG]

One caveat is remove the bones before they dry up and can splinter. My puppy ended up with bloody diarrhea and 10 days of antibiotics after he had bone chips in his stool.

[Bluey]

The herding kennels around here feed those big raw bones and the dogs spend some time every day playing and chewing on them.
Some of those dogs have nubs for teeth by the time they are five or six and here and there they need a cracked tooth pulled.

I would not let dogs have at those bones all the time, but control the chewing and keep an eye out for any mouth discomfort.

[JSwan]

Yup. Works great! Makes for a happy dog, too.

I'm out of bones but will soon have loads of them.

I also feed them chicken necks.

[kookicat]

Yup. Works great! Makes for a happy dog, too.

I'm out of bones but will soon have loads of them.

I also feed them chicken necks.

My Mum used to buy turkey necks to give to my dogs. I had to ask her to stop because the little buggers were hiding the bones in my shoes. I got really sick of removing bones before I could put my shoes on, and the big lazy dog was most annoyed that I was destroying his hidden stashes. :lol:

[equinelaw]

Publix grocery stores have great bones in the freezer section. They take the knuckle bones and big leg bones and cut them about 1 inch, then cut them in half if they are really big. So you have slices that dogs can get to the center of easily, but they still last for a few days and all the meat is picked clean fast. Not too messy and the marrow wont spoil.

I like it because they always have them, they are cheap, and they are frozen so they just stay in the freezer until the dog needs a new one. There are 3-5 bones per tray. 1 tray lasts my dog about a week.

He is 15, has never had his teeth cleaned and has very little tarter and good, strong teeth.