Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I have a couple of questions about the mechanics of feeding raw meaty bones and cartilage-type foods (like beef trachea). Now that Dakota is gone, I have the opportunity to feed Evelyn these things more regularly than before. They would fight, so separating was a necessity and very difficult.
Evelyn, being a bulldog, eats faster than any dog you can imagine. I've timed her. I'm not imagining it. Giving her bones and huge cartilage-type foods seems a bad idea, based on what she's done with them in the past. Last week I cut a huge beef trachea into 3 pieces and gave her one (about 6 inches long). She did chew on it for a long time, but she also ended up finally swallowing it all and then vomiting the whole thing up.
She will also work on a bone for a long time, but she generally fractures it and then swallows chunks. If she has a bone fragment the size of a golf ball, she won't gnaw on it. She will swallow it.
Also, just the mechanics of feeding her these things is hard to get right. She can't have a raw bone or guts inside my house on the carpet. She just can't. However, the only outside place for her is on my deck (we live in a townhouse). It's cold out there. Colorado winter days are often nice, but it's generally too cold to be outside for more than a few minutes between December and early April.
So my questions: How do you feed a dog a messy, bloody thing in the house? And are some breeds (or dogs) just unsuited to raw bones and entrails due to their gulping/swallowing/choking risk? Should I quit this part?
Shari
From abandoned puppy to Tripawd Warrior Dude, Dakota became one of the 2011 February Furballs due to STS. Our incredibly sweet friend lived with grace and dignity till he impulsively raced over the Bridge on 12-15-12.
Dakota's thoughtful and erudite blog is at http://shari.tr.....pawds.com/
Dakota Dawg said
So my questions: How do you feed a dog a messy, bloody thing in the house? And are some breeds (or dogs) just unsuited to raw bones and entrails due to their gulping/swallowing/choking risk? Should I quit this part?
Shari
Hmmmm....I think you should go with your instinct and not go that route if you think she will swallow everything. That sounds a little scary to me. I can't say it's a breed-specific thing, but in our experience the dogs in our pack really savor those meaty bones and gnaw on them for a lonnnnnnng time. Raw meat is devoured a little faster, but still we tend to chew it up real good before swallowing. Wyatt has only puked up meat once, he swallowed a long piece of chicken fat and it just didn't go down.
Oh and as to where we give them. Well we usually give them outside but if we can't, a big ol beach towel placed underneath us works great. We hardly move as we gnaw our way through the bones.
One more thing...there is a Raw Feeding Group on Yahoo that has some really knowledgeable people there, you might want to look that up for some more insight.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Ok Jerry, thanks. I am aware of the raw feeding group but haven't looked them up. Ev's been eating homemade raw or cooked for quite some time, and I have no problems with it. She's happy, but then again she inhales and tastes nothing. But if I try to get her to stay on a towel or sheet or whatever, she takes her goodies and leaves. Nasty, nasty stuff.
I would love to give her a bone to work on for a long time, and she does put a lot of time into the bones, but she has a very powerful mouth that fractures raw bones. I never know if she'll break it or not, and I really can't stare at her for an afternoon (much as I'd love to).
Shari
From abandoned puppy to Tripawd Warrior Dude, Dakota became one of the 2011 February Furballs due to STS. Our incredibly sweet friend lived with grace and dignity till he impulsively raced over the Bridge on 12-15-12.
Dakota's thoughtful and erudite blog is at http://shari.tr.....pawds.com/
Hey Shari,
I stopped giving my girls bones for that very reason...it seemed every time I did...one of them would eventually up-chuck a piece of bone they'd swallowed and not chewed. Also, Maggie got a cracked tooth and that was enough for me to say no more bones! They do have ground up bones in their raw meat mix but no bones other than that!
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Shari,
I agree with Maggie, if Evelyn is swallowing hunks of bone I wouldn't feed her any more. My dogs eat so fast I had to get the slow feed bowls. And I give big knuckle type bones they don't chew up. Do you have a laundry room with tile you could put her in for like an hour with a bone or out on the deck with a coat on for an hour? May be cruel to take a bone away but if it's at the end of the bone she swallows she could benefit from most of the bone.
penny4weims said Do you have a laundry room with tile you could put her in for like an hour with a bone or out on the deck with a coat on for an hour? May be cruel to take a bone away but if it's at the end of the bone she swallows she could benefit from most of the bone.
Gread idea! That's one approach we take. When the bone gets to be too small, it's adios to that thing so we don't have any accidental swallowing of large pieces.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Yep, I do take the bones when they are just little pieces. It's the fracturing of a larger piece I'm most concerned about, because then it's already in her mouth and she keeps trying to work on it, but that's when it's dangerous. It's sharp, it's a good size for getting stuck, and she's highly motivated to keep it in her mouth.
This home we're in has no uncarpeted surface except the small guest bathroom (she couldn't be shut in there) and the kitchen, which is hardwood. The main bathroom is even carpeted. I don't have a way to block off the kitchen since it's open into the dining room, about 12 feet across. The laundry is just an area for the machines behind folding doors. (Not my favorite place to live, but in many ways it's been ideal for us. The kid's school bus ride went from 80 minutes to 20!)
I'll keep working on a way to make this work for her. I won't give up.
Shari
From abandoned puppy to Tripawd Warrior Dude, Dakota became one of the 2011 February Furballs due to STS. Our incredibly sweet friend lived with grace and dignity till he impulsively raced over the Bridge on 12-15-12.
Dakota's thoughtful and erudite blog is at http://shari.tr.....pawds.com/
Hi Shari,
My pit bull Gracie is a big time chewer too. I feed her raw marrow bones that are frozen; they last a lot longer that way. Also, the bones are cut up into pieces that are 3 - 4 inches wide, so the focus becomes getting the frozen marrow out, instead of actually chewing the bone up.
She is always fed in her crate whether it's kibble or raw. Makes for easy clean up.
Michelle
One more suggestion: we prefer to feed bison bones, they are much tougher and long-lasting than beef and the marrow is less upsetting to Wyatt's GI. You're in a good location for them, they're everywhere in Colorado.
I would be nervous about feeding frozen bones. I know a lot of people do it but the chances of them breaking a tooth are greater, I would think.
Here are a couple of Tripawds Blog posts about feeding raw that might help:
Learn Raw Feeding Basics for Optimum Canine Nutrition
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I don't know what to do about ensuring they don't end up swallowing a large fragment of bone. Magnum would often throw up bits of bone that didn't go down well. Fortunately we never had a problem and I never thought to worry! I've only just started feeding Ruby lamb bones and despite having very worn teeth she makes small work of it. I don't sit there for hours watching her BUT, now that I know the potential dangers I only let her have them when I'm home 
.
We have a rug in the loungeroom. I do my best to cover it with towels and then a big sheet. Ruby (and Magnum before her) is allowed to eat on it. BUT, there always comes a point where she has managed to move the bone to a part of the floor that isn't protected! That's where the mop and carpet shampoo come in (as if I don't have enough to do).
Karen
Magnum: 30th May 2002 to 5th May 2012. Lost her back left leg to osteosarcoma on 5th Sep 2011. Lung mets found on 20th Mar 2012 but it was bone mets in the hip that ended her brave battle. Magnum's motto - "Dream as if you'll live for ever, live as if you'll die today" (James Dean). Loyal, loving, courageous and spirited to the end. My beloved heart dog, see her memoirs from Rainbow Bridge ...... http://princess.....pawds.com/
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