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(you generally should not feed your dog bones, they can splinter and lodge in the dog's throat)
by cobalt 9y ago
(you generally should not feed your dog bones, they can splinter and lodge in the dog's throat)
- oldcynic 9y agoOnly if cooked first, as they become brittle. So cooked chicken bones would be especially risky. Raw bones are generally fine - they break into small pieces. Larger marrow bones they can only gnaw at of course.
- philfrasty 9y agocurious: if the bones aren't cooked, isn't the pet spreading bacteria with (possible) resistance to antibiotics throughout the entire house?
- barking 9y agoI never could understand how people have pets indoors anyway. Would you sit on chairs that other humans sat on bare-bottomed after going for a number 2?
- oldcynic 9y agoGenerally we encourage the dogs to keep the bones outside, or in the kitchen, and mop the floor after. Not that it needs much - they usually munch wherever it lands! The sound of a couple of German Shepherds crunching up their bones means you probably don't want them doing this right by the sofa during a movie. After an hour or so all that's left of a big marrow bone is entirely cleaned, and the smaller stuff is gone completely. So we've never found it an issue. I imagine we and the children, especially when they were younger, spread as much as any salmonella loaded paw prints. :)
- giarc 9y agoWhen we give our dogs raw bones, we make them eat them on blankets that we only use for this activity and we then wash them. Generally though, unless contaminated at the slaughter house, bones should be generally free of bacteria since it's just muscle, fat, ligaments and bone. All of which should be sterile at time of death.
- planteen 9y agoMy guess is the effect isn't very significant. Are there studies showing disease versus pet ownership? People are far more "clean" today than in the past and I wonder how much our high standards for cleanliness make a difference. Some people feed their cats raw chicken intentionally. Dogs get into all sorts of things outside (carcasses, feces, etc) they can bring into a house. Personally, when I am backpacking or caving, I will eat food with dirty hands (as in caked in dirt and mud) and don't get sick from it. I occasionally drink untreated water as well, but typically try to avoid it from giardia risk.
- pandemicsyn 9y agoI feed my dog(s) a raw/whole prey diet, things like ground lamb/duck/etc I generally freeze first. For things like knuckles or chicken feet or whole rabbit I just feed him outside.
- danieltillett 9y agoIt has been a long time since chickens had bones; they are grown so fast these days that they barely have any mineralisation of their cartilage.