Raw Feeding Question: Is A Beef Bone Marrow Bone Good For Cleaning Teeth Or Does My Dog Need Another Kind?
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Nov 27th, 2009 |
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I currently feed my dog, dehydrated raw and since it is soft food, I wanted something hard for my dog to enjoy and to clean his teeth. He is a 3 year old Bichon Frise, on the small side. For now I have been giving him a beef marrow bone with a bit of meat attached to it. I only use the bones as a recreational bone for him to clean his teeth, not for nutritional value, since his food is really good, but I wonder, is a marrow bone enough for his teeth? Does he need to have it 2 times a week or once a week? And is it better to use another kind or add another kind of bone? He does not like raw chicken at all. He loves lamb and beef. I’m just not sure what I can give him.
Please give details in your answer? 
Thank you so much!
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A marrow bone is great,but to clean between the teeth,give him beef tendons,which can be found in most pet stores.
In the ‘raw trade’ beef marrow and knuckle bones are known as wreck bones because they are more likely to crack and/or wear down teeth than clean them.
The best bones for teeth cleaning are really meaty ones. The meat on the bone acts like floss and massages the gums while the bone helps scrape off the tartar. If he doesn’t like chicken then what about ribs or necks? Pork is good too, so is turkey and fish. A lamb heart will provide a nice big ‘chunk’ of meat to give his mouth a workout.
Bones and organs are an ESSENTIAL part of any raw diet. Meat will not provide your dog with the nutrients he needs and you WILL end up with an ill dog. My dogs and cats get about 2/3 meat and muscle (including heart) and the rest a combination of meaty bones and organs.
Instead of buying expensive dehydrated foods why not investigate buying from your local butcher, meat wholesaler or even supermarket? If you know anyone that hunts then ask them for the offcuts. I feed three cats and two dogs for much less than the cost of commercial foods. They eat beef, chicken, lamb, pork, fish (fresh and tinned), kangaroo, whole raw eggs, kidney, liver, heart etc.
Feeding your dog is not rocket science despite what pet food companies will try to tell you. Do you eat all your nutritional requirements in one day or do you try to average it out over a week or so??
Whether you choose to use the ‘prey model’ ratio of 80:10:10 or follow the more general guidelines of Dr Tom Lonsdale http://www.rawmeatybones.com your dog will be getting every thing it needs. Remember this is calculated over a week or two NOT every meal.
A adult bichon should weigh between 3-5 kg. So by feeding 2-3% of this weight (depending on your dog’s energy levels and metabolism) he would need ‘about’ 100 grams of food per day (4000 grams x 0.025) This is about 3.5 ounces.
To me this means a bone-in chicken thigh one day, some chunks of beef offcuts the next, lamb heart the day after, lamb ribs with some liver or kidney the day after that and so on. The only supplement you ‘may’ need to use is fish body oil for omega 3 but this is if you can only access grain fed meats. Grass or pasture raised meats have much more natural fatty acids.
The rawfeeding and RawMeatyBones yahoo groups are really good sources of information and support.
First of all, why give dehydrated when you can give fresh? Fresh is much less expensive and the dogs enjoy it more. I have been feeding prey-model raw for about a year now and for bone, I give chicken pieces (whole), Turkey, rabbit, venison and sometimes eggs. You don’t want to give beef leg bones because they can be damaging to the teeth.
You don’t need to grind the food, you don’t need to do anything fancy to the food, just give your dog about 80% muscle meat, 10% edible bone, and 10% organ (liver being half that). The goal is for balance over time, rather than balance at every meal.
Here are some websites that will help you with your raw feeding diet:http://rawfed.com/http://www.rawmeatybones.com/http://rawfeddogs.net/ (pay special attention to the recipes section)
and a quick guide on how to get started:http://www.snovali.com/other/rawfoodprim…
Good luck!