For Those Of You Feeding Raw….i Have A Question.?
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Question & Answer on
Dec 18th, 2009 |
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I am going to be switching my three dogs over to raw. My question is…..my bullmastiff swallows things whole…..like pig ears…..if he can fit it in his mouth, it will go down whole. Would it be best if I ground the chicken parts up then gave them to him. I know he won’t get the benefit of chomping on the bone to clean his teeth but he gets bully sticks and other hard things for that.
What are your thoughts? What about when I give him other bones, like rib, lamb, beef bones etc (when the time comes)?
Thanks for all your help.
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I had a dog like that. I did a couple of things to slow her down while she was learning how to eat raw.
1) Held her food while she chewed it off
2) Partially (or fully) frozen leg quarters or backs (yes, I even cut the chicken into parts and refroze them separately so I could feed them one at a time.
3) Turkey necks, pork neck bones (whole from a meat supplier – NOT pieces
Please realize that one of the really nice things about raw feeding is that you can utilize the dog’s ability to eat a BIG meal followed by a fast – this makes it possible to give the dog big enough pieces that he CAN’T swallow them whole.
No – it wouldn’t be best to grind the chicken.
Yes you can grind it up. If he’s getting ground bones from chicken or fish or other small animals then you really don’t need to give him bones from the larger livestock animals except for the large soup bones to chew on for his teeth. I wouldn’t give him rib bones if he were my dog, too much risk. I think if you invested in a real meat grinder it probably could handle grinding larger bones, but that’s not necessary.
If it’s a big dog go for whole carcasses like chicken, game hens or a 1/2 rack of ribs. He shouldn’t be able to swallow those whole. Grinding it up isn’t really that great either since it will do no good for the teeth. Also there are some good raw type foods out there for dogs that I have yet to look into but heard good things about. If you are store shopping look for meat on sale and expired meat. Also consider asking the butcher or store manager about expired meat. Make sure to feed a variety. Good luck
i feed my dogs on the RAW diet. Granted our situations are a bit different because your dog would swallow mine whole (poms) lol. You can buy pre portioned raw diets at the pet stores and probably online. They are frozen and tells you on the back how much to feed them. They have liver, gound bones, meat, and added supplemental vitamins in it. As far as bones, the only major rule there is to make it bigger than they can swallow whole, and never cook them first. Hope it helps
Give him larger food items he can’t inhale until he learns how to chew.
With all my dogs i was always told to let them have any kind of bones besides chicken bones. Chicken bones break apart easy and dogs are more likely to choke on them.
As I’ve mentioned this before in an earlier question I answered. Be careful feeding your dog raw foods.
Most of them have parasites and when not cooked can cause great harm to your dog’s intestines.
As far as bones are concerned, I use to go to the butcher at the supermarket and ask for the marrow bones which were about 4 in. long and about 2 in. wide and the marrow inside. I cooked it for about 10 minutes and my German Shepherd female loved them. Not to mention, very good for the cleaning teeth.
I don’t like the bones you get from the pet stores. I don’t think they’re too healthy for dogs to chew on.
You never know what they had to do to those bones to get them barbecued or cooked!
Rib is fine..as long it won’t splinter. Lamb is great cause those bones are really thick. That’s what you
want. Beef ok..like I said..thicker the better.
Your’re Bull Mastiff is a BIG baby..so, you gotta think BIG! lol!!
good luck and bless you and your baby