Can I give my small dog a soup/marrow bone?

She weighs about 6lbs. Is she too small to have one of these bones? Is it dangerous for her to have one? Of course she would be supervised the entire time. I told my co-worker I was going to get Lucy one and she said that she thinks only large dogs should have them. Thoughts?

 

:lol: I hate this question :lol:
Okay, personally my 4 (sometimes 5 dogs)
chi=5#, whippet=20#, pit mix=35#, psycho pup=55#, rott=110# all occasionally would share a large uncooked marrow bone, the last one started off bigger than the chi but she still had a go at it. None of them ever had any problems with them.
BUT heres the potential problems, diarrhea from the fat, bone chips causing internal problems, lesions to the tissue of the gut and intestines, intestinal blockages if the chips dont pass, and there are the same risks as in any raw meats.
Im not sure about what your friend said, she may have more knowledge on this but my take on it is this, large dog, bigger teeth, bigger bone chips, small dog, smaller teeth, smaller bone chips.
I have given all my dogs for over 30 years marrow bones and never had a problem, they dont get them often and I do monitor the bones themselves, when they break off chunks or small pieces those peices get thrown away immediately. That said, working in the veterinary field Ive assisted the vet with surgeries to remove the pieces of bone from intestines, Ive seen dogs vomiting up just bone pieces. But Ive seen more that weve had to unblock because theyve eaten their toys, socks, plastic plants, rocks etc.
So the decision is up to you. Heres a tip though, dont give cooked bones, they splinter easily and are much more likely to cause intestinal blockages.

 

HMMMM....OK so maybe I won't give her one.

 

Heres some safe chews that shouldnt cause any problems.
Nylabone, Gumabone, Booda bones and chews. You can get these at any good pet store, including Petco and Petsmart, look on the label for 'biodegradable' if any parts are chewed off they will gradually 'break up' in the gut so shouldnt cause any blockages. They also come in different flavours, sizes and shapes, some are designed to cut down tarter and keep the teeth in reasonaby good condition and in my experience, I havent yet known a dog to not like them.

I never give rawhide chews to my dogs.

 

I personally do not recommend pigs ears anymore...

My small dog Spades chewed on one till it was small enough to swallow (almost)...

It got stuck in his throat... in a way that he could still breath thank goodness... However he spent 2 very uncomfortable weeks unable to eat or drink water on his own... I was out of the country... So he is lucky my BF has compassion... He fed him canned food and water by the teaspoonful every day... Not easy when he cannot close his throat... It basically had to be dumped down his throat a little at a time...

Eventually the pig ear got moist and soft enough to pass...

 

Yes, pig ears can be dangerous as can rawhide.

The only dangers I have heard of for raw marrow bones is the danger of tooth breakage and some dogs will manage to get their lower jaw wedged inside the center of the bone. I don't ever feed cooked bones.

My dogs are fed raw so they have raw bones every day. Smaller bones - like all the bones in a chicken - are totally consumed. They can crunch down turkey legs with no problems. Pork and beef bones seem to be harder. Beef ribs are just cleaned off and then chewed on but not consumed. Same with deer leg bones. Sometimes pork necks aren't finished, either.

 

So... Jamiya... From what you say, it is possible then, to feed "raw" poultry bones to our pets...? I guess it is just during the cooking process that they become brittle, meaning they may splinter in the intestines...? This is helpful to know...

I have given beef knuckles but I've always cooked them... I will give them raw now...

I wonder if those large beef leg bones that they sell for dogs nowadays are cooked...? I think the package says smokey bones, which might mean they only went through a smoking process and are not actually cooked...

 

Yes, RAW bones are safe. Cooked bones can splinter and cause all sorts of problems. I never feed anything cooked. I guess if it's just smoked it would be okay, but I don't feed anything smoked.

 

I did have a vet tell me one time that it was OK to feed the cartilage and "just the knuckle" off of cooked poultry bones to my pets... He said to never give them the long fiberous part of the chicken bones as that is the dangerous part... But the knuckles apparently contain very short fibers, which are completely digested, so if a human bites or cuts off just the knuckles, this should be OK...

I have done this for years now, with no problems.

I have however picked up the bone chips our rottenweiler throws up after she consumes a whole beef knuckle in a half hour. (have been cooking them till now - but will change that - and see if the bone chips stop coming back up)

Thanks for the tip Jamiya... :y_the_best:

 

Especially when a dog does not eat bones very often, they sometimes will not be completely digested. After they hang out in the stomach for a while, the dog usually will throw it back up. The longer the dog eats bones, the less they do this. My dogs used to hork up pieces of pork neck bones, but they rarely do it anymore. If they do, it is usually at 4am just for the fun of seeing mommy stagger out of bed to clean it up.

My dogs eat raw chicken leg quarters, chickens, pork ribs, whole fish (scales, eyeballs and all), whole game hens, turkey legs, and rabbits on a regular basis and never have any problems. They also get beef ribs and deer legs, which they strip of meat and chew on the bone, but don't actually consume the bone.

 

I have three bigger dogs and one Poodle. I used to only give the marrow bones to the three bigger dogs but Darby the Poodle would steal them and he does fine(even when his teeth were horrible, he still wanted them and did fine). I now give him one but take it away after a bit, too much morrow can give a dog the runs. My bigger dogs have never had a problem with the morrow bones and have not broken them. I do not leave them laying around though...they get them for the evening and then I toss them. I always supervise my dogs with bones..period. I also believe the bone should be given raw not cooked. I do believe little dogs need bones to chew on too..especially since they seem more prone to bad teeth.

PS. Merrick puts out some nice smoked bones, the only one I will not feed is the rib bone and thats because my dogs do splinter them. I also make sure when they get them down to smaller peices that I toss 'em.