Chicken Carcass Frames How To Feed?

[becks]

my minis get a whole carcass as a meal - or a couple of backs if the carcasses are a bit mean! don;t bother to take any fat off and never had a problem, even with a breed that can be prone to pancratitis

if you want to feed half, you can twist and pull a carcass into halves, no need for cutting or just take half away after so long.

[twodoggies2001]

my minis get a whole carcass as a meal - or a couple of backs if the carcasses are a bit mean! don;t bother to take any fat off and never had a problem, even with a breed that can be prone to pancratitis

if you want to feed half, you can twist and pull a carcass into halves, no need for cutting or just take half away after so long.

Becks, just out of curiosity, is that the meal for the day, or do you feed them something else at another time the same day? If I were to feed 1 carcass I would have a couple of little barrels. I do take off the fat because of pancreatitis because I've had experience with it before and I'm being very cautious.

[julesluvscavs]

Thanks Everyone, we tried Joey and Renae with some tonight for their tea, didnt take them too long to eat them! Im still a bit anxious about giving Miah some, im scared shes going have problems with the little bones, I'll have to get over my fear !

Edited March 17, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[westiemum]

Hi Jules, I feed my westies half a large chicken frame as one meal replacement so I think a quarter of one to start with as a meal replacement would be fine for your puppy. She'll love it. As Boronia says there is something very satisfying watching my guys eat carcasses holding it with their paws like a lion, even if 'the kill' is from the meat section of the supermarket!

[julesluvscavs]

Thanks Westiemum.. lol about ''very satisfying watching my guys eat carcasses holding it with their paws like a lion, even if 'the kill' is from the meat section of the supermarket! ''

[Rosetta]

Oh I would love to give my little poodle (5kg) something enjoyable to chew but I am so spooked about stories about bones getting stuck etc - I am real worrier I'm afraid

I thought I might give him a chicken neck - are they quite soft and easily digested?

[julesluvscavs]

Hi Rosetta :)

Chicken necks are another one that people have said about on here to becareful with. Ive never had any issues with our 2 older cavs *touch wood* despite they inhale them eeek!

I have been giving our Puppy Miah (shes 3.9 kilo atm) some, but have tried to give them to her lengthways to encourage her to chew them, ive seen her gulp them down fast still eek! I tried giving her a frozen one tonight to encourage her to chew than to swallow too quickly.

Some people have suggested chicken wings as they are a bit bigger and not as easy to choke on.. its a difficult one knowing which bones to give them !

I must admit im still too paranoid to give her some chicken caress , I have emailed her breeder about my concerns as well. I did give quarter of a frame each to our older Cavs recently , and they had no problems with them :)

Edited March 18, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[Remarkabull]

My small dogs (6kgs or less) get half a frame for a meal, the bulldog gets 1 and a half (she is 20kg) and the Dobe gets 2 and a half (he's approx 38kgs). I leave the fat on and all my dogs are healthy and lean.

[persephone]

IMO chicken frames are less of a risk than necks ....necks can and do get swallowed ...frames need chewing , and provided dogs are left alone and away from competition..they can relax and enjoy :)

[jemappelle]

I agree with Persephone, frames are at the least risk of choking a dog. I gave a 10 week old Shih Tzu pup a wing once, luckily I supervised her eating it as she obviously thought it was taking to long to chew, so she tried to swallow it whole!

[julesluvscavs]

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies, we always supervise our Cavs when they have bones or treats :)

[The Spotted Devil]

I feed frozen frames - both dogs get 2 each as a meal 2/3 times per week.

[julesluvscavs]

Thanks TSD :)

I have been trying her on a quarter of one each time I have given her some. I have also left it partially frozen. So far, so good ! As she gets bigger I will try her on half ones .

Thanks everyone :)

Edited March 23, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[Maddy]

One of my dogs (the hellhound puppy) is not a keen chewer so I cut up his frames for him. Got it down to a fine art :D

First step is to trim off all the flappy fat at the back end up the frame. I save this for bribery for things like worming (small pieces for each dog though as it's almost all fat).

Then, I start by cutting from the back end up towards the front, scissors lined up as closely as I can get them to the spine, cutting through where the ribs join the spine. Then a roughly parallel cut starting at the end of the breast cartillege/bone and angling back downward towards the end of the first cut. This gives you chicken "flaps" (the ribs) - not much fat on these and easy to eat. Then I cut up around the rest of the breast bones, removing it from the rest of the carcass. The breast cartillege* can then be cut into thin slices and added to the bowl with the flaps. The breast bone that can't be cut is usually the very hard bone so I feed this to one of the kitchen helpers. Then you're left with what looks like the underside but is actually the back. The tail can be easily cut off (I cut that into a couple of chunks as it's just the right size for a silly greyhound pup to choke on) and add to the bowl. Then you have all the back fat- I slice that off, add a small amount to the bowl and share the rest between the helpers. Finally, there's more neck- you can cut this by bending it one way until you see a gap between the bones and then cut the gap. If you're worried about feeding any neck, cut it between the bones into smaller pieces and add to bowl. You're left with just a small, flat section of back. I use a spoon to scrape out the squishy stuff (hellhound puppy loves the squishy stuff) and the leftover piece gets given to a helper.

What you end up with is some bone for chewing (ribs and cartillege), the connective tissue, a controlled amount of fat and a small amount of meat/squishy stuff. Most frames are very thoroughly stripped of muscle meat so personally, I'd not feed as a meal. I take the frame apart and then mix a small handful of roo mince through the chicken bits. If you have a smaller dog, you could still do this and then just scoop half (or more) the mixed chicken/whatever back out and put it in the fridge for the next day.

It sounds a bit time-consuming but if you have a dog who can't/won't chew much, it's definitely better than not having them chewing at all.

*There's heaps of marrow in this so it's worth the extra effort.

[Dame Aussie]

IMO chicken frames are less of a risk than necks ....necks can and do get swallowed ...frames need chewing , and provided dogs are left alone and away from competition..they can relax and enjoy :)

Agree. Lilis breeder sent her home to us at 12 weeks with a big raw chicken thigh, I prefer to give bigger bones so they can't be gulped down causing choking.