Advice Sought Re Cooked Bone

[chezzyr]

Hi

I keep hearing that cooked bones are a no-no for dogs but what about the solid lamb bone from a leg roast? (cooked) The dog I had years ago used to get the bone after we had a roast and she never seemed to have any problems. Input please! Thanks :rolleyes:

[DREMEN]

They sell cooked lamb shanks at pet barn. So I guess they are ok.

I have given my dog a few and never had any problems. She just chews all the meat off it.

I guess just simply supervise your dogs while giving them any bones.

[Toohey]

Never feed cooked bones.

Cooking denatures them in a way that stops the dog being able to digest them properly. They can splinter and cause internal damage.

[Muttly]

Never. Many dogs are lucky and don't have this happen, but it is high risk.

Perforates the stomach or throat.

[holly]

I agree cooked bones are a no no for dogs, chicken bones are a lot safer now, as the chickens are fed so many growth hormones that a 8 week old chook is now the same size of what a 4 month old once was, the chickens bones are much softer these days.

If you were to cut a lamb leg bone in half, while still raw and then try doing the same when cooked, this may bring home the fact of what cooking does to such bones.

And just because a pet shop sells a food/treat, doesn't mean it is safe for our pets. They sell raw hide bones too and these have been known to lodge in the gut of dogs and slowly kill them due to bowel blockage, I don't give my dog raw hide bones either, fussy aren't I

Raw bones are best, IMO :rolleyes:

[blacklabrador]

The Petbarn ones are probably smoked - not cooked. There is a difference.

[DREMEN]

The Petbarn ones are probably smoked - not cooked. There is a difference.

Ahhhhh ok. I stand corrected. Thanks for clearing that up.

[chezzyr]

I dont feed cooked bones and I certainly would never give cooked chicken bones or cooked "brittle" lamb chop bones etc. I am simply asking about giving a roasted lamb leg bone once in a blue moon. I dont want to become a paranoid dog owner with a mollycoddled dog LOL

Has anyone actually had BAD experiences with cooked lamb leg bones or do we just assume all cooked bones are bad regardless of which animal they come from or what part of the body they come from?

I normally feed my dog raw chicken wings and chicken necks and am only asking about the lamb bone because someone wants to give her a present :rolleyes:

[holly]

Cheyzzra

maybe ask your vet the pros and cons of feeding such bones, they are the ones that have to go digging for trapped foreign bodies that refused to be passed out the other end.

My vet feeds his dog cooked chicken, for the above reason I stated, it was he who told me about the change of chicken farming, I have rarely seen the 'boilers' for sale these days, unlike days gone by

[chezzyr]

My rellies have been involved with chicken farms for years and I myself have observed little fluffy day olds turn into huge "out of proportion" things in a matter of weeks. It is quite amazing (frightening?). Ive been giving my dog raw chicken (wings/necks) with no thought to the hormones in the birds. I know myself free range chickens taste better but dont think I can afford to live like that.....

[holly]

I agree, free range is better. I pay extra for free range eggs, but the cost for a full bird! outrageous. We are concerned about hormones in our foods too, pork is another great example.

We did try raising our own pig, he was free range and had a happy time, our then vet advised not to use commercial rations as they are fed on hormones, AB's and the like and white pigs are not allowed out in the sun when on the feed. We fed ours pumpkin and corn only, but in the end the pig ended up like one of the pets, so we couldn't slaughter him, but also could't live with a big boar, OH friend bought the pig and he said it was nicest tasting pig he had ever had :rolleyes:

A local Greyhound trainer was nearly done for a dirty drug test on one his dogs, but he was able to trace the hormones back to the chicken meat supply.

it is hard to eat healthy these days when we live on budgets.

[blacklabrador]

If your dog would be just as happy (probably moreso :rolleyes:) with a raw marrow bone that costs $1.... wouldn't you just give that rather than take the chance of giving a cooked lamb bone??

Regardless of the animal, or the part of the body, the COMPOSITION of bone changes when it is cooked. The changes that take place

a) make the bone less digestible to the dog

b) make the bone more likely to splinter and perforate the dog's gut.

[Miranda]

The people next door to us feed cooked leg of lamb bones all the time. Because their dogs are small they smash them up with a hammer first. The dogs eat them every week and nothing has happened to them yet. On one occasion (never repeated) their daughter threw some of the slivers of bone over the fence for my dogs and boy were they sharp, sharp enough to draw blood when one of the pointy ends stuck in my finger.

Personally I never feed cooked bones to my dogs, raw bones are so much better for them so why take unnecessary risks? I would say that the chances of your dog being harmed by the bone are remote and she'll probably be fine, but really it's your decision to make.

[blacklabrador]

I don't consider myself a paranoid dog owner.. and my kids definitely aren't mollycoddled....

I make informed choices about what I feed them though... and that means that I don't take any uneccessary risks.

Dog's can't make decisions about what is safe for them, therefore I have to take responsibility for whatever I hand to them.

[espinay2]

Cooked bones are a no-no. The cooking process makes them hard and brittle and they cant be digested the way raw ones can. Certainly there have been dogs that have eaten the occasional cooked bone - by accident or on purpose. I would never do it, yet I will feed my dogs all manner of raw bones.

In regards to chicken, it is actually illegal to use growth hormones in chicken for human consumption and has been for over 30 years. So - when you see those signs in shops that say 'hormone free' they are correct - but that is because ALL chicken is hormone free. In a way it is false advertising, even though they are telling the truth :rolleyes: Unfortunately it has led to the continuation of a myth and over 80 percent of people surveyed still believe hormones are being used! Now antibiotics is a different issue. Personally, if I were looking for a 'healthier' chicken I would be looking for chicken from somewhere that uses probiotics instead of antibiotics when raising their birds.

[Koza]

A bone from roast won't be well coocked, probably. But still they crack with awfully sharp edges, even raw ones.

I always feel uneasy when my dogs eat bones, it looks like a deadly excersise to me :rolleyes:

[holly]

thanks for that espinay

being another quiet day at work, I poked around for a good source of information on growth hormones and you are right, they are not fed growth hormones from what I could find, but produces use antibiotics to stimulate growth in poultry:

Antibiotic resistance

Confusion between hormones and use of antibiotics as growth promoters is understandable and a contributing factor to consumers’ misconceptions about the use of hormones by the chicken meat industry.

It is evident that the disclosure of information and usage by of antibiotics by the poultry industry is not helpful to this concerning and growing problem.

The ACA acknowledges that the overuse and misuse of antibiotics by humans for health purposes is the greatest problem in the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, we see the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in poultry and other meat products as a contributing factor in the process.

CHOICE has tested 130 supermarket chickens for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and synercid-resistant enterococci to ascertain the extent of this problem in Australian chickens.

We believe that this information is essential to demystify such issues for consumers and provide incentives for more appropriate ways to provide low-cost quality products to consumers.

It is acknowledges that the use of antibiotics could have diminished since the Swan Report of the 1970s, however, the fact remains that such information is not readily available to the public. Improvements in production systems and technologies would support such a trend, though the wider public requires the facts to back this up.

Similarly, public policy requires such information to ensure that we address the serious issue of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our community most effectively and do not pursue applications of antibiotics that are not a large risk to consumers.

source:

choice.com.au

[chezzyr]

Interesting responses and reading material. My eyes werent deceiving me with those little chickens though - they grew big (fatty meaty) in a short period. And they looked "out of proportion" compared to others chooks I had seen. So theres something in the feed they are given that makes them do this! And whether its hormones or antibiotics or whatever surely it cant be fantastic for consumers.

What about the "millions" of varieties of eggs available at the supermarket. I tend to buy the cheapest, the generic brand or whats on special. Are other eggs really that much better?

[holly]

a friends young son was given two chicks by his grandfather, they turned out to be meat chickens and by 6 months they couldn't walk any more they were too fat for their legs, unfortunately, the boy lost his pets. I am not sure how they get meat chickens as fat and fast growing as they do.

I pay the extra 2-3 dollars for free range, the eggs taste nicer for starters :rolleyes:

[chezzyr]

OK...adds free range eggs to shopping list. $2 to $3 extra per fortnight isnt going to break the bank :rolleyes:

As for the cooked lamb bone. I am going to accept it off my folks so as not to hurt any feelings (they were so happy about having this yummy bone for my dog). I will assess the situation back at the ranch and if I have any hesitation about feeding it I will turf it (but will dig the marrow out for her!)