Bringing up bones

Hi

I wonder if any of you experienced raw feeders can help me here.

Cox has been on a completely raw diet (prey model with the odd veg) for about 6 weeks now. He is defo enjoying it and seems to be doing well on it. His poos are fine, but quite varied. There is the odd bit of soft stool on occasion.

However, a couple of times he has vomited up bones from the strips of breast of lamb (Landywoods for those that feed it). Basically rib bones I think cut into 1 inch strips. Is this normal? Or should I just stop feeding him this kind of bone/meat? He digests the chicken carcasses fine.

Cheers!

Maria

I think I mentioned this on your other thread - basically it's quite normal for a dogs stomach to reject anything that it can't digest.

This is normally because

a) it (meat or bone) was swallowed too large and gets returned quite quick after the meal - in which case the dog will probably re-eat it.
OR
b) the bone is too dense - this would usually be rejected a few hours after the meal, once the stomach has digested what it can, it will reject what it can't. My female seems to swallow chicken leg knuckes whole and usually sends them back the next morning!

If it's the latter - it may be too dense because it was also swallowed too large and your dog may well re-eat it.

I'm a bit concerned that the bone-in lamb you describe has the bone "cut into 1 inch strips"

Bone should be fed in a size that gives the dog an opportunity to chew it - I'm guessing as I haven't seen it that these pieces are small enough to swallow yet too large to be digested.

I would recommend feeding them as whole ribs to be chewed rather than swallowable sizes. Also, if he doesn't get to chew these bones he's losing the teeth cleaning/gum massaging benefits of the bone.

One last consideration is that alot of rawfeeders recommend carcasses to be cut at the joints rather than sawn or chopped as the bone can become quite sharp. I personally don't worry too much about that as my guys are all big dogs and seem ok with it - however I mention it for completeness!

Loki is sick from lamb bones, so I mainly just give chicken carcasses with the occasional pork bone. I tried upping the muscle meat ratio but he gets runny poos so I've put him back on mainly chicken carcass, with some offall and mince, and he is doing well.

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

Ziva, the strips are cut cross ways so that there are 5 or 6 1 inch pieces of rib bone joined by meat/fat on each piece (does that make sense?). So he has to chew and can't swallow the piece whole, however, because the bits of bone are just 1 inch long he can and does swallow these whole. I agree that whole ribs would be better, but they don't fit in my freezer. I am in two minds whether to order these again, especially since he brings them up again. I will probably stick to chicken carcasses like Loki's mum for bone content and just give lamb muscle meat.

Sounds like best not to order them again, I wouldnt be happy with my boy swallowing the 1 inch long bits

Also they are alot denser than chicken bones and his system is possibly just adjusting to the new way of eating

How slowly did you introduce diferent meat types?? I am just thinking you are saying the poos vary quite a bit
If you have given too much varity too fast then he might not be able to cope with some types of meat - and tummy getting runny because of it

Or (and it took me a while to figure this one out) if you overfeed a bit one day sometimes this makes poos a bit more runny

I introduced raw over several weeks, the first week being only chicken carcasses and beef mince, with bits of veg. I hope it didn't sound like his poos are intermittently runny most of the time. The runny poos earlier this week were just a one-off, his poos, apart from that episode have been fine. They have gone back to normal now too, thank goodness. He hasn't brought up anything since I stopped feeding the lamb ribs. So, I won't be feeding them too much again. I have a whole bag left though, so maybe the occasional one once he is more used to the diet.

Ah cheers for that
One off runny poos can be anything, Ben sometimes finds left over takeaway when we are out on a walk - and he is gross

Sounds like you are on top of it
I would go back to the ribs once he has figured out how to chew

Maria..is it the lamb rib bones he is having trouble with or the breast of lamb?

Breast of lamb Louise - are the bones in there not chopped up rib bones?

Yes, I agree with Ben, not ideal to be feeding those, particularly as a relative raw newbie when his stomach acid is still going to adjusting.

They really don't need that much bone so it won't be a problem to just feed muscle meat for his lamb meals.

I wouldn't worry too much though - I doubt it would be dangerous for him; his stomach will just reject what it can't handle, so I wouldn't waste them, I'd feed them in a month or two as extra's to a meal rather than a meal in it's own right.