Puppies and bones

I have a cockerpoo pup, now aged about 13weeks.

I was wondering at what age it would be safe to introduce him to some raw chicken legs so that he can have a go at chewing bones etc? I dont want to do it before it is safe and risk him choking but think he would really love the extra addition to his diet.

Thanks a lot

i personally would not give mine chicken bones...they are so easy to chew through and get stuck in the throat...just my opinion though xxx

hi

i use raw lamb-rack-o- rib bones....supervised

I don't give mine whole chicken legs, I mince the legs and give the wings whole.
My 11 week old Dali had a chicken wing last night and loved it.

raw bones are soft...you can usually cut through raw bones(the ones that are suitable to feed your dog)so splintering and choking is unlikely exp if supervised

the neighbor once threw some chicken over the fence and my dogs choked on it....plus my cat once got some chicken bone stuck in his mouth ...i dint know you could mince chicken bones for dogs? and if so for what purpose.its something i could think of for mine..thanx xx

they were probably cooked bones,very dangerous!!!

My pup is fed raw and has been since weaning. At 10 weeks she got a raw chicken bone stuck at the back of her throat which required a trip to the vets and sedation to be removed. The bone had to be cut in half whilst in her throat, the vet warned me that if any of the delicate tissue was damaged the outcome could be very serious indeed.

I was petrified, and so worried. The procedure took about 10 minutes, the cost nearly £400.00!

The good news is that there was no damage done, and she recovered fully. The feeling of relief on receiving this news was enormous. At this point I decided no more chicken bones for her, and fed her minced chicken/bone instead, along with her tripe, sardines, large meaty lamb bones etc etc. (For raw diet, the bone contains necessary nutrients and calcium)

As she has grown, I have now carefully introduced chicken bones back to her, I give her thighs that are covered with lots of meat, and at first i held them for her so that she would chew and not bolt the food. It is important when feeding these types of bones that there is a good covering of meat on them so that they are cushioned whilst being swallowed.

I am not trying to scare anyone here, I feed her raw because I think that is the best diet there is, she has done amazingly well on it, but there is always a remote risk that something like this could happen. Always supervise, and don't let your pup wolf the bones in their eagerness, especially for greedy guts types like my pup.

I waited until ours were adults before i let them have likes chicken wings, thighs, legs etc. Have NEVER been able to let go of Harveys, he would gulp whole thing in one go, result, comes back up whole 5 mins later, so thats something to think of.

Marrow bones are the best to start puppies off on. Ask your butcher or if you know a farm butcher, you can get them there

The minced packet of frozen chicken that you can buy in pet stores contain minced bone.

Raw didnt suit ours but they still get raw chicken wings or thighs as a treat & yes, i still have to hold Harvey's!!

Thanks for all the replies. Bobby is a terribley greedy pup, he gobbles his food down like he hasn't seen food for a month - he just sort of hoovers it up and I swear he doesn't even chew half of it.

I was thinking that having a bone to chew on would help him slow down with food as obviously he would have to sit and chew it, but reading some of the experiences on here, maybe he would just hoover that up as well.

I think I will leave it for now, I dont want to take the risk of him just swallowing things without chewing.