Chicken Bones And Poo!

[MarKFSmith]

Hi everyone - we adopted a couple of Huskies about three weeks ago. When we picked them up from Foster Dad (FD) they were being fed kibble with a home-made gravy in the morning and chicken pieces in the evening (with bones). At FDs they seemed OK on this diet. We copied this but had to change kibble - this caused a few problems (runny poo) but seemed to settle down OK. However, the vet told us not to feed raw chicken (or raw anything!) nor chicken bones and he went on to cite operations to remove bones etc....this rather scared us. In addition, it so happened that morning that Kisha had a bleed in her mouth from we think a sharp chicken bone (no real damage but on top of what he vet said). 

 

So temporarily we have swapped to Kibble only - and we are back to runny poo....

 

So kind folks - can we have any advice please. Is the vet talking rubbish? Or should we be worried. Incidentally dogs ate a pigeon today - bones, feathers - the lot.....

 

Thanks.

[Andy]

Vet may have been trying to get you to purchase the high priced poor quality kibble that he stocks from his sponsored food manufacturer.

Chicken wings are fine.

Ask yourself this question.

Had we not domesticated dogs what would they be eating in the wild ??

Animals fur / feathers bones and all.

So.

the problem may be that you switched kibble quickly, not phasing between the two to let the furballs stomach adjust. May cause runny bums

also you may be feeding too much kibble back it off by half and see if that helps.

DON'T feed the raw and kibble together they digest at different rates, will cause runny bums

Feed Kibble and Raw at 12 hr separation, say Kibble in the morning and RAW in the evening.

Chicken wings are awesome for firming up runny poo.

[crazeediamonds]

Hi Mark. Sorry I cant help re raw diet but there are lot's on here who do feed it and swear by I. Put in a search for raw food.diet and there will be lots of posts come up I'm sure. Mine has got the runs at the moment but thats due to changing his food.i hope. Good luck and hope you get the answers and peace of mind

[Biggles]

There is a really good facebook group called A Raw Start Explained or A.R.S.E.  There are also companies such as Natural Instinct and a new company called Nurtament, both based in Camberley, Surrey who sell different types of ready prepared raw feed with all the necessary additives for a healthy dog if you don't want to go down the preparing it yourself route.  @Molly's_Dad's Timber and his other two love their salmon. I have tried the chicken as well as the turkey and one of mine will eat it and the other, just refuses to eat it, but then he is a fussy little s*d.  Last foster pup loved it.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Biggles

[MarKFSmith]

Thanks All - as was said in the wild (or in our park) the dogs seem to cope fine with bones....will take at look at the websites.

[sjwrx]

i've never had any problems with panda eating chicken bones. He has been raw fed since he was around 8 months old. Like others have mentioned, give it around 12 hours between feeding kibble and raw as they digest differently and never feed them together.

[Removed #5]

Since this recurs sporadically, would one of you who feed raw in combination with kibble put up a couple of significant references as to why they shouldn't be fed together. 

I'm not trying to start an argument with anyone,  but the statement is made often enough that I think it deserves a bit of clarification.

(( Maybe put it up in a thread of its own so it's easier to find when we need to refer someone to it ... please ))

 

And kind of adding to the chicken bones comment.  I think it's safe to say that, in general, RAW bones (of any kind??) aren't a problem.  It's when bones are cooked that they have a tendency to splinter, yes??

[Andy]

St

 

Since this recurs sporadically, would one of you who feed raw in combination with kibble put up a couple of significant references as to why they shouldn't be fed together. 

I'm not trying to start an argument with anyone,  but the statement is made often enough that I think it deserves a bit of clarification.

(( Maybe put it up in a thread of its own so it's easier to find when we need to refer someone to it ... please ))

 

And kind of adding to the chicken bones comment.  I think it's safe to say that, in general, RAW bones (of any kind??) aren't a problem.  It's when bones are cooked that they have a tendency to splinter, yes??

Great suggestion Al'

Stole this from a BARF (Bones and RAW Food) article.

 

Combining a raw diet with kibble is a hard combination for pets to digest.

This is because the digestive time frame of each diet is different.

As such, you confuse the pancreas when generating the right combination of digestive enzymes.

This often results in gastrointestinal upset (mainly diarrhea and vomiting)

 

And as Al' points out that RAW bones are fine for dogs because they crunch across the width of the bones and digest well.

However COOKED Chicken bones SPLINTER lengthways creating sharp long splinters that can become lodged and pierce the intestinal tracts

Causing all manner of problems. Usually resulting in a very expensive trip to the Vets possibly involving surgery to get them removed.

 

So . . . . .

DO NOT give your dogs the carcass from your Sunday roast.

DO NOT give your dogs the bones from your KFC