Raw bones make my boy sick. - Page 1

Ok im confused, my dogs are all fed a top quality kibble. and i have always given the occasional meaty bone as a treat,     we have never had a problem... until now, our 18 month old boy seems to be sick whenever he eats raw meat/bone.

I give large beef knuckle bones or chicken wings

anyway i guess he cant have them but can anyone think of a reason why this keeps happening.

he is in excellent condition wormed etc. i give salmon oil as a supplement daily.

he has also had full blood works taken and the results were good.

thanks in advance.

Tracie

When you say it makes him sick, what do you mean? Does he vomit? Have loose stool? If he is vomiting, is it possible he is chipping off the bone and or joint capsule? If so, some dogs cannot digest this and don't get it past the stomach and vomit it up. If there is a lot of marrow in the bone, it may be too rich for him as well and cause vomiting or diarrhea. Finally, he may simply not have the right gut bacteria to process it, especially if it is contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.

Tigermouse - I have been in your position.

My oldie could never tolerate raw bone in any form.  She just didnt have the gastric balance to cope with it.

Remember not every dog is the same, the same as humans.  Just treat him as an individual and he'll be fine.

he only vomits no loose stool. he tends to nibble at the fat/meat he doesn't really chew the bone

the bones i get are really fresh, and most of the time are frozen then defrosted, i was told that this is the best way to minimize the bacteria.

Frozen bones are like cooked bones....more brittle. They break off more easily in little and no so little chips.  Does this same thing happen if he chews on a bone that does not have fat and some gristle and meat left on it? Have you tried removing all this, and the marrow too? If you do all this and he still vomits, then the answer is simply don't give him bones. I suspect he is having trouble with the fat content. It is not a big deal. Just give him quality food and see if perhaps he will chew on a huge nylabone, for example.

tigermouse.. if you give him just the chicken wings, does he vomit? Or is it just when he has the knuckle bones? You say he is just mostly gnawing off the fat and meat, are you sure he is not breaking off pieces of the bone and swallowing them? I guess whats in the vomit might tell that, larger pieces of bone might not agree with him. It might also be the fat content, as mentioned, that he cannot handle. Some marrow bones at my grocery anyway, are pretty devoid of external anything, if you scoop out the marrow on this type maybe he could use it for recreational chewing. But if chicken wings have the same effect , I guess he can't have bones.

Tracie,

You might try a different bone from a different animal,  or no bone's at all.

BTW my dog's love meaty bone's.. you haven't spoiled him have you? 

If you could see the stuff my dog's bring home sometime's and chew on it would make you vomit,  mostly remain's of deer but it can be anything they find in the wood's from turtle's to dead opossum.

Have you looked to see just what is being vomited up?

Brent.

Ok  after fishing around in puke I have discovered nothing unusual just some partially digested meat and what looks like ground up bone and bile.....lovely job.

He dos the same with chicken wings/turkey necks and I have tried in the past to remove fat ,gristle, most of the meat and marrow, and he still vomits.

He is not too bad with cooked bones, but is not that interested in them.

Guess its the boring old nylabones for my poor baby. (Brent- of course he is spoilt...lol they all are)

 Perhaps I could import some opossum's to the UK and see if that works.lol

Thank you  Brent, Trailrider, Hodie, and Beepy.

regards Tracie.

 Cook bones are not to be given that's when you'll get into real trouble with splintering and perforations - it's raw bones or no bones.

Curious how long after he eats does he throw up - I'm wondering if his liver function is a bit weak - you need a strong liver to digest raw (cooking begins the breaking down process) maybe give some digestive enzymes - yogurt & kefir are most commonly given but there are pill & powder supplements as well.  Also so maybe some liver support?  This inability to digest raw might just be pointing to a weakness that can now be worked with and strengthened.

best of luck,

Susan

Blitz can't eat them either, so I just don't give them to him. They give him diarrhea, sometimes he vomits, and he's broken off 3 of his 4 canines chewing them. I scrape his teeth with a tooth scraper and brush them now and then. IMO bones often cause more harm than good for some dogs.