"recreational" bones

[technodoll]

from the CFS-Canada - yahoogroups List:

Recreational bones - generally those that are sold under names such
as "soup bones," knuckle bones," or "marrow bones" - come from the
leg bones of large ungulates like adult cows, bison, elk, moose,
deer, etc. These are the weight-bearing bones of VERY large prey
animals, and are extremely dense bones. They also, almost without
fail, come seriously lacking in meat. What we end up with then is
merely a recipe for disaster. The bones are so hard and dense in
order to hold up such a massive animal, that they're frequent tooth
breakers. I can speak for many folks who have dogs that have
suffered in this regard - painful and expensive breaks, cracks,
wear, slab fractures.

The prey animal that these come from is just holding up so much
weight with that bone, and it's so very dense, that it's not
something that our carnivores are able to tackle safely.
Particularly when there's no meat on the bone to speak of from the
get go. Why bother? Even wolves have been documented as
consistently leaving these kinds of bones at the kill site unless
completely desperate with hunger. Our domestic carnivores never
need be desperate enough to have to settle for such a nutritionally
deficient and dangerous bone. Better by far to offer meaty, bone-in
items with bones that are at least theoretically edible.

The exception to the large ungulate weight-bearing bone "rule"
(although the bone itself is still inedible) might be something like
a beef shank with all the meat still on the bone. At least in that
case the carnivore actually gets a meal out of it and the workout
and tooth cleaning from tearing the meat off the bone, and then you
can just take the bone away once the meat is gone and before the
diner gets any ideas about playing hero on a tooth breaker "wreck"
bone.

[Scott_B]

this is why i give beef neck bones for recreation use. They're not dense and wont crack/break teeth!

[Angie J]

My pup just LOVES those marrow bones.. (you mean the roundtubular ones in the grocery store right??) So, what would you give a teething pup.... instead of my shoes I mean?

And where do you find Beef neck bones?

Angie J

[technodoll]

angie you will find beef or pork neck bones in ethnic markets, many butchers have them and grocery stores too. you can also give raw pig's or chicken feet. raw beef knucklebones are also a good bet, ask any butcher and most give them for free!

[Rottielover]

Or be a harley and break a huge piece off and get an obstruction Never again with recreation bones

[rainbow]

from the CFS-Canada - yahoogroups List:


Quote:
Recreational bones - generally those that are sold under names such
as "soup bones, "knuckle bones", or "marrow bones" - come from the
leg bones of large ungulates like adult cows, bison, elk, moose,
deer, etc. These are the weight-bearing bones of VERY large prey
animals, and are extremely dense bones. They also, almost without
fail, come seriously lacking in meat. What we end up with then is
merely a recipe for disaster. The bones are so hard and dense in
order to hold up such a massive animal, that they're frequent tooth
breakers. I can speak for many folks who have dogs that have
suffered in this regard - painful and expensive breaks, cracks,
wear, slab fractures.

Originally Posted by technodoll

angie you will find beef or pork neck bones in ethnic markets, many butchers have them and grocery stores too. you can also give raw pig's or chicken feet. raw beef knucklebones are also a good bet, ask any butcher and most give them for free!

I'm a little confused.

[Scott_B]

knuckle bones seem to have more cartledge and so are a bit softer then marrow bones. That said, I still don't feed him, as a percaution and because I don't need to as I always have beef neck bones on hand.

[technodoll]

knucklebones are the safest of the lot, so to speak, even if they are still very hard they contain cartilege which is gentler on the teeth. but not all knucklebones are created equal and some dogs still chip and crack their teeth on them... it's a question of finding the right bone for the right dog

[Scott_B]

Excellent points.

[SnowDancer]

No such thing as a recreation bone when it comes to my Eskimo. From sweet - non food aggressive (with Mommy) go super Cujo in 2 seconds. Even his eyes changed. So cookies it is.

[Skryker]

I only give the marrow bones supervised, and only until the meat on the outside is gone and the marrow has been extracted. Once I hear the first bone chip crunched the bones go out. I've been looking for knucklebones or chicken feet to give instead. Fingal's got a small chip off of one fang-I don't want them to crack a tooth.

[technodoll]

stryker, any ethnic shops or butchers or meat markets around where you live?..