Raw turkey - all the bones are ok?

[Masha]

Jermy, our GSD, has been eating raw 2 days a week for the past month or so, we give him 1-2 turkey necks (depending on size) and some turkey hearts and gizzards per meal (two meals a day). On Saturday for the first time we bought a turkey bag from our butcher and it had turkey backs and other parts there but the the backs had very sharp bones sticking out all over the place. I read everywhere that raw turkey and chicken bones are safe, but I couldnt help thinking that these looked so sharp. How could these be safe? do they chew them to the point where its just grinded? I put these in the freezer, need to be 100% sure before i can give them to him.

Thanks,

[TulipRoxy]

They should be fine, especially for a GSD. Watch him when he eats and you will see that he really crunches up everything into a mush before swallowing it. He has those pointy teeth for a reason!

I have 2 shelties that are about 20 and 30 lbs and they handle turkey wings, backs and necks no problem!

[luckypenny]

I know a few people who feed raw turkey with meat to their dogs. However, two of ours don't digest some of the larger bones (mainly thigh and leg). I tend to feed the neck and breast bones and always accompanied by at least 50-60% meat.

Two of our dogs chew well and one doesn't. Funny, the one who doesn't is the one who digests the larger bones without a problem .

[Melinda]

our vet at the animal hospital said his most frequent emergency cases are poultry bones stuck in the dogs throats, he told me that they are so "bendable" that most dogs don't really chew them enough and they will bend, once swallowed they slowly regain their shape and thats when the trouble starts, he dreads easter, thanksgiving and xmas because of this. So I guess it depends on how good a chewer the dog is.

[TulipRoxy]

Originally Posted by Melinda

our vet at the animal hospital said his most frequent emergency cases are poultry bones stuck in the dogs throats, he told me that they are so "bendable" that most dogs don't really chew them enough and they will bend, once swallowed they slowly regain their shape and thats when the trouble starts, he dreads easter, thanksgiving and xmas because of this. So I guess it depends on how good a chewer the dog is.

Did your vet specify if he was talking about raw or cooked poultry bones? I can see there being a problem with cooked turkey bones at Christmas as they are very sharp and can cause impaction. Not that raw bones never do, its just a lot less common

[totallyhip]

We give our dogs turkey necks all the time. They love them and chew them up nicely. We have given other parts to Luke before and he didn't care as much for them. But he is a finicky eater

Most vets mean cooked bones. We never give our dogs cooked bones. They do splinter and cause choking.

[Melinda]

he said cooked poultry bones will splinter in jagged bits and raw would bend when being swallowed, it was the raw we were talking about at the time

[schwillis]

If your dog spends it's time chewing the bones it should be fine, I bet a lot of dogs the vet see's with raw bones stuck in it's throat are dogs that stole the chicken bones and garfed them down, if you ever catch a dog stealing food, youll know they don't exactly eat it very carefully.