I am happily watching my cat eat chicken drumsticks.

[KittyWithStripes]

… and realised how irrational is the fear that a pet might choke on one.

I’m in my 50s. We’ve had a lot of cats and dogs in my lifetime, and every single one of them has been fed leftover cooked chicken including the bones, their whole lives.

Never lost one yet to Death By Chicken Bone.

And come to think of it, the rubbish bins in town have KFC wrappers strewn around them from marauding foxes and dogs and cats gobbling up chicken bones by the bucketful… Surely, if they were SO DANGEROUS to pets we would see mountains of little corpses piled around those bins?

Or maybe it’s just complete bollocks, and the risk to pets is massively overstated.

And for the love of god I’m NOT denying any pet has ever choked on a bone - any more than I am denying any child has ever choked on a grape or cherry tomato. But we don’t completely ban children eating grapes and cherry tomatoes. FFS. Rant over 🍗😘

We cannot guarantee Chicaletta’s safety 🤣

Why even have pets if you care so little?

And for the love of god I’m NOT denying any pet has ever choked on a bone - any more than I am denying any child has ever choked on a grape or cherry tomato. But we don’t completely ban children eating grapes and cherry tomatoes.

No we don't ban children from eating grapes, we cut them. Just like we don't stop pets eating chicken, we just remove the part that could kill them...

As I said, I’m in my 50s and have a joyous history of healthy pets who live to ripe old ages (apart from one cat who got run over. Not in search of a chicken bone I might add.)
But you:
“I'd prefer peace of mind over watching my cat die choking on blood from a splintered cooked bone. “

You don’t get out much, do you? Tell me.. really… What is it like in your head?

OP's just trying to incite outrage, don't worry. I doubt they even have a cat. This wilful ignorance and the pathetic desperation for responses - hopefully no one is actually like this.

OK? What do you want people to say? You do you hun.

What's with all the weird bloody threads lately

Fido, is that you? 😁

Bizarre thread, op. Why are you so proud of giving your pet something that might not be safe? You sound almost victorious, it's very strange

Oh, and you're as rude as bejaysus. Do you not get much attention in real life?

When I was a child in the early 80s two different neighbours lost their dogs because they had accidentally found and eaten Easter eggs. I’ve grown up surrounded by dogs and was always reminded by adults to be careful about chocolate /grapes, it’s not a new thing at all.

I assumed you were talking about cooked bones seeing as you were going on about KFC . Everyone knows that raw bones are fine .

Eat them yourself then, if you think it's a waste of perfectly good chicken bones! 🙄

Please believe this is a genuine question, asked in good faith.

It was in part inspired by a chat with a vet on holiday in Turkey (and they absolutely LOVE cats in Turkey, it’s wonderful 😻) and he was the one who made the point that if eating cooked bones were a real risk you’d see injuries everywhere from cats who were fed leftovers or who raid the bins. And he said they don’t.

I’d love to see any statistics that can give some light on this, not just opinions that “it’s a risk” and therefore should be avoided.

Getting in a car is a risk. but we balance it against how likely it is that you’ll actually get in an accident.

That was in reply to @Yarnysaurus if you would care to read the thread. They said:

“Yarnysaurus · 11/09/2023 21:21

It rarely happens as sensible people know not to give raw bones. “

I meant 'know not to give cooked bones'.

I choose not to take the risk with my cats, just like I cutted grapes in half for my kid, and wouldn't give chocolate to a dog.

It's obvious that cooked bones splinter if you've ever tried to snap one, I wouldn't want that happening inside my cat. Not worth the risk.

Raw bones fine, cooked not. So I thin you're ok OP

we are talking about cooked chicken bones.

Well I take the risk of getting in a car if I'm going somewhere I can't walk or get public transport to. If I had nothing else to feed my cat than cooked chicken bones then maybe I'd take the risk .

How do you 'see' internal injuries in street cats?

I don't know, I just don't want to play Russian roulette with my cats just because I can.

Just because the risk is small doesn't mean it's not there. Depends if you want to chance it. I'm sure all the people whose beloved pets choked to death would have turned back the clock and not given it to them if they could.