Recreational marrow bones - what do you think?

[loveyouradvice]

Well, I've only recently learnt about these and bought a couple frozen for the wee fella.

I gather we give them as a treat - and like all bones keep an eye on them, especially the first time.

Do you use them? What do you think? And is the marrow very rich - he's only 5.5kg so will all in one dose be too much for his stomach?

ps I have got bones labelled small/medium dogs rather than for big dogs!

I have used them for my Labradors in the past, but they gave them diarrhoea.
I would think even the small would be a lot for such a small dog especially first time.
They are not suitable for puppies or younger dogs with immature digestive systems.

Absolutely not!
The marrow inside is very, very rich and gives most dogs the squits.
If supremely unlucky it can give them pancreatitis.

Also, marrow bones are usually beef leg bones.
These have the potential to fracture teeth.

Quite frankly, I don’t understand why they are sold for dogs.

Better choices imo would be things like chicken legs/quarters, whole quail (my dog loves these, especially if there’s an egg inside!), whole pigeons, duck necks, pork ribs, pork legs, a whole or half rabbit etc

Our dog has had them in the past and he's never had any adverse reactions to them. The main reason we don't buy them is their size and the fact that big bones can cause teeth fractures.

So, we now buy "meaty bones" from Morrisons. They're not as hard, so less likely to fracture teeth, and they're not as rich either. We freeze them for several weeks and then he gets them either still frozen, or defrosted. He LOVES them and they last ages. They've never caused any issues :)

Gosh. I am learning a lot ... I always assumed little things like whole quail would be more dangerous... I've got some duck necks I'm going to try him on. Then onto quail and pigeon.

Until now he's only ever had Venison bones bought from Venidog which he has loved - lots of gnawing.

My dog loves marrow bones, 10 years and no issues.
Pigs ears, snouts, venison ligaments, chicken hearts, sprats etc are all good for dogs snacks.

I also get him these knuckle bones which will keep him busy for hours.
I tend to let him have it for 30mins at a time though as it can make their poo a bit crumbly.

www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/roast-beef-knucklebone-dog-treat

Oof no, please don't give your dogs roasted bones. They are so dangerous and shouldn't be sold. I think it's awful that dangerous treats like cooked bones and rawhide are so widely available - they should be banned.

Only give raw bones. Never cooked or roasted. Cooked/roasted bones can splinter and cause perforations to your dogs insides.

The large knuckles bones are fine if supervised as the dogs don’t tend to eat the bone, they scrape off the marrow, skin, crunchy bits etc, then gnaw at the bone.

Bones like this ham hock one is a definitely no no as the bone will easily splinter and can cause intestinal issues.

The large knuckles bones are fine if supervised as the dogs don’t tend to eat the bone, they scrape off the marrow, skin, crunchy bits etc, then gnaw at the bone.

That is still incredibly dangerous and should absolutely never be encouraged.

The danger is not in the dog eating the entire bone or swallowing it whole - when they chew on them, cooked bones can splinter and the broken bits are small, so they get swallowed and get lodged in the dogs stomach/intestines, causing blockages and perforations.

You can buy raw bones for pennies or even get them for free from your local butcher. There is no excuse for giving your dog cooked or roasted bones.

We’ve been feeding the 100s of dogs in our shelter knuckle bones for years, plus decades of our family dogs and it’s never been an issue.
The bone doesn’t break off and splinter, it’s too hard. They just gnaw the marrow and skin off and you are left with the bare bone which you then chuck away.

The butcher gives us raw marrowbones for free if we ask for them, we got them weekly in the first lockdown as doing a weekly shop.
Then had to stop as the dog put on lockdown 10lbs too
My dog is large though so well able.

I’m with sunflowers on cooked bones.

The huge range of highly digestible, soft meaty bones available, plus all the other natural chewies with little, if any risk of gut perforation, tooth fracture etc why on earth would you risk a cooked bone?