Feeding your DOG with BONES

Giving your dog bones can be beneficial because bones have been proved to keep teeth clean, prevent plaque build-up, reverse periodontal disease in dogs, and maintain a balance of essential proteins and minerals.

Chewing on bones also helps to satiate your dog’s desire for food. However, as good as the benefits of bones are, there are always two sides to a coin. The following potential complications are problems that can occur in dogs after eating bones.

Fractured teeth: Some bones are hard enough to cause your dog’s teeth to crack. This sometimes necessitates root canals or tooth extractions.

Oral injuries: The sharp edges of bones can cut your dog’s gums, tongue and other oral mucous membranes. Not only is this painful for your dog, it can also get pretty messy. Bones can also get stuck in the mouth, particularly between the molars of the lower jaw.

Airway obstruction: The esophagus anatomically lies behind the trachea (wind pipe). All or part of the bone can slide down the esophagus and become stuck. Once the bone in the esophagus gets stuck, it will put pressure on the trachea and block the airway, causing your dog to choke.

Gastrointestinal complications: Bones passing through the digestive tract can cause serious damage. A piece of bone can become lodged in the stomach or intestines. In most cases, emergency surgery is needed to remove the bone. If the bones do not get stuck, they can cause irritation while passing through the GI tract. At the very least, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation and possible serious obstruction may occur. However, fragments can be as sharp as needles, and actually poke through the lining of the esophagus, stomach, intestines and colon. This is a life-threatening situation.

The risks associated with feeding bones to dogs apply to bones from all kinds of animals, whether they are raw or cooked. Even if you have given bones to your dog in the past without complications, it does not mean that everything will turn out fine the next time you feed a bone. However, the following precautions can be taken to minimise the risks:

Bones must be size appropriate: Large breed dogs such as Labradors, Dobermans, German Shepherds, etc. need a large enough bone so they will not chew and swallow it quickly. Bones should be larger than the length of the muzzle so it is impossible to swallow whole.

Don’t feed small bones that can be swallowed whole or pose a choking risk, or bones that have been cut, such as a leg bone. Cut bones are thin and more likely to splinter.

Don’t feed pork bones or rib bones; they are also more likely to splinter than other types of bones.

Feed bones at the proper time: The best time to give a dog a bone is after a full meal. Do not give dogs bones on an empty stomach because hungry dogs are more tempted to swallow a bone whole or break it apart and swallow large chunks. This increases the risk of an obstruction in the digestive tract.

Supervision is very important! Check on your dog periodically as it is chewing on the bone. As soon as your dog is through with the bone, check its teeth and gums afterwards. Ensure that there are no bone fragments stuck in the throat, gum or in-between your dog’s teeth.

Not all bones are safe: Avoid feeding any baked or barbecued bones to pets because the heat dries up the bone and makes it more brittle and subject to splintering. Long chicken bones and any bone from the vertebral column (bones of the spine) which are usually “T” shaped with “wings” are most especially dangerous. Also, turkey bones, whether they have meat on them or not, are ultimate splintering bones and should never be given to dogs.

On the other hand, the safest bones for your dog to eat are chicken heads, neck, keel, as well as tail bones and extremities of long bones (biscuit bones) from beef.

Signs of bone-related complications

•Vomiting most of what the dog eats or drinks

•Will act depressed

•Keep its neck in a strange position, arc the back (a sign of abdominal pain), lose appetite and weight if enough time is allowed to pass.

If you suspect that your dog has experienced a bone-related complication, please treat as an emergency and contact a veterinary doctor immediately.

If you weigh the risks associated, and you are uncomfortable with your dog chewing on a bone, there are safer alternatives such as specially-made dog toys, dental chews and other dog treat varieties that can also effectively satisfy your dog’s need to chew. These alternatives are safer than bones, and they also provide protein and nutrients, but are lacking in some of the minerals present in bones.

In conclusion, use caution when discarding bones that are leftover from food. Your best bet is to take them directly to the outside trash (provided it is out of your dog’s reach). Bone chewing can provide good sources of proteins and essential nutrients and can be about as safe as any other activity, provided the necessary precautions are taken, the right bone is given, and there is ample supervision.

SOURCE: www.punchng.com