So I went to the butchers and asked for a bone...

[Twizzel]

and the lady said "oh yes! I'll go get you one" and came back with a HUGE bag of all sorts of frozen bones mainly beef I think, ribs and big chunky bones, I've split them and counted 10 huge bones. All for free

Rosie has never had them before, so how often is best to give her one? She's on Burns lamb and brown rice food, we can't switch to totally raw as no freezer space, but she gets other bits and bobs in with her kibble like eggs (a favourite), pasta, rice, bits of veg etc so as not to make it boring.

If I give her a bone tonight, does it replace her kibble dinner?

 

[Rose Folly]

Wouldn't have thought so, unless your butcher has left a lot of meat on - unlikely in these hard times. Bones for our dogs are for teeth cleaning, the marrow, strengthening the jaws and for long term enjoyment (like burying in the herbaceous border).

But be careful as to what the bones are - big beef marrow bones are fine, but don't get anything that splinters.

If you find the bones give her the runs, give thsm a quick blast in a hot oven (not cooking, just 10-15 minutes to crisp the meat remnants.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Excellent

I do actually replace meal with a bone, especially kibble, it is important not to mix kibble and raw meat/bones as they move through the gut at different speeds - my older dog had to have an enema last week for impaction (nothing to do with a bone though) and it is not something I would recommend

I see nothing wrong with giving one bone a day. Big weightbearing bones are more likely to do damage to teeth in some particularly determined dogs, smaller things like ribs, spines, necks are fine.

 

[NikkiF]

That's good, will obviously have to befriend a proper butchers! Made the mistake of asking at the Tesco's meat counter and got an 'elf and safety' lecture

 

[CorvusCorax]

Yeah, the bigger places will not supply free bones for a variety of reasons, your local butcher will, they have to pay to dispose a lot of it so you are actually doing them a favour.

 

[Oberon]

You can go into any butchers and ask to have what's in the slop bucket/bone bin.

You have to tell them what you want, though.

Most think pork/chicken/lamb are unacceptable whereas beef leg/hip bones are fine....when the reverse is true.

If you go to one reg enough, they may set things aside for you.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

You can replace kibble with chicken wings or similar. Just keep kibble and raw separate by a good few hours. I'm wary of big beef bones for fear of breaking teeth.

 

[Twizzel]

Thanks everyone. Yes our butcher is fab they had a sign outside about bones and were asking what kind of dog they were for etc Rosie had her first one tonight and loved it, we worked out it was a bit of spine. She did try to take it upstairs in the lounge though, didnt fancy bits of meat all over the carpet!

 

[misterjinglejay]

Just a word of warning - don't feed large weight bearing bones, like beef leg bones, as they are strong enough to break teeth on.

I've been feeding raw for ages, and ribs, spine, hocks and trotters (inc pig legs) are all fine. Mine get several 'bone nights' a week, where their normal raw meal is replaced with raw meaty bones - maybe a lamb spine and ribcage, or a couple of pig legs, or if really lucky, pigs heads (bleuch).

Rabbit bones can splinter so I don't feed those, but poultry these days is reared so quickly that the bones are really quite soft, and 'chewy'!

Most butchers, when asked for dog bones, will give you the huge giant marrow bones. The dogs love these, but as I say, do expect a broken tooth or two.

This is just my opinion after feeding raw, and researching it.

Butchers have to pay for this waste to be taken away, so we are actually doing them a favour

 

[Twizzel]

I did check and no marrow bones/beef leg bones in the bag, I think our butchers is very dog friendly, all the bones in the bag are ribs or spine from what we can see. We have a box of chicken wings in the freezer so might try her with one of those when we have them for dinner one night

 

[WelshRuby]

You lucky people getting yours for free - I'm charged £2.50 per bone!!!!!!!

 

[misterjinglejay]

Is that at your local butchers?

I get 1-2binbags a week of bones and assorted stuff - some I have to chuck as they're too small for my big mouthed dogs, but it's always 'exciting' seeing what goodies we've got.

Last week I had 4 pigs heads - the dogs loved them - I didn't

 

[orionstar]

I didnt have time to go to my usual butcher last week (a few mile away in a different village) as I normally get Harry and Obi's Ox heart and free bones and free dozen eggs, so I popped into the one 500 yards away to be told that the meat didnt get delivered with bones so I couldnt have any. What sort of a butcher is that? I have a sneaking suspicion he buys it all at Tescos and just puts it in the chiller!

 

[misterjinglejay]

This morning, during coffee with friends after dog exercising, someone mentioned trying their local fish and chip shop for fish offcuts - tail, heads etc (obviously unbattered in a fried kind of way ).

Popping down there this week to see if they have any goodies!