In general, people have many questions when it comes to what they can and can’t feed their dogs. That’s not entirely incomprehensible, seeing as the rules aren’t always abundantly clear. Consequently, it’s not always self-explanatory what the do’s and don’ts are as regards feeding your dog human food. For example, can dogs eat raw chicken bones? If you’re a dog owner, you’ve probably already heard the horror stories about feeding your dog raw chicken bones, but what is the truth? Is it really not recommended to feed your dog chicken bones or not? Keep reading to find out!
Can You Give Raw Chicken Bones To Your Dog?
Well, while it’s true that certain people consider raw chicken bones to be dangerous for your dog’s health, there’s really no reason to believe that this is actually the case. That is to say, those people think that feeding your dog raw chicken bones could give rise to splintering, but that’s actually quite far from the truth, as it turns out.
Even more so, when it comes to splinters, it’s even best to feed your dog raw chicken bones instead of cooking, smoking, grilling, or baking them first. To be more concrete, raw chicken bones have a specific texture that makes splinters highly unlikely.
Once you do cook the bones, for example, the entire structure of the bones changes and that’s when it could get potentially dangerous for your dog. Namely, that’s when your dog’s chances of getting splinters into its gums significantly increase and that’s really impractical and unpleasant, to say the last.
However, it’s not only your dog’s gums that can be affected by splinters. In some cases, splinters could even cause internal bleeding and damage to your dog’s organs, besides constipation and other intestinal problems. In a definite worst-case scenario, this could even lead to the death of your dog and that’s evidently something to avoid at all costs!
So, it’s better to be safe than sorry and to just stick to raw chicken bones, to keep the risk of splinters to an absolute minimum!
All of this applies to many different kinds of raw meat, but it should be mentioned that chicken specifically is a great meat to start with if you want to feed your dog raw bones. Concretely, chicken bones are relatively soft and flexible, as far as bones go. So, that makes chicken bones the perfect contender when it comes to ensuring that your dog gets acquainted with raw bones in a pleasant way.
Advantages Of Feeding Your Dog Raw Chicken Bones
Healthy, Strong Gums
First and foremost, feeding your dog raw chicken bones regularly can significantly and positively impact your dog’s gums. To make this less abstract, chewing the chicken bones will cause your dog’s teeth and gums to gain strength while cleaning them at the same time. Consequently, this results in an overall healthier denture!
Shiny Coat Of Fur
Another proven advantage of feeding your dog raw chicken bones is that it’s supposed to make your dog’s fur shinier than ever before. So, the esthetical value of chicken bones definitely shouldn’t be underestimated as well!
The Nutritional Value
Lastly, chicken bones can provide your dog with tons of vitamins and minerals that your dog needs in order to gain energy. Additionally, raw chicken bones really have the ability to help your dog when it comes to all kinds of intestinal problems.
As a result, raw chicken bones aren’t only remarkably fun for your dog to chew on, but they also have a definite, valuable nutritional value. So, feeding these bones to your dog isn’t unhealthy in the slightest!
Things To Watch Out For
Now, while it’s certainly possible and even beneficial to feed your dog raw chicken bones, there are still a couple of things to take into account. However, if you keep the following cautions in the back of your mind, you and your dog should be completely fine!
Don’t Overdo it
The first thing to keep in the back o your mind is that you shouldn’t overdo it when it comes to feeding your dog raw chicken bones. Specifically, if you give your dog too much of these bones, this could eventually give rise to serious constipation.
So, as is the case with most foods, keep your dog’s intake of raw chicken bones to a reasonable amount. Otherwise, it won’t be healthy anymore and that would be a real shame!
If you don’t know how many chicken bones are too much, it could be wise to consult a professional before feeding them to your dog. Nonetheless, generally speaking, you should be completely fine if you don’t give your dog more than two raw chicken bones per week.
Salmonella
Everyone knows that chicken often comes with the risk of getting salmonella, which is a particular bacterial infection. This is no different when it comes to dogs, so that’s something to bear in mind, for sure! Luckily, however, there are certain measures you can take to minimalize the risk of your dog getting infected with salmonella as much as possible.
For starters, one measure you can take is to let the chicken bones thaw in the refrigerator after it’s been frozen. This way, you’ll ensure that the bacterial growth keeps to a minimum and that’s always something to strive for!
Also, throw the remaining bones and meat away after your dog has finished eating and chewing. Namely, if you were to put it in the fridge again afterward, this could facilitate the growth of different kinds of bacteria.
Finally, it’s also crucial that you wash the chicken bones properly before giving them to your dog. It’s truly the best way to avoid salmonella, so it’s extremely essential that you don’t forget to do this!
Choking
Moreover, please make sure that you keep a close eye on your dog while it’s chewing on the provided chicken bones. That is, if you’re not careful, a piece of bone could get lodged in your dog’s throat or esophagus, for example.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should be overly concerned, since most of the time, nothing bad will happen. Nevertheless, it’s something to take into account, seeing as accidents can unfortunately occur and you need to be prepared in that case!
Conclusion
In short, can dogs eat raw chicken bones? it’s perfectly fine to feed your dog raw chicken bones every once in a while. Even more so, doing this can provide your dog with numerous health benefits and other advantages, so you really shouldn’t be afraid to try it out! As longs as you keep the above-mentioned information in the back of your mind, you should absolutely be good to go!