Dutch Shepherd Forum

If you go to your grocer they have usually packets of beef bones listed as "soup bones". Leftover pieces from the de-boning process. These around disk shaped bones are about an inch thick, have a very porous center and not a lot of meat on them. I pop them in the microwave for about 40 seconds, enough to kill any bacteria on them then wash them off with water. Give them to the dogs. Because of the porous nature in the center of the bones, they sink their molars in good- and knock all the plaque off their teeth. Do this every few months as needed. Plus they think it's awesome. They generally chew them up to a point where I don't want them swallowing the rest so I take them away- just keep an eye on them while their having at it. I've tried dental sticks, rawhide, you name it- nothing works like soup bones. Some stores might call them marrow bones as well.



Mark77

Tracedog got one every day and his teeth looked liked they were professionally cleaned every day.
the puppies also get marrow bones, but with much less frequency; instead they have antlers all over the house and each dog gets a whole carrot to gnaw on every day. we'll see how that goes in maintaining the pearly whites.
of course, others have pointed to the downside of teeth breaking - something my dogs have not experienced.

There's no need to microwave the bone. Dogs can handle the bacteria.

Stacy_R wrote:There's no need to microwave the bone. Dogs can handle the bacteria.

Actually that isn't as true as it once was. Dogs can contract certain strains of bacteria such Salmonella, E-Coli and even MRSA- which can be very dangerous. It also been tested that over half of chickens you can pick up at a grocery store have shown strains of super bacteria caused by over use of antibiotics. Depending on if the butcher used the same saw to cut various types of meat, they could cross contaminate.

I got a nice hefty thousand dollar vet bill after both dogs got sick with some type of bacteria from eating raw chicken backs. This after feeding them "raw" randomly over a year and then one day they both ended up very sick at the same time. I spent a lot of time mopping and airing out my house after that mishap. So now I do a light grilling of any store bought meat I feed them or a quick pop in the microwave for certain items. I don't over cook the items as I don't want the bones to splinter either.

To be safe going raw, go hunting. Turkey's, deer, pheasants, perfect for a raw diet dog. Just get a big freezer in your basement and do your own butchering. Nothing like watching two dogs fighting over a deer spine in your front yard to discourage neighbors from messing with you.


Mark77

I've been feeding several dogs raw now for several years. No issues at all. Nor have any of my friends/family members had any issues.

I am on my second generation of dogs with no problems from the marrow bones.

However, I do freeze them first, which may help.

I fully understand going the extra mile for our babies, though.

My three boys love their "Friday bones" (soup bones), I also freeze them until use. I hesitate to cook them as this makes the bones splintery. My 10 year old farmdog Jake's teeth have almost no tartar on them thanks to the bones, besides they love them! The only downside is forgetting to pick the bones up from the yard before mowing the grass.

Dutch in America wrote:The only downside is forgetting to pick the bones up from the yard before mowing the grass.

... or stepping on one in bare feet in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom.

Dutch like to drop his bone and let it roll across the floor. Which why I don't allow them in the bedroom specially bed time cause all you hear is drop roll roll roll.

I hear you on the lawnmower thing. You always think ok, I picked up everything then half way through the work you hear smack. I think that's why I had to replace a blade last year.
But he has strong clean teeth.

HeatherH wrote:I don't allow them in the bedroom

Me: Radar. You can't bring that in the room.

Radar: Ignores me. Jumps up on the bed with it.

Me: Radar. Drop it. ... Drop it! ... DROP IT!!! Gently prying it from his mouth.

Radar: Looking at me intensely (see my avatar) BARK!

Me: I take the bone out to the living room and place it in the 'bone basket' Radar. Leave it.

Two minutes later...

Radar: Jumps on the bed with the bone. Chews noisily.

He know what would happen. He would never see it again. Although I can't control what happens when I not around.

I know this is an older post and this might be a silly question but does it have to be cow bones or can it be bison or elk ones too. I just not sure how they compare to each other for splintering. Don't want pepper to get hurt

Yes, it's the processed food that he's eating that's giving the bacteria in his mouth too much carbohydrates to work with and not enough physical cleaning. Molly has complete pearly whites, but she's a raw fed dog so there are very few free sugars in her food and her teeth get a great deal of exercise with eating turkey necks and the like.

Cleaning the teeth of a dog is a really long term commitment- you start just with allowing you to look at his teeth and then you start getting him used to you messing with his mouth. Each stage may take days or weeks. Once you progress from that onto him allowing you to put things in his mouth I can recommend enzyme toothpaste and one of those brushes that you put on your finger as it makes the manual dexterity aspect much easier, but then I also know dogs that sit perfectly still and happy to have their teeth cleaned with their own electric toothbrush (step forward with a picture of Josh having his teeth done estweyn!) so it's horses for courses, but it starts off small and takes weeks of practice for them to trust you to muck around in their mouths.



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