another meaty bone question

[rockermom]

Ok so I finally gave Rocky a marrow bone today. I had them frozen in the freezer to keep fresh as well as take longer to eat the marrow. He is enjoying it. so far being a good boy if I want to take it away. What if I need to take it away for a while. should I refreeze? how long can they be left out if not completely cleaned? Do any of you leave marrow bones in crate with them if you go out for day? I usually leave him with a nyla bone so I was wondering if the marrow bones are safe to leave them with.

[rockermom]

one more question. At the top of the bone on the inside there is a skinny piece of what looks like bone going across from one side to the other. Do I need to worry about him breaking that off? I might need to close him in the crate since he does not seem to want to stay in there with it. Keeps bringing it under dining room table(his hiding spot) on the carpet.

[anissa]

Good questions. I was wondering how long they can be left out too, especially outside now that its hot.

[Maryellen]

i dont leave any small bones in the crates with the dogs. i leave only large ones that are so big they cant choke on them. i kept refreezing mine until the marrow and stuff was gone, then i just have them laying around.. once they chew and eat all the stuff off its just the bone thats left, you can rinse it under water, and then let them chew it more.

[rockermom]

ok the one he has now is about a good 3"long he can hold it with his paws and knaw on it. Is that big enough to leave with him?

[Maryellen]

if he can fit it in his mouth then he can get it stuck.. 3 inches is too small in my opinion.. i only leave galileo bones or 8 inch marrow bones in their crates . and i make sure the width of the marrow bone cant get down their throat.

[rockermom]

Ok I will try to find some larger ones this week.

[BigDogBuford]

I like to use knuckle bones.

[rockermom]

Is that what you ask for at the butcher Knuckle bones? Or do you buy the pre packaged kind

[SisMorphine]

Halo gets the ones that are 7" and longer. They stay in his crate for a couple of days.

Wally gets the smaller ones, usually 2", because he is only interested in them initially, and won't chew them after the first 20 minutes, and will never injest them. Again, his stay out for days on end. Usually my co-worker's pug will take up Wally's bone once he's done with it initially.

I have never had a problem with diarrhea or illness due to old marrow bone.

[anissa]

What are the big beef bones you can get at the butcher or grocery store? Those arent 'marrow' bones are they? and how long can those be left out?

[Pitcrew]

What you guys call marrow bones are actually the long bones in an animals leg. Usually the femur or humorus (is that it? I have temporarilly drawn a blank on anatomy) bones. The big ones in the upper legs connected to the shoulder and hip.
The best ones for my guys are the femur bones. I have a great butcher who saves them whole for me and cuts them how I want. They always have a good ammount of meat, tendons and ligaments on them which they love to chew off.
I have him cut the joint ends from the shank. An adult cows femur head is almost the size of my dogs head. and the knee end is about half that. The shank may be 3" thick and usually 7-8" long.
When I give them these types of bones, I usually let them chew for 1-2 hours, or until someone (James) gets tired, and then take them away. I can get 2-3 good chews out of them.
I have had these bones last pretty well once the dogs clean them off (several weeks), however, I found as you leave them out the bones minerals get harder and drier and instead of slowly grinding down they start to chip. Once I hear bones cracking I throw them away. I havent yet had any problems, but I have found large chips, that if ingested would probably be sharp (these are usually the type of pieces my dogs usually throw up a couple of days later). I also found when the bones were this hard, that is the most likely time my older dogs chip shards off their teeth. I started taking them away sooner... I seldom see this problem anymore (or puking bone chips).
Be VERY carefull with venison bones. The leg bones arent very thick and crack easily and the pieces are very sharp. I have seen how easily native americans could have used them as knives. They arent just pointy, they actually have an edge.
Large turkey bones are also best fed frozen so they chew up those bones more thoroughly. I fed them raw once and heard the bone crack, I took that leg away from Luke to look at it and saw how easilly they could swallow a sizeable piece when it is all kind of chewed into the meat. Especially if youd dog only chews it enough to bolt it down. When they are frozen they grind up the bones better.

Yes, I am paranoid. But when you have worked for a vet and seen these things from the inside...

Better safe than sorry.

My rule of thumb on size is...
once they are too small to easily hold with their paws to chew, they are gone. Especially foot, hoof and anke bones. Too small to hold and perfect choking size for medium to large dogs. Thick marrow bones that are cut too short (like from steak, or ham) also sometimes get stuck on dogs lower jaw when they try to lick out the inside. Saw that on a Rottie... he somehow got it all the way past his canines , and it was on there good! Wire saw time!

[rockermom]

hmm ok the bones I got were labled beef marrow bones at the meat section in grocery. THere were 3 and they range in size from 2 - 3 inches long but each one is also like 3 inches wide. I cant see Rocky putting the whole thing in his mouth so far he has just been holding it with his paws and licking it. some chewing but mostly licking out the marrow so far. I will continue to see what he does with it before I leave him one for the day.

[luvmyangels]

Here is a post where I asked about marrow bones and I was picking Michelle's brain. Hope this helps.

http://www.pitbulltalk.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

[rockermom]

Thanks that helped. But what an image I have of flies on them.

[cheekymunkee]

Thanks that helped. But what an image I have of flies on them.

Don't worry about the flies, they won't bother the dogs.

[BigDogBuford]

Is that what you ask for at the butcher Knuckle bones? Or do you buy the pre packaged kind

I get the pre packaged ones at the grocery store. ANd yes, they're labeled knuckle bones. These are the only ones I'll use as Buford is 100lbs and any other bone is too small for him. Plus, they last a looooong time.