Nope, you're not dense at all, I probably didn't explain this right!
I'm suggesting to feed bigger pieces in general, regardless of what you're feeding. So instead of a quarter piece of chicken try a whole chicken and take it away at the half mark. Then feed the other half at another meal. What I meant to say about the more dense type of bones; I avoid the bones of large ungulates like beef, buffalo etc. the weight bearing bones of those animals are just too dense and even a huge breed dog can chip his teeth on those. Beef bones are very hard that's why I let my Yorkies chew the meat off beef bones and take it away as soon as they've eaten the meat off. Lamb ribs or neck bones are fine. A bigger dog can benefit from working on a whole pork butt roast (bone in) as it's also commonly found cheap or on sale. Have you tried Turkey pieces yet? As it's bigger than chicken, this means more work for the dog to chew on it! Remember, we don't want the pieces so small that the dog can practically swallow his meal whole, we want him to have to spend time on it! My tiny girl at 1 1/2 pounds gets chicken wings and things the size of chicken wings but my 10 pound boy will swallow those whole so he gets a drumstick, breast or thigh and things of that size. My best friend has a Rottweiler puppy (4 months old, 45 pounds already) and by the time she's an adult (estimated 90-100 pounds), my friend will probably have to present her a whole hog head, hog leg, whole turkeys etc at least some of the time. A dog actually enjoys having to "work" on his meal, it gives him the physical and mental workout he just didn't have with kibble!
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Originally Posted by tjdmom  Thanks for the info, very helpful! I do feed chicken feet but have not yet tried trachea. The idea about putting fish in the grinder is a good one - I might actually catch some fish and try that.
OK, not to be dense but when you say I need to feed bigger pieces... I currently feed a chicken quarter. Sometimes a breast. But are you saying I should feed a whole chicken, at least as much as she would eat? Or are you saying I should feed some other type of bone with a lot of meat and take the bone away once all the meat is gotten off of it? Sorry to be dense.... |
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