 Not trying to Hijack the thread but....
Uncooked bones are actually safer than cooked in a sense.
Some bones will splinter and then can get lodged in the throat/stomach/intestine and cause MAJOR problems (I've heard of splinters working themselves all the way through a dog's trachea!) This doesn't happen when they're raw. In my experience, they just crumble up while the pup happily gnaws away. (The bones you find in pet stores probably were not cooked, most likely they're just dried or smoked in some manner).
Dogs aren't like humans. Their digestive system is incredibly different from ours and is equipped to handle bacteria more effeciently. It's my understanding that they will digest the meat/bones much faster, which doesn't give bacteria much of a chance to mulitply. Granted, I probably wouldn't leave a raw bone sitting in my living room carpet for a few days... If it's appropriately sized, the dog will probably eat the whole thing within an hour anyway.
My dog gets not but raw meat & bones (beef, lamb, venison, chicken, turkey, etc) and I've yet to have any problems at all with worms, bacteria or upset stomaches. In fact, she's even HEALTHIER than when she was eating kibble. As long as proper meat handling techniques are used and your dog is relatively healthy to begin with, bacteria growth over an hour or two isn't going to make a difference. |