What specific raw bone is best for yorkies.
 

I've decided my boys need to chew more!! They love their bully sticks (thanks to YT member AMD for a great product at an affordable price), but I'm thinking of getting them some raw bones. I've done google and YT searches and read lots of stuff. My yorkie has a sensitive tummy so I guess I should scrape some of the marrow out. Here is my question...
What should I ask the butcher for....I've seen 1. Marrow bones 2. Briskit bones 3. Rib bones 4. Femur bones.
I have no idea what to ask for...
Can anyone help me?
P.S. They eat eagle pack duck and oatmeal, and they NEVER get table food.

I was always told beef bones are way to hard for yorkies. You can go into search here and look at some raw food threads! There will be alot of helpful info. I know raw chicken bones is best. Cook bones of any kind is dangerous!

It depends -- do you want them to be able to eat the bones or not? If yes, then you'd want small, meaty bones like chicken leg/wings, lamb chop etc (raw). If you want recreation bones - then you'd want larger bones like femur, marrow etcetera. If you get bones w/ the marrow in - take almost all of that marrow out bc it is VERY fatty. :)

I don't do raw, but we do feed marrow bones (I have my butcher cut shank's in 3/4" thick pieces) - make stew for for dinner and give the kids the cleaned bones. I also give them ribs from a standing rib roast. These two bones are both cooked, but they are heavy, thick bones and they don't splinter. I have had some of them gnawed on for a couple of years now. When they start smelling nasty, I just put them in the sink wash them with hot soapy water and rinse well.

For an added treat, I rub peanut butter inside the hollow marrow bone.

This is SUCH a GREAT idea!!!! Never thought of that, thanks for mentioning it. :)

We need to get this going again. I am looking for bones my 8 lb. can eat.
I thought chicken bones splinter.

Are the legs bones really safe? He won't eat wings. And pardon my ignorance, but what femur bone are you talking about. What animal?

I too thought chicken bones were out!

With bones the general rule is...weight bearing bones are heavier and harder...that means they can be great recreational bones (just for chewing, not for "eating"), but they may also be more likely to break a tooth on them. Small bones such as chicken neck/wings can be chewed and eaten so they become a "meal". These bones are only fed RAW...because if they are cooked they will splinter and can cause great damage! I've also given the recreational bones, smoked...the way you generally find them in a pet store. If you have a dog with pancreatitis, then you want to avoid heavy fat on the bones and my dog's favorite...the knuckle bone (high in fat :)). Now as per size of the bone, it sort of depends on the size of your dog...my 5lb Yorkie has managed a small piece of Turkey neck, but I did find she had some difficulty with it, while my 13lb Schnauzer that it was the greatest! In future with my smaller dog, I intend to stick to chicken necks. I have also seen chicken feet sold for chewing but haven't done much research on it...anyone else try those with their yorkie?

Dog teeth won't splinter an uncooked chicken wing bone?

Yes, Tibbe is not much of a chewer either. He takes spurts of chewing chewies etc but will go for long periods w/out chewing. He's current on dentals and gets daily tooth brushing so I know it is not bad teeth but he just spurt-chews. Should they chew something daily for their teeth? Being a Yorkie, I am always worried about his dentition.

Oh, what is PREY? Sounds interesting.

I was speaking with some of my local shops about the Moo bully sticks which are Buster's favorites. They say that the manufacturer lost their supplier and has been having a hard time finding a new one. So right now there are no Moo bully sticks available. :(

I forgot to add lately I have been giving Buster the Virbac CET Dental chews I give the medium size on the recommendation of another YT member, not the petite size. I used to give the petite size but they did not last as long. He really enjoys them but I have to add a warning. Buster chews them but does not really eat them. Sometimes when they get soft the are a big mouthful of wet beef hide and I worry about him choking on it as it seems to fill up his mouth. So he is only allowed them under supervision.

I use chicken wings or chicken drummetes.

Ohhhh. I worry so much about choking as Jilly nearly died that way. Late one night she was chewing a rawhide chew bone with the tie knot at the ends when she chewed the neck in two and swallowed one end part way and it stuck in her throat. She began thrashing about and making this horrible rasping sound and B4 I could think I was up, holding her upright and looking into her mouth as she desperately fought for air. I could see the end stuck in her throat and feared pushing it further, though that is what the vet told me to do once I got him on the phone. I prayed, pushed and nothing happened. She went rigid and most breathing stopped and I had to breathe for her and started telling her to "relax" and "you will be allright" as I prayed for her - prayed hard for her as I gathered a robe, keys and headed for the car. She stayed rigid with her head back and straight in line with her body and an occasional rasping sound as I got into the car, started it and drove to the vet with only my left hand and with her in my right arm, breathing for her in her nostrils. I was pretty sure she was going to be dead when I got to the vet but when I gave her to the him, she stirred, coughed and coughed and perked up and looked around at me as the vet was going for her mouth to open it.

Well..........well................what can you say or do at a time like that when you see your dog come out of extremis and look at you with its head cocked to one side, breathing in and out again. I fell backward into a chair and lost it right then and there as my vet took her to x-ray and check her out. He was yelling at me from x-ray "She's alright. She is fine." It was unreal. I'd seen my girl go from what seemed certain death to fine in a few moments and without anything either the vet or I did. Later he said the swelling that had formed around the hard knot had likely gone down due to the adrenaline her body had produced due to the extreme fight to live and being rushed out into the night air. I don't remember much else about that night but we stayed the night there. I think the vet left about 2:00 a.m. as he had early surgery but the vet tech and I stayed with Jilly and I brought her home later morning after a recheck. I seem to remember she had some type of Rx to take but have blooted out what it was, etc. So, I am so careful of whatever I give a Yorkie to chew after that. And I watch Tibbe the whole time, taking it away when needed for safety. I want Tibbe to be able to chew for enjoyment but I'm very watchful now.

Gosh! It is still so traumatic to recall what happened to Jilly, I left out a pretty important part what happened. I Heimlech'ed her first over and over and nothing popped or moved and in the meantime, she began to stop thrashing about and just gasp a bit with her mouth open. That's when I realized her knot was stuck fast and I could only try to breathe for her and call the vet. Then, after I pushed on the knot, she went rigid. Awful!

Oh, tried to change my misspelling of Heimlich but my edit wasn't in time.

Raw Chicken Thighs
 

I give my dog a raw chicken thigh once a week (bones and all). I cut off about 1/2 of the meat portion, as it would be too much for 1 meal, and give her the remaining meat and bones. That feeding can take up to 1 hour as the bones take a while to go through (excellent teeth cleaning!). The remaining portion I give at another meal. The boneless part takes 2 minutes to eat-ha.

I have a 5 pound girl and she enjoys her chicken bones :animal36.

Make sure you feed this when you can supervise the eating.

Good luck!

Thanks.