[Dave121]

Dexter turned 7 mths old today. So far he has only ever tasted his dry puppy food and had puppy biscuits as treats. I saw some marrow bones at the grocery store and I wondered what age he should be before introducing him to one. I realize rawhide bones are bad because they can splinter but a marrow bone seems like it might be ok?

 

[JacksAndLabs]

My dogs get marrow bones a couple times a week. My last puppy got his first marrow bone at around 10wks.

 

[Trickster]

At 7 months old he should have no problem with a marrow bone. Remember to feed it completely raw and not cooked.

The marrow inside the bone is very rich. Therefore, you should limit the length of time that he is allowed to chew on it. If you let him eat as much as he wants he is pretty much guaranteed to get an upset stomach. So, allowing him to chew on it for 15-20 minutes at first is your safest bet. Then you can stick it back in your freezer until next time.

After a while, however, their digestive system will be able to handle the richness of the marrow.

 

[Scoper50]

First off, rawhide bones don't splinter. The danger behind them is the dog can bite off a large chunk and swallow it potentially causing intestinal blockage. I give Odie compressed rawhide bones sometimes, but only under close supervision. Like right in front of me while I'm watching tv.

I've been feeding marrow bones lately though. I like them because they are cheap, safe, and they last a long time. I can generally give Odie a marrow bone 4 or 5 different times before he gets all he marrow out.

Compressed rawhides are expensive and most dogs will eat the entire thing in an hour or less. Marrow bones last a lot longer as long as you give them frozen. I wouldn't have a problem giving a marrow bone at 7 months. I would however be cautious about giving it to a very young puppy that has loose teeth. Marrow bones are hard.

 

[sarah]

Milly is almost 6 months and we give her knuckle bones and briskett bones, always under supervision though.

cheers
Sarah

 

[Dave121]

Thank you all for the great advise. I hope to try Dexter with the bone this evening for 15 mins. :happy:

 

[imported_LuckyGirl]

at our store in the pet department we have "mammoth bones" I'm assuming those are marrow bones? Once the dogs get the ends gnawed off theres soft white stuff on the inside. I haven't gotten any lately because the vet said 'no more body parts' for Happy because of his weight and he says they will shred up a dogs tummy, but I'm thinking getting them and letting them have them in the evening for their crates. Might help mister stubborn (Sam-wise) adjust to his crate faster. Can the marrows hurt their tummies? He didn't say Lucky couldn't have one, he put Happy on a no body parts diet because he was throwing up really bad for a couple of days (which was probably because of those rings in his tummy!) and he's 10-15lbs over weight. No canned food, no treats, no nothing cept four cups of dog food a day. Happy is a chewer too, and though he'll chew on the nylabones you can tell he really misses his mammoth bones.

 

[sarah]

at our store in the pet department we have "mammoth bones" I'm assuming those are marrow bones? Once the dogs get the ends gnawed off theres soft white stuff on the inside. I haven't gotten any lately because the vet said 'no more body parts' for Happy because of his weight and he says they will shred up a dogs tummy, but I'm thinking getting them and letting them have them in the evening for their crates. Might help mister stubborn (Sam-wise) adjust to his crate faster. Can the marrows hurt their tummies? He didn't say Lucky couldn't have one, he put Happy on a no body parts diet because he was throwing up really bad for a couple of days (which was probably because of those rings in his tummy!) and he's 10-15lbs over weight. No canned food, no treats, no nothing cept four cups of dog food a day. Happy is a chewer too, and though he'll chew on the nylabones you can tell he really misses his mammoth bones.

Marrow in marrow bones can be too rich for a puppy and upset their tummy. I'd give Sam a knuckle bone instead.... but that's just me.

 

[imported_LuckyGirl]

what's a knuckle bone? :laugh:

 

[imported_BigBrownDog]

at our store in the pet department we have "mammoth bones" I'm assuming those are marrow bones? Once the dogs get the ends gnawed off theres soft white stuff on the inside. I haven't gotten any lately because the vet said 'no more body parts' for Happy because of his weight and he says they will shred up a dogs tummy, but I'm thinking getting them and letting them have them in the evening for their crates. Might help mister stubborn (Sam-wise) adjust to his crate faster. Can the marrows hurt their tummies? He didn't say Lucky couldn't have one, he put Happy on a no body parts diet because he was throwing up really bad for a couple of days (which was probably because of those rings in his tummy!) and he's 10-15lbs over weight. No canned food, no treats, no nothing cept four cups of dog food a day. Happy is a chewer too, and though he'll chew on the nylabones you can tell he really misses his mammoth bones.

A marrow bone is available in the meat case of a supermarket (or from a butcher). I don't think a mammoth bone is the same thing. A marrow bone is raw (uncooked therefore needing refrigeration). They are safer then other types of chew bones available for dogs.

 

[sarah]

what's a knuckle bone? :laugh:

http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Knuckle_Bone_Natural_29640810

here are some pictures...... we get them raw from the butcher and the knuckles are HUGE... sometimes as big as Milly's head! She just chews on the knuckle part until the meat is gone and then I throw them away. She loves them SO much! I usually give them to her frozen ... she never gets one for more than half an hour at a time.

 

[imported_LuckyGirl]

ooooh! That's what the ends of the mammoth bones look like! I will have to look next time at the grocery store for them!!

 

[Canyon Labradors]

I am assuming those Mammoth bones you are talking about are those smoked bones that they sell at petstores. I just don't like the idea of them. They seem to have an infinite shelf life, which seems a bit odd for a "natural" product. I don't have a problem with giving rawhides, we have them available for all our dogs under supervision, and they have never had choking issues or the runs from them. We also give raw bones, which they all do well on.

 

[sarah]

I am assuming those Mammoth bones you are talking about are those smoked bones that they sell at petstores. I just don't like the idea of them. They seem to have an infinite shelf life, which seems a bit odd for a "natural" product. I don't have a problem with giving rawhides, we have them available for all our dogs under supervision, and they have never had choking issues or the runs from them. We also give raw bones, which they all do well on.

Our knuckle "mammoth" bones are all raw from the butcher. I won't give Milly any smoked bones...... I prefer to give them to her raw!

 

[Bob Pr.]

Puff doesn't care that much for marrow/shin bones -- they're too hard for her to enjoy chewing on. But she does like knuckle bones

I have the butcher saw the knuckle bones in half. Then, before giving a half to Puff, I cut off all fat and cartilage. There are some small coin sized pieces of bone inside the cartilage that I don't want her to swallow.

And some parts of the larger knuckle bone are soft enough to erode under constant chewing. Small pieces of bone occasionally break off so I monitor her chewing and take away (to Puff's much disgust) any small pieces of bone that have broken off and she's chewing.

 

[imported_LuckyGirl]

I am assuming those Mammoth bones you are talking about are those smoked bones that they sell at petstores. I just don't like the idea of them. They seem to have an infinite shelf life, which seems a bit odd for a "natural" product. I don't have a problem with giving rawhides, we have them available for all our dogs under supervision, and they have never had choking issues or the runs from them. We also give raw bones, which they all do well on.

Yeah that's what those are. You think they're bad? We haven't bought any in a while because of Happy's stomach troubles, the vet said no more animal parts. He says he's done surgery on too many dogs that have had their insides torn apart because the animals are eating 'animal parts'. Are the marrows more safe? I don't do rawhides because I've heard about the troubles they can cause and I honestly think Lucky would be okay with one because she's not much of a chewer it would take her 6-9 months to finish off a rawhide. Happy has them gone in an hour! If that, so I swore off those because of him.

I'm going to look for some marrow and knuckle bones. Somebody said that the marrow can be too rich for puppies like Sam, Lucky has an extremely sensative stomach. She gets the runs if I give her peanutbutter or yogurt! Filling Kongs is a challenge! I started doing frozen dog food, and sometimes that affects her, though I think its more the brand there. But Happy is on a diet and the vet said he's not suppose to have ANYTHING other than his kibble, though I'm considering going to a raw diet for them. So Lucky can have a Kong but Happy's not suppose to....yeah that works out reeeaaal well! He started throwing up real bad one time after having a frozen dog food kong and that's when the vet ordered him off everything other than kibble, though I think he was throwing up cause of those yucky plastic toy jewerly rings that were floating in his poor tummy. He still gets treats sometimes I feel awful giving Sam and Lucky one for doing good and then Happy's not allowed them!

 

[Canyon Labradors]

I would think those smoked bones are probably what's causing the problem. Raw bones mostly likely won't. It's wierd that the vet says no 'animal parts', but if you want to feed raw, you will be feeding animal parts, because raw meaty bones are often part of that diet.

 

[imported_LuckyGirl]

Yeah SU found it very amusing and liked that the vet said 'no animal parts' because he's a vegan and I'm a vegetarian. He's having reservations about the natural raw diet, but it's like I told him the dogs are carnivores and they NEED the meat. I don't have a problem feeding them their natural diet they need. I pointed out to him that even PETA has it stated that cats HAVE to have meat as they cannot survive on a veggie diet, and though dogs can survive on one it is not in their healthiest interest. I read that most of kibble is grains and Happy is not an energetic lab (I am always telling him he is a hound stuck in a labradors body!) With him being lab/golden retriever you'd think he'd be a lot more energetic. Anyway off topic I go again! I think switching to the raw will help him loose weight a lot better than just his two cups 2X a day. He's been on that for two months and he hasn't lost a pound yet!

I'm going to try the knuckle bones for Sam and Lucky (I think a knuckle would be better for her tummy don't you think?) and try a marrow for Happy if I can find them, I doubt walmart has them which is where I do my shopping. I haven't bought raw meat in years so I guess I'll have to ask them, if not there's a grocery store close by and I'm sure they'll have them won't they?

 

[Bob Pr.]

I buy knuckle bones at a local butcher shop (not at supermarkets).

 

[sarah]

I buy knuckle bones at a local butcher shop (not at supermarkets).

ditto!