http://www.petstages.com/product-details/dogwood-sticks

Bandit loves these. She is currently on her first one still. It's been a week so far. It doesn't fall into pieces, good for a teeth(or so it says). And it keeps her occupied for a while. Anyone else used this or any other pet stages products?

Another question, real bones? Are they good? Been reading some and heard you need to boil them first? Should a 5 month old pup even get a real bone?

Real bones - give raw. Cooked (boiled or otherwise) can be very brittle and result in sharp shards that can pierce intestines.

I give a large, raw beef bone daily. They are surplus from butchering a side, usually a bunch of neck, rib bones, occasionally a shoulder blade and kneecap...he gnaws off all the soft tissue then works on the bone itself. Loves them. Makes easy to dispose of poop

I'm like Amy, I give raw beef bones. It's an excellent way to clean teeth, occupy them, safe (unless super heavy chewer, so watch how she handles them, you don't want broken teeth), and is, imho, healthier than other chewables. She's not too young to give. Try asking your local meat market if they have bones you can buy. I also agree with Amy, never give any form of cooked bones.

MiyasMomma wrote:

I'm like Amy, I give raw beef bones. It's an excellent way to clean teeth, occupy them, safe (unless super heavy chewer, so watch how she handles them, you don't want broken teeth), and is, imho, healthier than other chewables. She's not too young to give. Try asking your local meat market if they have bones you can buy. I also agree with Amy, never give any form of cooked bones.

We got Gaia some raw beef knuckles from the butcher. She seems to really enjoy them, though she makes terrible scraping/crunching noises while she's gnawing on them. I'm assuming this is the mark of a heavy chewer? We've taken them away for now, but she's sad to see them go.

If it is safe for her to continue chewing on them, how do you guys deal with the gristle/fat etc left on the bone? She's had it for 2 days now and I don't want it to start stinking. There still seems to be some marrow in it, and a little bit of cartilage or flesh clinging to it. I was thinking of boiling them to remove the leftover flesh, but if that counts as "cooking" them I don't want to do that. Don't want to run the risk of the bone splintering.

Christina, I'm guessing that Gaia is scraping the meat and cartilage off. Just watch her, I have seen Miya eat a bone, not in the first sitting, it takes days for her, some times weeks. My guess is that the bone is naturally drying out and becomes easier to chew and break up. If pieces are lying around I will toss (too small or sharped edged). Certain types of bones she will eat all and some she just scrapes. If the bone is clean of meat and cartilage I leave, it won't smell. If she does not eat one and it still has meat or anything on it still I toss when I go to bed, because they will stink. If you cook the bones, I would boil or crock pot them to get a broth and meat/grizzle chunks then discard the bones(you can scrape out the marrow prior to tossing the bones), absolutely no cooked bones, whether it be boil, bake, or crock pot. Btw, a heavy chewer, imho, is one that goes all out chomping as soon as you give a bone. If it's taking a couple of days on a hard bone you should be fine. a good example is say you give a tbone, you can see the marrow, it's a softer bone, probably main part gone in a day. The less visible marrow, the harder the bone. Amy may be able to explain what the harder bones are vs softer than myself since I stick to the rib, t-bone type bones, and she gives a bigger variety.

Ah okay. Yeah, she takes a long time to chew it. Every once in awhile I find shards from the knuckle bones we got at the pet stores, but I throw those out. The one we gave her on Saturday (the one from the butcher) looks like it might have a little bit of flesh still clinging to it, but is clean for the most part. When I gave it to her, she immediately dug in, and was happily gnawing on it for over an hour. Since the bones were only 99 cents each, I can't complain! And I know there's no preservatives/flavoring like there is with the pet store bones.

Exactly, Those types from pet stores make Miya sick. I have a good relationship with the meat department at my grocery store, they will save me bones (specifically the t-bone section) when T-bone steaks are on sale, so I can get around 10 bones for $1-$1.50. So it may be worth a try and ask, I know that Amy gets them from a local butcher (I think Amish) and she gets a similar deal like myself. Here in Texas you may be able to go to a deer processor and see if they can do the same. I had a hard time with feeding Miya her first year and told my meat department she had a food sensitivity, so they would leave a little meat on the bones for her. In a pinch and if beef ribs are super cheap, I'll pick up a package and split the ribs up for her. She will consume one of those fairly quickly, meat, bone and all. Some dogs do fine with the softer(marrow) bones, some don't, as in the marrow is too rich for them, Miya never had a problem (it's not a bone problem, it is the richness), so you may have to give several types to see what works best for her.

Thanks for the advice! I'll have to try that. From what I can tell, Gaia doesn't seem to have a sensitivity to the marrow, if anything, her stools have been firmer since she has been gnawing on the bone. We have 3 more huge knuckle bones in the freezer. We got 4 of them for $7 at Albertsons.

Just out of curiousity, if I went to a deer processor to get bones, what type should I get?

I would get whatever they offered and freeze, as she ages you can try different bones. It's a matter of yours and your dogs preference. I personally like the rib area, with the marrow, t-bone, rib eye area(so I guess the rib cage area bones), I know some people like the leg or femur bones, Miya has had them from time to time. Miya is the type who wants to accomplish something, I think she has true ADD, lol, so bigger bones she gets bored with, smaller ones she can tackle. Even when i have some money to buy steaks for ourselves, I'll buy the bone in, and de-bone at home so she can get the meat and bone. I used to work for albertsons, and they used to buy slabs of beef and had actual butchers, so it may pay for you to get friendly with them, and see if they still do their own butchering in house, and see if you can get that way. Miya has been eating her RMB'S(raw meaty bones) since almost the day I got her, I remember the first time I saw her poop, being a white chalky poo and had to go online, to educate myself that it was ok, but needed to add more meat, lol. One thing I will suggest, is if you get any bones that are pointy, grind down the sharpness of it before giving, so it doesn't irritate or hurt her gums, and again any small pieces or any broken up pointy small pieces toss.