Scott was at an event to raise money for oxygen masks for pets for the fire departments. One of the other vendors was selling organic raw food (frozen in tubes) and bones. Two packages of bones came home. No weight bearing bones.

We feed kibble in the morning and raw in the evenings and tried some defrosted beef bones. The boys took to them right away but Babe just ran around the yard with it in her mouth. They have never had beef bones before because all I see at the market are weight bearing and I know those aren't good.

The boys started picking off the meat and crunching the bones and breaking small pieces off. I searched the internet and the GT archives but couldn't really figure out if this is okay or if they're supposed to eat the whole bone or just take it away when it gets small? Maybe beef bones aren't a good idea and we should throw the rest out?

I did see the hint of sprinkling parmesan cheese on them which might work for her. She wolfs down chicken faster than the boys so raw really isn't a problem for her. Maybe she doesn't like beef?

I just what to do the right thing. They've eaten steak, pot roasts and hamburger no problem.

Thoughts?

I've been told that most dogs can't chew the beef bones (weight bearing or not) - maybe the ribs. The people on the Rawchat list let their dogs get the meat off the bones then take them away.

What bones are these? Is there much meat on them? Some dogs won't bother working on essentially stripped down bones, they consider them toys instead.

I wouldn't worry too much since the bones aren't weight bearing. However, I do have a dog that isn't going to gnaw and gnaw and gnaw. If you think one of your dogs is going to do some major crunching on bone parts that are too big, it would probably be good to take the bones away before the super crunching begins.

What I definitely would do is to remove the bones once they have dried out some. That is, I let Duncan eat and chew all he wants to one day. By the second day, it is gone. I don't like the thought of splintery bone parts. And, that might be a foolish concern on my part. I'm just not willing to chance it.

Bon apetit!