Pork Shoulder Blade Country Style Rib...ok?

[Guest vmom]

I have been using a part kibble part raw diet with our greyhound. He gets one chicken quarter a day with some plain unflavored yogurt and occasional treats such as sweet potato which he loves.

 

Is it okay to give him pork shoulder blade country style ribs as a switch from the chicken leg quarter (which he loves)? Is the bone okay or is it too hard? We tried giving him marrow bones a couple of times and those just seemed way to hard and I was afraid he would break a tooth. For chewing I give him bully sticks and the chicken quarter.

 

So advice needed...alternatives to chicken quarters? Is the port shoulder blade country style rib okay? Its pretty fatty so do I cut off the fat?

 

Just wanted to also mention how helpful this forum has been to me. Thanks so much to everyone.

[Guest greybookends]

I give them to my gang all the time with no side effects. Be aware though that some hounds with sensitive tummies have a hard time handling to much fat. So give it with caution until you determine that your hound can handle the extra fat that is in pork.

 

My gang loves them.

[Houndless]

I give them to my gang all the time with no side effects. Be aware though that some hounds with sensitive tummies have a hard time handling to much fat. So give it with caution until you determine that your hound can handle the extra fat that is in pork.

 

My gang loves them.

Except for Bill, who won't eat the left side of anything!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Pork ribs are fine to feed. Just keep in mind that the bone is more dense than that of chicken, so it will take longer to digest and there may be a learning curve for your hounds as far as crunching the bones up enough to be easily digestible.

 

The fat will likely not be as much of an issue as the bone content. For safety, you would want to feed a greyhound a slab of at least 5 or 6 ribs - anything smaller promotes unsafe eating. The ribs are bone heavy, so you'll want to feed it either with added boneless meat in the same meal, or with a boneless next offering. You also won't want to be feeding as many boney meals if you're feeding the ribs as your boney meal.

[Guest sheila]

OK you can count me confused. I have worked in a pork slaughterhouse for over 20 yrs and I have no clue what a 'pork shoulder blade country style rib' is. Pork shoulders and ribs (no matter what country you are in) are different parts of the hog.

I would not feed anything from a pork shoulder or neck bone area. I might do ribs.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Pork neck bones are a good workout for a raw fed dog, if fed in whole sections (not the sliced up pieces available in may markets), but the whole neck).

 

Pork shoulders (also sold as "pork Picnics) are also good meals. You can trim off some of the meat and save for a meaty meal later. Even these large bones are edible (they look like beef femurs, but are much softer), though I usually let the hounds eat the meat and cartilage and then take the large bones.

 

Pork feet (whole, not the kind that are sliced length-wise) are a good chew/treat and even a meal if you feed with some extra boneless meat.

[Guest Ola]

Hmm, I'm not sure what a "pork shoulder blade country style rib" looks like. Got any pictures? I guess in general I'd just make sure it's not cut up into too-small pieces or that if there are cut bones in there they aren't sharp.

 

Pork neck bones are a good workout for a raw fed dog, if fed in whole sections (not the sliced up pieces available in may markets), but the whole neck).

 

Pork shoulders (also sold as "pork Picnics) are also good meals. You can trim off some of the meat and save for a meaty meal later. Even these large bones are edible (they look like beef femurs, but are much softer), though I usually let the hounds eat the meat and cartilage and then take the large bones.

Yup, both of these have been raw food staples at our house for several years now. I get my pork neck bones in long sections from the asian market (they are longer than my forearm) and them split them into smaller pieces as needed. You just use a knife (cheap steak knife in my case) to cut the meat along a joint and then just wiggle it around till it separates. This way you don't have the small pieces or sharp edges that you get with store cut bones. Also, the couple of times I tried the pre-cut sections (my dogs don't gulp their food) they seemed quite dry and they either couldn't eat them or it upset their tummies.

 

Pork picnic shoulders are awesome. I've gotten some ranging from big to ginormous. I normally get a couple of meals' worth out of each for my dogs, I cut off a big hunk of meat and give it to them with a section of the above-mentioned neck bones usually. The last piece with the bone and loads of meat around it gets served as a meal also, though this bone usually doesn't get eaten completely. I let Mayhem have a good chew on it for a while to scrub his teeth and then pick it up and toss the rest. I was worried about the thick layer of skin/fat at first, but it doesn't seem to be an issue as long as the fat is raw and they get sufficient bone in that meal. I started with smallish pieces of this when we were first introducing it, of course. The tough pork skin does a good job of polishing teeth too, it seems.

 

Here's what they normally look like around here

picnic shoulder:

pork neck bones:

[Guest vmom]

OK you can count me confused. I have worked in a pork slaughterhouse for over 20 yrs and I have no clue what a 'pork shoulder blade country style rib' is. Pork shoulders and ribs (no matter what country you are in) are different parts of the hog.

I would not feed anything from a pork shoulder or neck bone area. I might do ribs.

 

Pork shoulder blade country style rib is what is on the label of the package from the grocery.

 

I think it pork shoulder cut into narrow wedges about 1 1/2inches wide. There is a bit of bone surrounded by a lot of meat. It tends to be on the fatty side, so I usually trim off all the fat I can get off that is on the outer portion. Because it is cut into wedges, the bone is also cut into smaller pieces.

 

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I like the look of that pork shoulder. It looks like a large roast in size. I've never seen them at the grocery but maybe I'll ask the butcher. The pork neck bones I've seen at the grocery also look a lot smaller, so I'll ask the butcher about that also.

Edited February 2, 2011 by vmom

[Guest Swifthounds]

I used to feed pork shoulders more frequently until about 18 months ago when they started being routinely in the .99- 1.49/lb. range. Before that I could get them for .69-.1.19/lb. routinely and it was usually the least expensive way to get lots of good pork meat.

 

From the description of the "Pork shoulder blade country style rib" it sounds like it's one of two things: 1) country short ribs with a label meant for both ribs and pork shoulders or 2) a pork shoulder cut into sections like short ribs. I wouldn't feed a pork shoulder where the large bone has been cut into sections. When I've gotten the sliced picnics on deep discount, I usually cut the small bone sections out before feeding. Saw cut bones require caution, and saw cut pieces small enough to present choking as well even moreso.