[ladyshadowhollyjc]

Ok, so Shadow has always had beautiful teeth, not quite sure why but she sure has been blessed in that department.
The paps teeth looks great too, but they're still young. Considering the horrible breeding they came from, I want to make sure that their teeth stay that way. I searched some old threads and came up with the solution to give them raw chicken wings. I still have some questions though.

1. Will eating a wing a week be enough? They weigh 5lbs. and 7.5lbs. I'm guessing it will be enough since their teeth are in good condition.

2. Shadow weighs 45lbs. One wing a week probably won't be enough for her will it? I was thinking maybe a beef rib for her?

3. Will the wing even do any good for their teeth if they eat it quickly without much chewing?
I must note that the first and only time I ever gave Holly a raw bone, was a pork rib. She ended up chewing off a piece of the bone and swallowing in whole, and hen getting it stuck in her intestinal tract. The vet was baffled, first time she had ever seen a dog do that with a raw bone. So, I am a little nervous to give anything larger than a chicken wing to the paps, but reassurance would be appreciated.

4. After giving them their first wing, should I expect any changes in their stool?

5. They day I give the wing, should their kibble be decreased? I was thinking their usual kibble breakfast and then the wing at around 11pm, which is dinner time, so wing instead of kibble dinner basically.

I don't want to feed them raw, I simply cannot do that at this point in time. I apologize for any ignorance, on this subject, I am just trying my hardest to make sure these dogs stay as healthy as possible. I also apologize if it seems I am looking too much into giving them a RMB or if it seems I'm not looking into it enough.

 

[briteday]

A wing is mostly bone and cartilage, so I would still feed a regular meal. The wing is just a treat, I think. My paps do fine with the entire wing portion from the flexible little tips to the small bone that attaches to the bird.

For your larger dog I would go with a long beef rib bone, the kind that come in slabs for the bbq. Just be careful to cut off the little chunk at the top of the rib where it would connect to the sternum. When/if you cut away the meat from the bone you will feel an easily movable "knob" at one end. Cut that off.

Stools will depend on your dogs' stomachs. My paps eat a raw diet. So when I give them a wing treat there isn't much change. But for the average dog a wing contains a lot of bone (watch for constipation, a whitish stool would be normal) or loose stool from the fat in the skin. If your dogs trend towards loose stool you can remove some of the loose skin in the future.

It takes both of my paps a good ten minutes to do away with a wing. Although they are both missing many teeth. Your dogs will not be able to swallow the wing whole, so they will be forced to work on it to get it down. I think it will do plenty. One of the pap breeders here gives her dogs just the wing tips (the little flexi end) every day to chew on for oral health and chew treat.

 

[Trainer]

How do you know the piece of bone was stuck in her intestine? Could it have just been working its way through?

The problem with feeding a raw wing or any other raw bone occasionally is that it takes a high acidity level in the stomach to digest bone. The stomach acidity level of a kibble fed dog is a good bit lower than a raw fed dog. In general chicken bones are softer and easier to digest than pork bones although pork bones are not that hard to digest. If you feel like a wing is too small for your dogs because they are not chewing them very much, try a chicken drumstick. They will have to chew it more. Definately don't feed a beef rib as they are more dense and harder to digest.

Yes, their stool will probably change just after eating the chicken. It should get more solid and well formed but it could give them diarrhea. You just never know until you try.

Don't feed kibble with the chicken meal.

 

[ladyshadowhollyjc]

How do you know the piece of bone was stuck in her intestine? Could it have just been working its way through?

Well, after not pooping for two days, not eating/drinking, and being extremely lethargic, we rushed her to our vet, and they said she had something in her intestinal tract and was getting dehydrated. We were frantically worrying about all the possibilities at what it could be (thinking she ate like a Lego or something), and when the removed it, they called and said it was a piece of bone.