[Kyllobernese]

Is it safe to let your dog chew up and eat Pork Rib bones? They have lots of meat on them whereas the beef soup bones I can get have nothing on them so they just get the marrow out of them. When Safeway has a sale on Pork Ribs, I can get the trimmings really reasonably, some of it is straight meat, other parts have a little of the Rib still on it.

I have Susie who is my Bernese cross so is a big dog, then I have a Shih Tzu/Maltese cross. I am trying to get Susie to lose some weight so if I give her Pork, how much would be enough? She weighs 70 lbs and would like to get her down to 60 lbs. I have reduced her kibble to two cups a day, one am and one pm, but she still does not seem to be losing weight. Would it be easier to get weight off her with a straight meat diet?

 

[Kathyy]

I feed my raw fed dog pork ribs. He crunches and swallows them up just fine. One of his all time favorite eats I think. If there are bits of bone it would be safer to leave them attached to the meat I would think. Max has learned to be a careful eater but I wouldn't trust him with bare bone bits he could swallow whole. An important raw meat rule is to feed big or feed small. The inbetween bits cause trouble.

Max lost weight with a reduction in food but when he switched to one meal a day the rest of the weight came off. I couldn't have done that if he was on kibble as back then he needed 2 meals plus a snack to keep the empty tummy urps away. Max's raw meat/bone/organ diet is more satisfying and I can feed him once a day now. He likes being good and full, I think that is why he was able to lose the last bit of weight.

Your Susie would need about 1 to 1.25 pounds a day to feed to 60 pounds, meat/bone/organ. You would need to choose leaner cuts of meat. Pork loin over shoulder and rib, beef round over shoulder and rib. Take skin off the chicken. That sort of thing. It doesn't look like much food but it is very satisfying to the dog to get to have real meat and bone in the mouth. Do some shopping to see if that will work out and more reading, no rush.

If you want to feed the stuff you have now just cut the kibble down by the amount of pork you are feeding. You can substitute fresh foods for about 25% of the kibble without messing up the nutrients as kibble has a higher than neeed level of minerals. So if she gets 2 cups kibble or would eat 1.25 pounds of meat try feeding 1.5 cups of kibble [3/4 of 2 cups]and a bit more than .25 [1/4 of 1.25 pounds] pounds of pork daily. That is about a hamburger sized chunk of meat, not much. I bet she would much rather have the bit of raw pork than 1/2 cup of kibble though.

And to tell if she is losing weight are you feeling the ribs, hips and backbone? Max got into trouble because he is a fluffy guy but I can feel his ribs, backbone and hips just fine now. Maybe she is losing weight, just hard to tell?

 

[Binkalette]

I don't know.. isn't there a thing about raw pork possibly containing tapeworms? I thought that was why pork is always always always supposed to be fully cooked. Wouldn't our dogs be at the same risk?

 

[Shaggydog]

I was always told that pork bones splinter and could come loose very easy.I'm not an expert by far,so I always avoided them. I didn't want to take any risks with my dog.

 

[Marsh Muppet]

I don't know.. isn't there a thing about raw pork possibly containing tapeworms? I thought that was why pork is always always always supposed to be fully cooked. Wouldn't our dogs be at the same risk?

I believe you are thinking of the very nasty trichina worm. It's not common to get trichinosis from eating commercially raised pork. It used to be more common when many families kept a few swine and fed them whatever scraps and garbage they had available. You'd have high odds of getting trichinosis from eating undercooked bear or feral hog, but I'd guess any wild omnivores or scavengers would be likely suspects.

 

[Kyllobernese]

Kathyy - thanks, that gives me a good base to start on. I still have a problem convincing myself that it is alright to feed raw chicken because of the chicken bones. I guess it is because from the time I was little, chicken bones were a no, no. Of course, they were cooked bones which I know you cannot feed and of couse, thirty/forty years ago, I don't think anyone fed raw to their dogs. I cut the fat off the pork so it is pretty well all meat she gets, plus some of it is like pork chops with very little fat. I got quite a bit of meat today as the pork was 30% off so a real good deal. Just threw it into the freezer and will dole it out sparingly along with other meat. I know she seemed quite satisfied with what I gave her today, much more so than with her one cup of kibble a.m. and p.m.

I stop in at the Vet every once in a while to weigh her and know she has not lost anything in the last month but as we still have a couple of feet of snow which is now frozen on the top, it is not easy to get much walking in, even the roads are too icy to walk on. Running in the fields, the dogs cut their feet and legs on the sharp ice so can't let them do that.

 

[Willowy]

American commercial pork is safe....just be careful if you're offered wild boar meat. You'd have to freeze it for a while to kill the parasites. But the stuff from the store is just as safe as commercial beef or chicken.