It is common to see many dog owners feed their pet canine meat chunks with bones. Apparently, this common practice can cause a serious health problem for dogs.
An animal hospital in Taiwan recently received one canine patient with a stomach problem. They later found out that the dog had been regularly fed with bones, leading to the accumulation of undigested bones in the dog’s stomach.
The hospital then decided to remind the public to not feed dogs with bones as the bones cannot be easily digested by the canines.
“This picture is taken after 1.3kg of undigested bones were retrieved from the dog’s stomach.
“Please stop feeding your dogs with bones especially the ones from cooked food because the bone fragments are sharp and can easily pierce through the digestive tract,” the translation of the post writes.
Undigested bones in their stomach will later cause many health problems to dogs as the bone fragments may splinter and cause damaging tears to dogs’ stomach and intestines.
While many evidence suggests that chewing bones can help stimulate dogs’ jaw and provide a natural source of calcium to the canines, it may cause more harm than good.
Feeding any cooked bones to dogs can be dangerous as cooked bones may splinter in their stomach.
To avoid this, feeding your pet dog with raw bones like chicken necks or raw chicken wings may a better alternative as raw bones do not easily splinter.
You can also feed your pet dog rawhide dog bones. Rawhide dog bones allow dogs to chew safely while exercising their jaw, stimulates saliva flow and maintain their gum health.
Follow these tips to make sure bone chewing is safe for your dog:
- Allow your pet dog chewing bone for a limited amount of time every day. After they are done chewing the bone, rinse it and put it in the refrigerator. You may want to rinse it with vinegar to kill bacteria before putting it in the refrigerator.
- Discard the chewing bone after a few days.
- Make sure to observe your pet dog when it is chewing a bone. If the bone is small enough to be swallowed, discard it to avoid choking.
Most importantly, always supervise your dog when you give it any treats. If you are concerned about whether or not it is safe to introduce a chew treat to your dog, always consult a vet first.
Credit: Facebook | PetMeds Express
