Ground Chicken Bone As Dog Food

[turnpike]

my wife has started buying very finely ground chicken bone (mostly from the neck i think). we boil it up and add it to the dry dog food (alpo), the alpo making up the majority of the meal. when it's boiled, it tastes good enough for me to eat, smells just like chicken soup, a bit of a fatty layer on top, but not too much.

i would think this would be good for dogs, but maybe i'm wrong. between 7 dogs (3 bigger,4 smaller), we use 2 of the standard "soft drink" sized plastic bags which are right full of the bone/broth mixture.

we used to buy pig bones, boil them up the same way, and mix the broth with the dry food, then give the bones to the dogs to chew on.

i know there are some learned people in this forum, just wondering what most here would think is the best way to go, or if in fact it's not a good idea to do this.

thanks in advance to any people who reply,

turnpike

[BambinA]

You said "very finely ground chicken bone "...How fine of it?? as powder or just finely chopped bone?

Anyway, cooked (chopped) chicken bones are sharp, brittle and splinter. It may be harm to GI tract system. Secondly, too much for bone meal can be a cause of constipation. Finally, too much calcium in food leads dogs to get nutritional imbalance. (the ratio of Ca:P is 1.2-1.5: 1 in dogs and 0.9-1.1:1 in cat)

Edited March 14, 2008 by BambinA

[turnpike]

You said "very finely ground chicken bone "...How fine of it?? as powder or just finely chopped bone?

the bones, though not ground into a powder, are ground fine enough where you wouldn't need to worry about a dog choking on it.

thanks for the info, BambinA, and happy 35th! you've been a big help to many people in this forum, your posts are always informative and entertaining. keep up the fine work.

[Nienke]

RAW ground chicken bone is actually quite good as dog food... BUT ... following what Bambina already has mentioned:

* NEVER EVER give cooked, BBQ-ed steamed or in any other way bones that have undergone a heating process, whether the bone is whole or grounded. The heating process changes the chemical composition of the bones. The bones harden, and then when it breaks the pieces can become very sharp, like splinters. This can do (fatal) harm to the stomach, intestines etc.

* Too much bones do more harm then good, such as the imbalance of calcium and phosphorus and too much calcium can also interfere with the uptake of zink. Too much just like too little calcium can do harm to the bone structure of the dog or cat. It is best to give about 50% bones and 50% meat.

*If given only chicken and no other kind of animal protein on a various basis, then there is an increased change on nutritional imbalance and allergy against chicken protein.

* Mixing the broth with the other food is beneficial to the dogs as there are quite some goodies in the broth. However, if it were my dogs I wouldn't cook the bones and meat at all. I'd give it raw.

My two setang

Nienke

[Smithson]

We feed mainly chicken carcasses, with vegies and rice. We occasionally add chicken breast or pork blood. The carcasses are cheap and convenient (we phone the butcher once a week and he chops them for us, all we have to do is pick them up).

I'm not looking for the perfect diet, but I've become increasingly concerned that there is too much calcium in this mix. What do you think?

[Nienke]

I think too much bones too little meat. best, as I mentioned before already, to have bones/meat in a ratio of 50:50.

AND vary the diet, that is give protein form chicken, duck, fish, red meat such as buffalo, pork etc.

There is NO such thing as a CHEAP and GOOD diet. Same as with people.

Nienke

[marginline]

* NEVER EVER give cooked, BBQ-ed steamed or in any other way bones that have undergone a heating process, whether the bone is whole or grounded. The heating process changes the chemical composition of the bones. The bones harden, and then when it breaks the pieces can become very sharp, like splinters. This can do (fatal) harm to the stomach, intestines etc.

Wow! I never knew that about bones Nienke! Thank you!!

I came on the forum today to simply ask if anyone knew the cheapest place to purchase a 20kg bag of Alpo?

I have two dogs, one a Labrador mix and the other a poodle. I currently feed them 420g of Alpo mixed with 260g (dry weight) of canned tuna each day. The Lab gets three-quarters and the poodle a quarter of this quantity, which is served half in the morning (around 7-ish) and half at about 6pm.

When the dogs get 'bored' with their food; which usually happens about once a week, I pop down the Soi and buy a whole chicken from 5-star. Your report about not feeding cooked bones though now has me wondering about whether or not I should be doing this in future???

Btw...I've also read forum articles about there being no cheap way to feed dogs well, so that's why I pretty much want to stay with Alpo but would be interested to hear other forum member's dogs' experience with other dried food biscuit mixes. FWIW both dogs absolutely detest Pedigree; don't know why and neither dog will give me a specific answer too!

Any feedback btw will be gratefully received.

[Nienke]

Hi marginline,

A while ago there was a whole discussion on dog food (kibble, cooked and raw). This thread has lots of info and links to other threads and websites. Definitely worth a read. Here's the link: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Homemade-Dog...amp;hl=raw+food

Nienke