Chicken Bones

[sboggio]

Our CAG Jazzy loves chewing up chicken bones (cooked) to get out the marrow. Anybody know any downside to this?

[Samm]

Not that I know of, my Blue & Gold loves 'em too. The only thing that omes to mind is swallowing a splinter, but she usually just chews the ends off and leaves the rest.

[CALVINS MOM]

Yes - too much animal protein is not good for them. Chicken bones are okay in moderation - maybe once or twice a month.

[Samm]

Yes, good point Kathie, easy on the bones, but I give all mine chicken at least once a week. (The actual cooked meat, I mean).

[CALVINS MOM]

and eggs too... always seems so cannibalistic!

[sboggio]

I always remove the skin and fat. Do you know what the problem is with animal protein?

With how smart CAGs are, I was thinking of what they say about human brain evolution coinciding with increased animal protein intake that allowed more gray matter...???

Jazzy probably thinks I'm a cannibal too, for eating beef steak (another mammal)....

[CALVINS MOM]

the animal protein is in the marrow that they eat from inside the bone. My vet went over this with me years ago. He highly recommended against it and recommended they only be fed in moderation. Unfortunately, it was so long ago that I don't recall the medical reason behind it - maybe obesity? Sorry, cannot recall. I value his opinion. Chicken, itself, is okay on a more frequent basis, but the bones should be more of a treat. Perhaps Dr. Ford will see this post and give his opinion.

[debraw]

I just tried giving my CAG a chicken bone and he wanted nothing to with it. I did fidn out recently he loves Cheerios!