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chicken bones

7295 Views 11 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Rhasputin, 
C
Can these be given to knaw on or are they a no no...??? if they are ok can any other type bones be given also? :)
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T
Chicken bones are a no no to all animals due to the splintering of the bone and getting stuck in the neck.
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J
Not quite. For rodents (who gnaw), animal bones aren't nearly as dangerous as they are to dogs or cats, who would presumably swallow whole shards because they just take a bite, chew minimally, and then swallow. Rodents nibble, gnaw, and grind.

I know of folks who feed their mice and rats chicken bones, cow, bones, and pig bones.

The RatGuide lists animal bones as ok for rats, so I don't see why they wouldn't also be ok for mice... http://ratguide.com/care/nutrition/diet.php
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W
probably the most famous fancier of all time used to feed his agoutis all the time on bones of any description the bottom of his garden looked like a slaughter yard.
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C
Yeah chickens bones are a bad for alll animals. My family has learned that one the hard way!
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C
That's a pretty broad statement there, ccoryjohnn, and largely incorrect. The bones are not the danger to animals, it's our human tendency to mess with nature that poses the danger. -Raw- bones are perfectly fine for carnivorous animals, including cats, dogs, and ferrets. -Cooked- chicken bones are not safe, because the cooking causes the bones to splinter when chewed. That's why you never see a lion roasting a bird over a campfire. ;)
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SarahY
My beagles have raw chicken wings and thighs for their tea sometimes, but I usually feed raw lamb and beef - it's cheaper.

Sarah xxx
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WoodWitch
CatWoman said:
That's a pretty broad statement there, ccoryjohnn, and largely incorrect. The bones are not the danger to animals, it's our human tendency to mess with nature that poses the danger. -Raw- bones are perfectly fine for carnivorous animals, including cats, dogs, and ferrets. -Cooked- chicken bones are not safe, because the cooking causes the bones to splinter when chewed. That's why you never see a lion roasting a bird over a campfire. ;)
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That's interesting. I never thought of it that way but I suppose that would make sense.

I used to feed my Rats chicken bones when I kept Rats, but have never ventured to give them to my mice because I'm vegetarian now, so don't have any to give.
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Kallan
I should probably mention at this point that we operated on a cat last week that had chewed chicken bones - it had gnawed one bone in half and swallowed the lot. Of course it got stuck - cue a long trciky operationg retrieving it!
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R
Cats eat tons of bones in the wild. It's really the cooking part that's the problem, because it softens the bones. Of COURSE sometime in nature, they choke, but not often.

Mice and rats are fine for feeding chicken bones. I give mine chicken bones, and Ox tail bones all the time, and they love to gnaw on them. The gerbils are especially good at it, and the Ox tail bones are best for gerbils since they're so thick. :)
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C
Was it raw or cooked chicken bones? There's a VERY important difference between the two.

I've been feeding raw chickens to my cats and dogs for years and never had a blockage or problem of any sort related to the bones. I also start wean kittens on mashed raw bones and meat, without any trouble at all. And in my house, that's not an N=2 kind of observation.

In 2009, RawFitPet did a survey of raw feeders and one of the questions included problems (real or perceived) commonly associated with raw feeding. Here are the basic demographics of that survey: "Raw feeders with a wide range in experience participated, totaling 1870 submissions! Of these 1870 submissions, 1735 raw feeders are feeding raw to dogs, 423 are feeding raw to cats, and 32 are feeding raw to ferrets."

And this was one of the questions, along with the responses -

Question:

Have any of your raw fed pets been diagnosed with any of the following conditions that were attributed to raw feeding? (click all that apply)

Broken teeth (fracture)
Salmonella
Other bacterial infection
Foreign body requiring surgery
Other
None

Result:

Of the 1870 owners surveyed, 1813 owners answered the question 1613 or 89% - have experienced NONE of these conditions
200 or 11% - have experienced one or more of the above conditions
Of these 200 owners
64.9% - Broken/fracture teeth (recreational bones commonly noted)
0.5% - Salmonella (deer meat)
7.5% - Other bacterial infection
4.7% - Foreign body requiring surgery
22.4% - Other

Granted, that's a survey rather than a formal study, but it's also a survey of nearly 2000 pet owners that are feeding an appropriate raw food diet, rather than the occasional anecdote about how bones are bad because a dog or cat chewed the trash one night and ended up with an obstruction.

If you want to see the entire survey, here's a link - http://www.rawfitpet.com/pb/wp_fa7e8251 ... e8251.html

The raw meat/bone link with mice is especially interesting to me, because I am a raw feeder. With mice, it stands to reason that they have the ability to digest raw bone with no problem, simply by the presence of cannibalistic behaviors among them. For me, the question isn't as much whether or not they can digest or tolerate the bones, but rather is there any benefit to including them in their diet.
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R
Mice can absolutely digest raw bone. :D

My mice usually don't eat the bones they are given. They just gnaw and file their teeth on them. Usually they'll leave a little pile of bone dust and grit in their cage. :)
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