Rose wrote: >now am more concerned about giving raw chicken to a >dog with health issues ie challenged immune system. Probably okay with a >vigorously healthy dog but not so good for one with challenges.
Agree here completely with Rose, especially as we do have salmonella problem here with chicken in the UK. I feed mostly BARF but if they get chicken it's without the bones and well cooked and served up with lots of veggies, garlic and rice. This is playing safe a bit, and I do keep sheep so have a good supply of home grown organic lamb or mutton which is staple meat for their diet anyway. Would certainly not have risked feeding raw chicken to Sam when he was on chemo and his immune system was down. Organic, free range chicken is very expensive here UK, hmm! Sad side effects of last year and Foot and Mouth! No hunting, foxes have thrived; my neighbour, Kim, who does keep chickens, ducks and geese has lost so many of his birds! >The main problem with marrow bones is that they are so thick that the >leverage a dog puts on them is equal to the stress he puts on his teeth. >They may fracture and I have had this happen more than once resulting in >subsequent decay and necessitating removal. Trust we are talking about beef marrow bones here! Yes, I do give these once a week and my local butcher supplies and they are huge, very, very meaty bones. On bone day, that's all they get! Sunny at eight has immaculate teeth and will grind a huge bone down to nothing. Always wondered how they manage to get the marrow out first? Even Simmy's tongue is not that long! Sim and Barney love their bones too and at three and four have noticed no problems. However, my Sam was banned from bones at age three by the doggy dentist! He fractured back molar which had to be removed. When he was diagnosed with Lymphosarcoma and I put him on mainly raw Cancer diet, his Calcium came from goats' milk (from my Abbi and Elli) and supplements. Guess this depends on the individual dog. All love, Jean, Sunny, Simmy, Barney and the Gang XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX http://www.angelfire.com/anime3/longlease/index.htm
