i know dogs aren't supposed to eat cooked chicken bones but what about a ham hock. my mum bought us a pre cooked hock (not sure why, very random) at the weekend and i've just stripped the meat off but am not sure if it's ok for the dogs to nibble on

they have those big knuckle bones from pets at home which looked cooked and that's why i'm not sure. please let me know quite, they are drueling on the floor and i only mopped yesterday

I believe you are not supposed to give dogs *any* cooked bones, because they are much more likely to splinter and cause problems. But thats only what ive learnt from this forum lol so i really dont know about any specific bones etc.....however pre PF when i was less educated i had previously given my last GSD the cooked bones from bacon joints from asda with no problems

so to sum it up.................i dunno ha ha ha sorry

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Please understand that cooking a bone changes the structure chemically, the myth that it is splintering that is the problem is tosh, please stop repeating it.

The problem with cooking is that the bone is hardened to such an extent that the dog's stomach acids and intestinal process can no long break down and digest the bone fragments. (This by the way is why that the cooked bone meal found in tinned jelly and kibble is not available for the dog to digest - even as ground up bone meal with it's greater surface area mostly passes through the dog's intestine as it.)

The result is any cooked bone lumps that were crunched by dog's teeth pass through the stomach and intestines almost unchanged coming out the other end still as a bone. If one of the cooked bone lumps has a sharp edge or is a spike the risk is that the intestinal wall/lining is punctured, if this causes internal infection while your dog develops a swollen abdomen, raised temperature as the gut bacteria spreads to places it shouldn't be you are in for an expensive surgery bill and may loose you pet. A similar situation can arise if the cooked bone lumps cause an intestinal blockage.

Raw bones of suitable size for the dog will be crunched up by any dog that has experience with bones. These forum pages carry a number of cases were would-be raw feeders just dump a pile of bones in the bowl of a newbie bone eating dog that has only been fed tinned jelly all it's life with the bizarre thought from a dim owner that the dog will read the instructions on the side of the first bone it has ever seen and use it's molars to crunch the bone into nice little bits first time round.

If your dog is a bone eating newbie apply some common sense and teach how to crunch through a bone by feeding a nice long rib (lamb for starters?) into the side of the dog's mouth. If the dog tries to swallow in one go don't let it happen, if you can't get this close to the dog feeding you have greater behavioural relationship problems with your dog. But if you don't like reading this get a cat instead.

The risk with a cooked bone as described in the OP is that it will smell wonderful to the dog who will lick out the cooked bone marrow (which is fine) but then might want to eat the cooked bone as well, as it will not be able to crunch it it is likely to swallow in one go - then you have the problem.

Supermarkets and market stalls sell cooked pig femurs as "marrow" bones, I pity the owner that thinks this is a good idea, the marrow is fine but in a dog's mouth that can apply lots of pressure through it's jaw muscles will likely find that the weakest point is not the bone but the teeth, veterinary dentists are not cheap.


If you do not believe what I have written try this:

Buy two chicken legs, use one of your good (expensive) knives to chop through one of the leg bones. Look at the way the bone is broken.

Roast the other chicken leg. Take the same knife and chop through the leg bone. Look at the damage to the knife's cutting edge.

You might see "splinters" of cooked bone but you are missing the point - it is the structure of the cooked bone that is the problem not the shape of the bone fragments, even though they blunt or sharp they are of no benefit when eaten.

Dogs shouldn't have *any* cooked bones - not even those cooked/roast ones from pet shops, goodness knows why they sell them

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''Dogs are like chocolates, you can never have just one!''

Sorry consider me told!

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lol so there!

Someone gave my dog one of the cooked bones from a pet store thinking it would be fine, he's been raw fed since about 12 weeks old and seemed to have a cast iron stomach as nothing upsets him - the cooked pet bond gave him the squits, think they have all sorts of preservatives on them