(Remember the old song, “Them Bones”? The title of that song came to mind when I decided to write this article.)
What could be more natural than giving a dog a bone to chew on, right? After all, aren’t bones good for dogs teeth? Besides, they seem to love them. While many millions of dogs have eaten tens of millions of bones with few complications, we still strongly advise against giving dogs bones to chew on. – Bones may be so hard that the dog shears off part of his tooth when gnawing on it – There is a real risk of a choke injury or even choking to death – We have seen parts of bones jammed between teeth or even encircling the lower jaw, requiring sedation and cutting the bone – Gastrointestinal upset or obstruction (see photos below)
Bones are the white objects in the middle of the stomach
From time to time we have to treat a dog that ingests bones which create a blockage in the digestive tract. We recently had a case where a small dog ate some ham bones, became ill and ultimately needed to have them surgically removed.
Our advice: Don’t feed bones to dogs. ~Dr. Tenney
Photo taken during the gastrotomy
Bone fragments removed from this small dog