# Raw Marrow Bone Question



## lizalots (Aug 29, 2008)

Today I stopped at the local butcher to see if they had any scraps for my dogs. They guy pointed to a freezer by the door labeled 'dog food and dog bones'.

So I picked up two marrow bones for my dogs. But these things are HUGE. I don't know that my dogs could eat a whole one - and if they could, would it be good for them to eat a 2 pound bone?

For those of you who feed raw, do you just give them the whole bone? Or do you cut it in half? Can you cut it in half? How do you cut it in half? They are frozen now, so maybe once they thaw that will be more giving, but it doesn't seem like I have a knife sharp enough to cut them in half.

Please forgive me - I am a vegatarian and I'm so clueless with meat. I couldn't even tell you what bone this is in the cow. Or pig. Or whatever...rhino?


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## MrsJohnnyG (Jan 31, 2009)

Yes, those are rhino bones.  (j/k) The ones I buy are sliced into about 1 1/2" slices. The butcher can slice them for you. But I'm curious to know the answer to your question too, about whether they can just go to town on a whole one... so I'll be curious to know the answers.


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## lizalots (Aug 29, 2008)

Okay here is a picture of the actual size of them.

Hehehe, and one of my two sleeping outside when I went to take a picture of the bones just cause I thought it was cute.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I went to the local zoo the other day, and they had those in the wolf and coyote pens....I guess as an enrichment activity more than a food source. So if they don't have too much meat on them you could just throw them in the yard for fun. You could cut some of the meat off if there's too much.


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## lizalots (Aug 29, 2008)

Thank you!!!


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## DogsforMe (Mar 11, 2007)

I used to give my dogs cow femurs. They are the weight bearing bones & quite hard. The butcher needs to saw them in 1/2. But be careful. My dogs broke off the tip off a k9 tooth each.
I would only let them have the bones long enough to chew off the cartilage & eat the marrow. Then take them off the dogs. Be careful if they are food aggressive. Only take the bones away after they've left them alone & dispose of them.
Your better off feeding raw chicken & lamb bones.



Willowy said:


> I went to the local zoo the other day, and they had those in the wolf and coyote pens....I guess as an enrichment activity more than a food source. So if they don't have too much meat on them you could just throw them in the yard for fun. You could cut some of the meat off if there's too much.


I would be more inclined to cut off the fat rather than the meat. In a raw diet dogs need raw MEATY bones to exercise their jaws & clean their teeth.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Esther would ingest that whole thing in an hour or less. Other than chalky poops for a while, it wouldn't hurt her or upset her stomach.

I imagine different dogs wil react differently, but that's been my experience.


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## Trainer (Feb 18, 2009)

Its not a good idea to feed bare bones. There should be a lot of meat on them. By a lot, I mean more meat than bone. Those big femur bones shouldn't be fed to dogs because of denseness. They shouldn't be cut because cutting causes sharp edges. I have known dogs to break, chip, or crack teeth on these bones. Like someone said, its far better to feed raw chicken or lamb or even pork bones than these things. Any bone a butcher calls a "dog bone" should be avoided.


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## lizalots (Aug 29, 2008)

Cracked teeth? Ew.. maybe they won't be getting them, then.

Thank you for the input. They do get chicken, I was just looking for a good treat to keep them occupied. But yikes.. looks like I am going to have to take off the meat and dump them.


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## Lil Red Express (Jan 18, 2009)

Try the lamb bones , they seem to work very well. The ones I buy I believe are the shoulder bones .


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