# Raw Feeders, Are Beef Short Ribs Okay?



## FourIsCompany (Apr 18, 2009)

I have some frozen beef short ribs that I know we'll never eat. We bought 1/4 of a "clean beef" and there were a couple packages of short ribs. Are these okay to give to the dogs? What concerns me is the bone, of course. I know knuckle bones and little chicken bones are fine, but I wanted to check about the rib bones.

Thanks!


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

It probably depends on the size of your dog(s). My little dogs get long back ribs to gnaw the meat off of once per week, then use the bones for recreational chewing for a few days. I'm sure larger dogs could chew down a rib bone just fine though.


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## FourIsCompany (Apr 18, 2009)

Thanks. And I should have added that my dogs are 65 to 80 lbs.


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## MegaMuttMom (Sep 15, 2007)

My 50 pound dog chews them up just fine


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## tefobuch (Jun 7, 2009)

Just another question here if I may.

I don't feed RAW. I have, however, tried to give my doggie raw bones, (including the long beef ribs), but he refuses them. I;ve been putting them in a pot of boiling water for not even a minute, and he's then fine to go, lol.
(The meat is still pretty much uncooked).

Any thoughts on this from a safety standpoint? 

Thanks.


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## shortstack (Jun 1, 2009)

I can't answer you fully, as my dogs are crazy for raw, but will give you the bump! lol..
i would never do that with any type of chicken bone for sure! They splinter WAY to easy once heated up and or cooked..

As far as other types of meat I am unsure.. im not sure how the pet stores prepare the bones they sell.. someone with more knowledge will stop by (like I said my dogs are crazy for raw!..lol)


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## tefobuch (Jun 7, 2009)

Thanks, Shortstack.

No, no, never chicken bones, lol. I give him mainly beef neck bones and more recently have tried the beef ribs. I'm also wondering about marrow bones, but they just seem so hard and solid ... not so sure about them.

Funny, my pooch refuses ALL raw meat. I've never actually attempted the full-on raw diet, but have offered him small pieces of raw fish, ground beef, liver, etc, etc. He gives me this, "Are you nuts??" look, turns his nose up at me and strolls out of the kitchen. Hmmph!


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## shortstack (Jun 1, 2009)

Well I can answer a little more.. no load bearing bones from large animals (cows for example) as they are too dense and can cause damaget to the teeth..

If you feed any type of chicken bone make it raw raw raw! 
As for other bones I know that risk of them splintering increases if they are cooked

BUT Im guessing you are talking about recreational chewing bone? If its large enought hat you needent worry about thim swallowing it or breaking it in half to then swallow it.. I would assume that its okay.. I would still stay away from knuckles of cows as they bear a lot of weight


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## tefobuch (Jun 7, 2009)

Helpful info to stay away from load bearing bones. Thanks again!
Yes, rec chewing only. I'm sure he'd scoff at raw chicken bones anyway, lol, so chicken's not on our list at all.
It's not easy to find a safe chew. Besides bones, the only things I give him are bully sticks and Merrick tooth picks (tails).


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## CerbiesMom (Jan 30, 2008)

Can I ask what the load bearing bones are? Would those be the leg bones, stuff like that? My guys have only gotten chicken and turkey bones so far, we haven't tried any beef yet.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

The leg bones are load bearing. If the animal is young or small the leg bones are fine. Chicken leg bones are fine! Max cannot handle lamb or pork leg bones but many large dogs can. I don't care for turkey wings even. Try bone before investing in large amounts of it I guess.


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## Clare Kelsey (May 14, 2020)

tefobuch said:


> Just another question here if I may.
> 
> I don't feed RAW. I have, however, tried to give my doggie raw bones, (including the long beef ribs), but he refuses them. I;ve been putting them in a pot of boiling water for not even a minute, and he's then fine to go, lol.
> (The meat is still pretty much uncooked).
> ...



If you do not feed raw then your dog's digestive stomach acid ph is far lower than a dog that is fed raw. That is why some amount of ecoli and other bacteria in meat that dog finds in the woods -like an old deer carcass- will not usually bother them (obviously if the deer has been sitting in the sun for weeks, there may simply be too much ecoli, tho). Unlike people whose digestive process begins in our mouth w/our saliva and actual chewing, canines fed raw or in the wild do not 'chew'. (Feeding dry kibble, which is the worst food in the world -except for an _unbalanced_ raw diet- forces the dog to chew some but dogs being fed non-raw diets kibble or canned have a much lower stomach acid ph and cannot digest raw food easily including, of course, raw meaty bones even if your dog did decide to eat them. if you want to use raw meaty bones, cook them up into a bone broth which will leach out a lot if not all of the nourishing marrow and adding 1-2 Tbls of organic braggs vinegar will leach out even more. It's that marrow that makes real bone broth so thick when it cools. Never feed cooked bones to a dog - unless, like I do, you have simmered the bones in broth so long -maybe 1.5 days- and the type of bone you are using will actually pulverize if you put pressure on the thickest part from your thumb and forefinger. With those bones (which are usually chicken bones I simply add them and the liquid broth when somewhat cooled to my NutraBullet Ninja and everything comes out liquid and that forms my bone broth. I suspect that the nutrition in the bone itself is negated by that much cooking but perhaps not so why not use as long as another animal had to die, why not respect that and use as much of it to continue the life of another animal. Larger, harder bones like beef rib bones or ribs from, say porterhouse steak you've eaten can be added to the broth to simmer for 1.5 DAYS to leach their marrow but those will never crumble in your hand, so I pick those out and throw them away.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

11 year old thread. Please start a new one.


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