Think Before Giving Your Dog A Bone!!

Everybody used to feed dog bones. Then veterinarians deemed them dangerous. Now, there's disagreement: Some veterinarians warn against bones, others claim they're essential.

Bones improves dental health:

When your dog chews on bones, the chewing action scrapes away plaque, controls tartar buildup, and helps stimulate gums. This diminishes bad breath, keeps teeth whiter, and reduces the risk of potentially serious dental problems.

While all our bones offer dental benefits, Dental bones are specially designed to promote clean, healthy teeth and gums in even the most aggressive chewer. They're also often flavored to prevent bad breath.

Prevents negative chewing behavior:

Bones satisfy your dog's innate urge to chew. They also help to relieve teething pain, giving your puppy a beneficial (and acceptable) item to chew on when teething. If you encourage your dog to chew on bones from puppyhood on, chances are he'll choose a bone over your shoes, books, television remote, and so on. Offer a variety of bones to maintain your dog's interest.

"low-calorie" bone:

Healthy Edibles dog chews and Booda Velvet Chews are all good choices for dogs on weight-loss plans. These all-natural, low-calorie chews are made from healthy ingredients and taste great.

The Good Choice:

• Try beef tails and ribs, or necks from lamb, chicken, turkey, and beef.
• Select bones with meat attached and most fat removed.
• Choose bones too large for your dog to swallow hole.

The Bad Choice:

• Sharply angled, sawed bones.
• Bones cut in small pieces or without much meat.
• Heavy leg marrowbones.
• Bones from baked, broiled, or barbecued meat.

Tips To Safer Chewing :

If you think your dog would benefit from chewing bones:

• Supervise all bone chewing.
• Teach your dog to release objects willingly so you can safely take the bone away if necessary.
• Discard after two days; raw bones spoil quickly.
• Bones for older dogs
  Provided that your older dog has healthy teeth, bones are extremely appropriate. Bones provide entertainment and mental stimulation that can be very beneficial to older dogs - especially those who are not extremely active.

Raw vs Cooked :

Cooked bones are harder to digest and give rise to increased risk of obstruction or penetration of the bowel.

If you prefer to give your dog cooked bones, boil them rather than roasting; dry heat makes bones more brittle.

For your own safety, be aware that raw meat and bones can harbor salmonella and E.coli; pregnant women who handle them risk exposure to toxoplasmosis, an organism that can cause miscarriage.

Dogs face less bacterial risk than people do.Dogs usually recover on their own, but see your veterinarian of your dog experiences diarrhea for more than 24 hours, bloody diarrhea, or diarrhea and vomiting.

Nylon - safe for dogs:

Nylon is a harmless plastic used in dog bones for its strength. If your dog ingests small pieces of nylon, it simply passes through the digestive system and is eliminated in the stool.