Which bones are best?
When puppies go home, one of the first things you think about is chewing. Since puppies start to experience the need to chew shortly after new home arrival - ---- on through the new adult teeth coming it, it’s important to give safe, effective bones to chew on. While they are still really little, and the gums are sore, you can freeze a wet washcloth and let them suck on it. We've even had people try some numbing "Ora-jel" for human babies.
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| Soup bones from the freezer section at our local grocery store |
From the day you bring your new puppy home, you can start real bones. Just remember they have to be raw. Never give a cooked bone of any kind. Knuckle bones (also called soup bones) are often sold in grocery stores in the freezer section. If you can not find them, check at the meat counter and just ask about them. Pups love gnawing away on these. Freeze them again and again in between. The cold helps to sooth and numb swollen and painful gums when they are teething.
If it’s warm weather and you give them outside, make sure they aren't left where they will draw ants and flies. If you give them in the house, give them in a crate on newspapers to avoid the bacteria from the bone getting on your floor.
If it’s warm weather and you give them outside, make sure they aren't left where they will draw ants and flies. If you give them in the house, give them in a crate on newspapers to avoid the bacteria from the bone getting on your floor.
If you have children, make sure they don’t touch the bone. There can be a risk of salmonella if you allow raw bones in the house so it is something to be careful about.
Never ever under any circumstances give raw hide. It is not digestible. What about "Greenies" and hooves?? They should have been taken off the market a long time ago! Many lawsuits have resulted from these treats not digesting and tearing up the intestines of dogs.
Deer antlers are expensive but more than worth it as they will last a long time and won't splinter. If they lose interest in chewing them after a while because they are ‘plain’ you can rub butter or broth on the outside, and it’s a whole new yummy.
What about older dogs? Soup/knuckle bones are excellent for cleaning teeth and keeping dogs busy! We give them to our dogs for their entire lifetime and never need to any sort of teeth brushing or cleaning at the vet (which requires sedation). We've even seen old dogs that had horrible teeth with major tartar buildup on their molars have super clean teeth after chewing these bones, thus avoiding a trip to the vet. There are a couple of things you need to watch out for with older/adult dogs:
- If you have more than one dog, just make sure they do not become possessive over these bones. They love them so much, they may start an argument if one dog tries to take another dogs bone. If that is the case, just put them in separate rooms in the house or a crate if you have them and pick up the bones when they are finished chewing them. Usually once all the "meat" is off of them they will still chew them but not be possessive over them.
- If you have a voracious chewer, just make sure they don't start splintering off pieces or chew them down so small that they could possible swallow and choke on it or become lodged in the intestine. This is not a problem for most dogs but if they get them to where they are small enough to possibly swallow, it's time to toss it out.