Real Bones are Bad

Real bones & the damage they can cause our dogs:

Bones can cause damage to the GI tract:
Real bones can cause perforation of the GI tract.  This is a serious concern and would require surgery to repair.  Impaction of the GI tract can also occur as a result of feeding real bones.  Not as common, but still a concern, is aspirating bone particles into the lungs.

Bones can cause damage to the teeth:
Real bones are also a concern, because they can fracture the teeth.  The tooth that usually gets injured is the upper fourth pre-molar teeth.  This tooth is a 3 rooted tooth and if fractured, requires root canal therapy or oral surgery to extract the tooth and root. We hear a lot of hype that dogs should get real bones, because wolves get real bones or (following statement from the American Veterinary Dental College) that “Dogs are carnivores – they chew on bones in the wild. However, AVDC does not recommend cow hooves, dried natural bones or hard nylon products because they are too hard and do not mimic the effect of a dog tearing meat off a carcass. These hard products are associated with broken teeth or damaged gums.”