CH> dogs because thoes dots who wouldn't hunt chickens wouldn't know
CH> what to do with the bones. Perhaps such as the Comfort Dogs. (The
CH> little ones).

 RW> Maybe so.  My vet back in IOwa back in the '80's argued against giving
 RW> a dog *any* kind of bone.  HEr argument was that in the wild dogs
 RW> didn't get enough of them to do them a lot of harm because they fed as
 RW> a pack. EVerybody got a little met, a little grissle, a little bone,
 RW> etc.

 Yeah. In the wild in the home oh oh but they love those bones :)

 Dr. Fox (Micheal Fox) has a colunn in some newspapers. We don't get
him so I'm trying to find it online. He's mentioned something about
how when dogs buried a bone and dug it back up they'd be getting trace
minerals they need and bacteria that aid in digestion much the same
way the normal flora of human intestines do. So that's a 'side' effect
of a goood chew for them. (Cleans teeth).

Now they say to keep an eye on the chew stick. Abbie loses interest in
hers after awhile. Doesn't eat it they way Cosmo will if it's left
with him too long.

No offense to your vet but I wonder if she had had a bad experience
with a dog choking on a bone. I'd be leery too. But then I'd just be
more careful about what kind of bone and to what size dog etc. :)
                  
CH> Those round (cuts of a long bone I think ) beaf bones are good tho..
CH> they have that marrow stuff in the middle. The grocery stores have
CH> 'em...

 RW> AS do yours and mine .
 RW> Schatze doesn't have any problem with them, but the vet used to tell
 RW> me if I was going to give bones to Buddy I should steam them.

 A good idea. Though there's a plus about being raw .. um. I guess our
dogs are getting as 'sentitized' to bacteria as we are as we'rea ll
being super 'sanitized'. I'm sure you've heard of that issue.

The raw bones didn't bother my terrier mixes but Cosmo's got a tender
tummy. Did you know these small breeds (Shih Tzu) are said to have a
very short GI track? Much shorter then the  medium/big breeds. They
don't digest pork for example (nor corn for that matter)...

The marrow of the bones made Cosmo sick. SO steaming them helped him
enjoy the bone without getting sick. I don't know why it made him sic
thought. Didn't bother the bigger dogs. Maybe too rich? He can't eat
lamb or turkey either. Not even real beef/chicken anymore. Don't know
why. He can eat the chicken/beef dogfood with no wheat/corn in it
though. His stomach is special I guess.

.............

 RW> ONe night when we were first displaced after Katrina and living in a
 RW> motel room we'd stopped to get a packet of CHurch's chicken. There was
 RW> one extra drumstick after the wife and i each had our share.  I was
 RW> going to do some paperwork on this computer which I'd salvaged, so I
 RW> went to hand the extra piece to her (the wife that is) to peel from
 RW> the bone for the dog. ROxy reached up, snatched it out of my hand in
 RW> midpass and gulped it down, big end first.  I swear that drumstick
 RW> never touched teeth.

CH>  HUNGRY :)

 RW> Yet she had plenty of good food, at least once we took her from the
 RW> streets, and this ws over a year later.

 :) eyes bigger than stomach like they say. Hey dogs are smarrt. They
know what's good.

What do you think of this. It's said dogs often won't touch their food
until you are done with yours because that's the order of the pack but
I wonder if it's not in part anyway, because the dogs are
waiting/hoping for some of our food first. heh. THEY KNOW it's better.
lol. (Having had some from time to time.) Probally smells really good
too.

Cindy

--- PPoint 3.01