Beef Bones.... after making stock... can I freeze them for our dog?

[jessjgh1]

I made beef stock with the bones from our beef share and I'm just wondering if I can save some of the bones for our dog, freeze them, and give them to him every once in a while.
They look a little different than I'm used to, so I'm not sure if they might split more easily since they were boiled down so much (and I used vinegar). He sure is enjoying the one I gave him last night (it had just been cooked for a few hours and I didn't really have enough room in the pot for it.

Jessica

[Ola_]

Nope, no cooked bones ever. I personally feed a raw diet so I'm very comfortable with giving bones, but they must be raw. I also avoid most beef bones because they are so incredibly dense that they wear down teeth prematurely and can cause tooth fractures.

[jessjgh1]

Our dog is a rescue and he lost 20 or so teeth because his teeth were bad... so gnawing is a good thing.
I'm more worried about splintering. Is that why you say no cooked bones ever?

I'm with you on the benefits of a raw diet... although we just aren't at the point to do this.

BTW, on the subject of a raw diet I often see a Freecylce poster who wants raw or freezer meat (specifically says of any type, even with freezer burn or old) for a raw diet for her dogs... which always stikes me as odd. I wouldn't trust getting freecycled old freezerburned meat for my pets, I guess. I've been thinking about posting that here... jsut hadn't gotten around to it, lol.
Jessica

Jessica

[paxye]

Originally Posted by jessjgh1

Our dog is a rescue and he lost 20 or so teeth because his teeth were bad... so gnawing is a good thing.
I'm more worried about splintering. Is that why you say no cooked bones ever?

I'm with you on the benefits of a raw diet... although we just aren't at the point to do this.

BTW, on the subject of a raw diet I often see a Freecylce poster who wants raw or freezer meat (specifically says of any type, even with freezer burn or old) for a raw diet for her dogs... which always stikes me as odd. I wouldn't trust getting freecycled old freezerburned meat for my pets, I guess. I've been thinking about posting that here... jsut hadn't gotten around to it, lol.
Jessica

Jessica

Yes, cooked bones are awful for splintering..

As for the lady on Freecycle, I have a friend that does the same and there is no problem with the meat that she gets... Freezer burned, on the way to going bad... dogs can handle it perfectly and many love it...

There is a great Yahoo group on the subject BTW...

We actually don't have a dog, but we do have a raw fed cat... cat's also have no problem with freezer burned meat, but it does need to be somewhat fresh (not going bad)

[Ola_]

Yes, cooked bones are much more brittle. And while agree gnawing is a good thing, having to get a root canal for one of the remaing teeth would not be. And yes, they do root canals for dogs!

Re: old freezer meat, doggie stomachs can handle much higher bacteria counts than we can (hence eating raw meat). And some dogs even prefer their meat extra "ripe" and will bury it for a while before eating! But freezerburnt meat doesn't normally have anything wrong with it - just the texture is funny but it doesn't go bad or anything from being frozen a long time.