Recently, the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine issued a statement about the dangers of feeding bones to dogs. This informative article outlines some of the problems that are actually seen and reported by veterinarians in practice. The complete statement can be found at http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm208365.htm.
 Most of the problems cited in the article are associated with feeding cooked bones that are leftovers from family meals (or from dogs getting into the trash and digging out cooked bones). Cooked bones, especially chicken bones, rib bones and bones from roasts, are brittle and splinter easily. These sharp splinters can injure the gums, get stuck across the roof of the mouth, perforate the lining of the intestines, or cause intestinal irritation with resulting digestive upsets such as vomiting, diarrhea or constipation.
If your dog swallows a large enough fragment of bone, it could cause an intestinal obstruction, which is a life threatening condition. Bones that are ‘ring shaped' such as those from certain cuts of beef, can become stuck around the lower jaw of dogs, and this particular situation has been encountered by many veterinarians in the course of their careers.
Larger bones, such as the smoked leg bones commonly sold as dog treats, are a very common cause of broken teeth, particularly the large upper molar teeth. The type of tooth injury most commonly caused by bone chewing is called a ‘slab fracture', because a ‘slab' of the crown breaks off - if the root canal becomes exposed, the tooth will quickly become abscessed. To treat this injury, your veterinarian will either need to perform a root canal on the tooth or extract it, depending on the extent of damage and the amount of time that has elapsed since the tooth was injured. .
Advocates of feeding raw bones to dogs claim that they do not cause problems, and that it is only cooked bones that are an issue. They also claim that raw bones do not cause tooth injuries and that they in fact ‘clean the dog's teeth' naturally.
Unfortunately, this is not always true, and raw bones can get stuck in the mouth, injure the teeth or damage the intestines. If the dog swallows a large fragment of raw bone, it can cause an intestinal obstruction. While it is true that the hydrochloric acid in the dog's stomach will help soften raw bones, if the bone fragment is large and passes out of the stomach into the intestines it doesn't matter how soft it is, it can still become stuck.
An additional danger of feeding raw bones is the fact that the majority of raw bones are contaminated with bacteria. Chicken and poultry bones are usually contaminated with Salmonella bacteria and beef bones are usually contaminated with E. coli. Not only does this present a risk of infection to the dog that is not completely healthy, but it also presents a danger to the family of the pet that is being fed raw bones.
The danger comes not only from the bones contaminating the floor or area of the home where the dog chews the bones, but also from bacteria being shed in the dog's feces and contaminating any spots outdoors where the dog relieves itself.
The idea that it's natural for dogs to chew on bones is a popular one. Veterinarians agree that chewing is good exercise for your dog. However, giving your dog bones to chew on can be dangerous and can result in serious consequences for your dog's health.
Our best advice is to talk openly and honestly with your veterinarian about the various alternatives that are available for your dog's chewing pleasure, and what the best choices would be for your pet.
Caution: These news items, written by Lifelearn Inc., are licensed to this practice for the personal use of our clients. Any copying, printing or further distribution is prohibited without the express written permission of Lifelearn Inc. Please note that the news information presented here is NOT a substitute for a proper consultation and/or clinical examination of your pet by our clinic veterinarian.
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