Raw frozen bones.. always ok??

[luke4275]

I bought 2 raw bones from the pet store.. Nature's Vareity Instinct frozen bones.. not sure what type they were.. perhaps knuckle? Are these bones always ok for a 5 month pup to have.. I let him have it and after he ate the good stuff. I left the bone for him to play with. though he didnt use it all that much.. are they always a good idea?

Also, I ordered a bunch of elk antler's. Anyone think these are not a good idea for a 5 month old pup? thanks

[Veronica]

Keep an eye on the size of the bone. As long as it's big enough so it's not a choking hazard, you should be ok. You could probably save yourself some money by buying bones from your local butcher as opposed the pet store varieties.

A friend gave me some elk antlers. Panzer loves them! He's been gnawing on them for a couple of months, and though most of the marrow is gone, he still picks them up almost daily. We had a friend's 5-month-old (non-GSD) pup visit this weekend and she LOVED the antlers. Her little snout could get in where Panzer's couldn't, so she got a little more marrow out.

[Gmthrust]

Gnaw nibbling on bones and antlers (this goes for those Nylabone-type thingies, tree branches, chair legs too, etc., anything real hard) can quickly go awful in the blink of an eye. Especially with the youthful inexperience of the powerful breeds, accidents happen.....

One evening, and it was very all of a sudden, Keek hunkerd down hard core on an antler; she wrapped her paws around it, put her body weight into it, which added the necessary torque to crush it---as if she were a lion, or a wolf. Keek broke her upper carnassial. That's the tooth which looks a lot like an upside down Mount McKinley in Denali Park, Alaska.

The thing about it.....the reason the whole event was entirley my fault.....is that I KNEW what kind of rowdy wild animal Keek was at that time. She was filled to brimming with over-the-top enthusiastic gusto and bravodo for toys and food. She went off all of those for such a long time.....it was that painful for her.

To this very day, I still feel horrible about it, but she gots bling now in the form of a shiny stainless steel, or maybe it's called titanium, cap on her carnassial. It took about a year for Keek to fully recover.

And even tho I still feel horrible that it happened, Keek still gets raw bones and antlers......as do all my girls, including the cat and chihuahua. None are the wild animal about it like Keek used to be. Keek learned her lesson. She is careful....near lady-like.....maybe it's because of maturity (she just turned three years old). All my girls are now very miss-manners when it comes to foodie items.

But accidents happen. This is a long story, just to say....be careful.