Microwave use

can't help you I never defrost meat in microwave
rather use hot water

I have noticed the same thing when defrosting meat even on the defrost setting so I do it in portions. I will do a few minutes at a time and the remove the meat that has thawed. It takes a little longer, but I dont have to worry about part of it cooking. I normally dont thaw chicken in the mircowave so I am not sure about potential problems with bones and cooking.

I think as long as it's not obviously cooked, you'd be okay.

But--you can also feed the food frozen, if you dog will eat it that way. Some people do it intentionally to make their dog chew more.

I also will often thaw food in a sink full of warm water. That seems to be the fastest method of all.

I agree with Tracy (about feeding frozen...I feed partially frozen a lot). Although, I have used the microwave to thaw the pups food - but just enough so that it is still frozen but I can wack it with my cleaver! Maybe I'll give the warm water a try next time....

The warm water can have an effect on the bacteria in raw meat. Not sure if it applies for pups or not.

Thanks for the info, I hadn't thought to give the chicken to them frozen. I'm sure they would have liked it because the heat has been oppressive!