# Raw Bones - Quick Question



## [email protected] (Feb 24, 2020)

Hello all, 

I have been giving Oscar raw bones every once in a while since he was a young puppy. He loves them, and some make him busy for a while. These days I didn't have the time to go to a farmer's market so all I had were turkey necks. I generally prefer ox tail, but he is just as enthusiastic about any kind of raw meat/bone. 

Today I gave him a deep frozen turkey neck for what I had hoped would be 30 minutes of silence. However, 5 minutes later he had already gone through half the neck, I asked him to slow down and worked on my computer next to him, and a minute later when I looked again to see how he was doing, the whole thing was gone. 

Is this normal? Do they chew through a frozen bone that fast? Did he just eat it whole? He is usually a great "bone eater" - he carefully takes the meat away and eats the marrow on the beef bones, but with this one, he just gulped on it and now I am worried. 

Thank you!!!


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Turkey necks are much easier to chew, so yes that's normal. In a raw diet there are both edible bones, often from poultry or other small sized animals, which is how they get calcium and other nutrients and recreational bones which is basically the way you've been using various beef bones. He figured out the difference and did exactly what he was supposed to. You may find his next bowel movement to be a bit firmer, but otherwise he should be good.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

Not to be gross, but follow him around the next time he poops. Invert a plastic bag, turn inside out, over your hand and pick up the poop. Invert the bag, turn right side out, and you should be able to press the stool and see if he ate it whole and there are any undigested "bits".
It's an odds on bet, he'll be fine, but knowing what he is pooping is helpful.
I do this with horse poop all time, so it doesn't really bother me any longer. It is kind of off putting though, if you're not used to it.


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## [email protected] (Feb 24, 2020)

gunnr said:


> Not to be gross, but follow him around the next time he poops. Invert a plastic bag, turn inside out, over your hand and pick up the poop. Invert the bag, turn right side out, and you should be able to press the stool and see if he ate it whole and there are any undigested "bits".
> It's an odds on bet, he'll be fine, but knowing what he is pooping is helpful.
> I do this with horse poop all time, so it doesn't really bother me any longer. It is kind of off putting though, if you're not used to it.


Thanks a lot! You are not gross at all, I do that all the time because he had tummy issues all his puppyhood and I always did this and got used to checking out his stool 😅 . He is fine, his poop was perfect this morning and he is just normal otherwise (actually is stool was a bit loose yesterday morning and I had hoped to "firm it up" with the bone). I freaked out when I saw the entire thing gone so quickly. I know he is a dog and if he were to live in wilderness he would be fine and not kill himself while eating bones - but also vets tend to make it tough giving your pup raw meat and bones - they always tell me it is not safe and he could perforate his stomach, so I get worried sometimes in unusual "bone eating" situations. 
All in all, he is fine, and I will give him the rest of the necks this week, as he seems to know what he is doing, he is just unfortunate to have a crazy worrying momma 😅.


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