Marrow Bones....

[carolynnl4]

This may seem a little ridiculous, what do marrow bones look like? I'm not sure our grocery store has them....

Are they like the super hard bones that are stuffed with a creamy mixture of flavored gunk that pet stores sell?*
Athena can chew anything..even those jumbo "novelty" (not to her!) bones that you see for around $10.... But when it comes to the stuffed bones, she can only scrape the edge off.


*Although a word of warning for anyone who gives their dogs these...Athena managed to push out the filling with her tongue, and it plopped out in a gelatinous cylinder. Unfortunately I didn't realize this until I heard frantic squeaking and saw that she was choking on it. (Pulled it out, threw it away, and she's fine.)

[Rott-Wiley]

They are the ones sold as soup bones, they are usually about 2 inches thick and around 3 to 5 inches long.

[Carina43]

Originally posted by rottnkidd
The marrow bones are alright occasionally, but I wouldn't allow the dogs to have them for continuous gnawing day afer day. These are weight-bearing bones and they're very hard. In time they will cause tooth wear and they can cause fractures. A friend of ours has been giving his 7 yr old Rottie marrow bones for years now, and the dogs incisors are flat and the canines show wear. Just something to think about. Best wishes -
kathy

I agree - actually I only let them have the marrow bones for a day or so, they seem much softer when they are fresh. I don't let them keep the dried out ones around.

If you can find big beef ribs, those are great unless you have a real power chewer who will demolish a rib in 2 minutes. They're softer, though more expensive.

[samanthac]

Yes. I throw the bones out at the end of the night. What's left of them. Seems I have two power chewers! :)

I often give knuckle bones and hip bones as well because they seem a bit softer than the femur bones due to large aresa of cartilage and gristle.

[Karnac]

Most freezer times are the amount of time an item can be stored and retain it's food value. I would imagine that this would probably be in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 months for dog snacks. That doesn't mean that they will spoil after that amount of time, just that they won't have any (or at least very little) food value after that time. Frozen they could still be used a year later without any ill effect to the dog and since your dog probably doesn't eat them for food value to begin with you don't really have a problem.

[Carina43]

Originally posted by Karnac
Most freezer times are the amount of time an item can be stored and retain it's food value. .

Interesting...It never occured to me that long term freezing could alter nutrition content. It does make sense though.