Damn raw bones!!!

[moto1320]

Both Doc and Daisy came down with the runs the other day. Daisy much much worse. I came home to check on them after being at work for about 3 hours, as it had gotten bad quickly and I didn't think they could hold it. I needed to run a fecal sample to my vet down the street anyway.

They took care of that for me.... :roll: I came home to 2 poop covered dogs freaking out to get out of their crates. I rush them to the shower and call the vet to say I'm dropping them off-this problem keeps returning. I put Daisy in the living room while I cleaned up so that they wouldn't wrestle while I dealt with their disgusting mess.... When I went back in for Daisy there was blood everywhere. I freaked big time.

Turns out their raw beef bones caused Daisy to pass alot of blood at the exact same time that a serious bladder infection came to fruition from the diarrhea, so she was passing and peeing blood all over. They are both on antibiotics and have to go back if the bleeding persists in Daisy's case or starts in Docs. That's the last time they get raw bones ever. I nearly had a heart attack, and then had to come home and clean up the puddles of blood everywhere while waiting for the news, paycheck gone before it was cashed....no freaking thanks. :wallbang: :wallbang: :wallbang:

[X-girl]

Eesh! Sorry to hear about the pups and the mess you had to deal with. You must have been really freaked about the blood! YIKES!

I hope they both feel better soon!

[mnp13]

I'm sorry your dogs are sick, but how is that the fault of the bones? Were they old or contaminated somehow? Where did you get them from?

Michelle

[moto1320]

Fresh, raw, from the grocery store, that tore them up internally when they splintered. When I cleaned everything up there was just blood and splinters. Vet told me the same thing before I said anything when I went to go pick them up. The runs caused by the problem passing the bones got on Dasiy's girl bits and caused the other infection.

[amyelaine]

Yikes. What a horrible thing to come home to! I would have freaked too. That's why I am so worried when I give my pitters bones. I dont have a problem with the marrows, but others scare me. I wonder if anyone else who feeds raw has had this happen to them?

[concreterose]

Wow....sorry to hear that moto...I hope the pups get better soon and your pocket recovers quickly as well :roll:

[barbponys]

I'm sorry to hear this happened Moto. That beyond sucks.

I have never had anything like this happen, not to say it never could. I guess I should feel lucky, never a bit of trouble in over 8 years of feeding raw.

[mnp13]

I wonder if anyone else who feeds raw has had this happen to them?

Ruby and Connor have all the raw beef bones they want, and have never had a problem. Normally raw bones do not splinter because cooking makes them brittle, they are not supposed to be brittle when raw. We have had some problems with the small chunks, they just puke them up though. And now we take the bones away before they are in tiny little pieces.

I wonder if they were old bones? Grocery stores are notorious for letting food sit around, as most products are irrradiated or pasturized. Did you know that most eggs are about a month old before they hit the grocery store shelves? Who knows about the meat.

Michelle

[moto1320]

I know. I wanted to go to a raw diet all together soon. They were spare rib bones. Very soft, mostly marrow. They crunched them up like nothing. I still can't believe it. They may have sat for some time in transport or whatever, but they were as fresh as you are going to get from the store.

They have had raw chicken plenty of times. This is the first time I have let them have beef bones though. My vet has seen it before and is apparently seriously against the BARF diet for this reason. Even in the midst of all of this I still wanted to argue the fact that I know tons of people through this forum that have fed raw forever without issue. Though, at that time I didn't really have a leg to stand on. His take was to keep supplementing with canned Salmon when I wanted, but that the Innova I had them on was as good as it gets and without the risk. I may still have a go of it with hamburger or deboned chicken. Daisy isn't out of the weeds yet and for now I don't think I could bring myself to risk it again. This sucks, they loooved them. It was nice to see Doc actually spend more than 15 seconds on dinner for a change too.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm trying to think of something that I could feed her to coat the rest of the shards to help her pass them without causing more bleeding, any ideas? I fed a little extra tonight with some olive oil.

[BabyReba]

Moto, that sucks. Poor Daisy and Doc.

Will, one of my foster ABs had similar problems with raw bones. None of the other dogs would have problems, but Will managed to splinter up the bone and get himself sick and nasty 2 times over the damn things. He got Nylabones and Kongs only after that.

The only thing I remember feeding him for weeks after rushing him to the E-vet one weekend was boiled hamburger or boneless chicken breast, some canned I/D food, and some pepcid tabs the vet gave me. I was afraid to give him anything else till he seemed back to normal.

Sorry to hear about your poor pups. I hope they're feeling better soon!

[concreterose]

I'm trying to think of something that I could feed her to coat the rest of the shards to help her pass them without causing more bleeding, any ideas?

I would give her some petroleum jelly. That will coat her stomach good.
I've always given it to the dogs when their stools are hard or they were constipated.

[turtle]

.
Hey Moto, sorry to hear this, hope Ms Daisy is much better tomorrow.

Wish I had read the whole thread sooner.... I've been told by a number of knowledgeable folks that feeding some cotton balls soaked in milk will coat the sharp bones so they pass thru easier. One fellow had a pit who ate a light bulb and he fed the cotton balls, his dog was ok and passed the broken glass.

It certainly can't hurt... The milk is so that they eat the cotton balls, you can use tuna juice from a can of tuna or any tasty stuff.

Good luck...

.

[barbponys]

I really hope Daisy is ok, I can't imagine coming home to that. Talk about hysteria.

Hmmmm, rib bones. I have heard several people have had problems with those. I have never given anything but femurs or knuckles. They do get chicken backs, wings and the occasional leg but I have never fed rib bones. I will avoid them at all costs.

GF,
Were the cotton balls fed one at a time or did he soak 3 or 4 and feed them all at once? Thanks for passing that along, what a brilliant idea.

[mnp13]

I know. I wanted to go to a raw diet all together soon. They were spare rib bones. Very soft, mostly marrow. They crunched them up like nothing. I still can't believe it. They may have sat for some time in transport or whatever, but they were as fresh as you are going to get from the store.

How about a nice big leg bone? I can see why ribs would splinter and shatter, they are very thin to begin with. The leg bones are very thick and though they can chip off pieces, they don't seem to splinter at all.

If you want to pursue BARF you may want to contact an actual butcher shop. The type that gets in a full side of beef at a time. They will have bones from cows that have been slaughtered within days. They will have the large weight bearing bones available.

Michelle

[moto1320]

Doh! Thanks GF. I totally forgot about that. You freeze the cotton balls soaked in milk and keep feeding a few to them so the particles get tangled up and pass. Damn, I spend too much time here. Useful knowledge is being pushed out to make room for where to but the cheapest doggie shower caps. I'll have to keep some of those frozen. Doc is the kind of dog that would eat a lightbulb...

Someone here put up pics (dinner time at my house or something like that) a while back with a whole case of about 40 of what I fed my dogs, and uses them all the time. These werent full ribs, just short ribs. Mostly meat with the bone end still in there, small amount, mostly marrow. I think it was just bad luck. If I go raw it will be boneless as far as I can see now.


Michelle, there isn't a real butcher anywhere near here. And everything comes pre cut at the grocery now. I have looked and looked. The rotties used to get whole fresh cow femurs back home. They loved em, no problem. Lol, I just remembered that one of them got loose once and came home with a full length fur coat (I don't know and didn't ask :roll: ) The yard was covered in these giant bones and fur everywhere. It looked like they mauled the Easter Bunny.