# puking up chicken bone



## jamie lind (Feb 19, 2009)

i've been giving my dog raw chicken thighs. a few times she has puked up the knee of the bone. she does it about 5-6 hours after eating it. it seems to be half digested(i can crush it in between my fingers). should i worry about it?


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## Annika Friberg (Mar 27, 2009)

does it have sharp edges? 

If not and if it's partially dissolved I don't think you need to worry about it, except about the fact that your dog is maybe eating too fast and not chewing properly. 

If those knees got sharp edges, I'd be a bit concerned. We had to go to the vet in the fall when my older dog started throwing up blood - she had cut up her esophagus on something she swallowed. The risk at that point is that the esophagus gets scarred and metaesophagus develops (according to my vet).

I'd keep an eye on the dog, both to see how fast and aggressively it's eating, and whether it seems to be slowing down or having any troubles swallowing.


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## Annika Friberg (Mar 27, 2009)

I meant to write megaesophagus. Oops...


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## Christen Adkins (Nov 27, 2006)

If we're talking about an adult or young adult dog here, I'd move on to leg quarters and ditch the thighs. They are too small in my book. If the dog is still eating too fast, serve it frozen.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

jamie lind said:


> i've been giving my dog raw chicken thighs. a few times she has puked up the knee of the bone. she does it about 5-6 hours after eating it. it seems to be half digested(i can crush it in between my fingers). should i worry about it?


On raw food, a dog's stomach should empty 4 hours after eating. Stomach acidity is not constant and does vary from dog-to-dog. I would add 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar to the dog's food for a week and re-assess the situation then.

The speed of the dog eating is probably not an issue in this scenario. I had dogs that would swallow check necks and drumsticks whole. Not a problem. Another dog chewed very carefully, but frequently had bone fragments - an every-other-day dose of ACV kept her digestion clipping along.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Just to be sure, Jamie, you do not have the dog on any kind of med, right?

I don't mean that this is a big issue with the soft bone hunks, but I'm just checking for meds that affect stomach acid .... something to be always aware of with a raw-fed dog.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

jamie lind said:


> i've been giving my dog raw chicken thighs. a few times she has puked up the knee of the bone. she does it about 5-6 hours after eating it. it seems to be half digested(i can crush it in between my fingers). should i worry about it?


I have run into this with newly-switched dogs. Speed of eating isn't a factor with this (although it can be a factor with the old _let's hoover it all, keep it down for 1.5 seconds, throw it all up, and start over_ routine). 

Rather than speed-eating here, it's the denseness of weight-bearing bones of the poultry.

Is this dog new to raw? It takes a bit to get the digestive enzymes in full bone-processing production. I generally do not start with legs. 

I haven't tried the ACV, but I have read pretty universally that Anne's suggestion is widely used.


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## jamie lind (Feb 19, 2009)

she is currently getting ACV in her water. no meds. she is 5 months old. i dont feed her only raw. she gets fed orijen large breed puppy 2 days then i wait at least 12 hours then she gets raw for 2 days. i heard puppies shouldnt just be given raw. she eats the chicken quarters pretty slow. when she gets raw i feed her chicken quarters, beef liver, beef kidneys, plain yogurt, ground venison, and whatever else i can find cheap. she also gets fruits and veggies every day(she eats anything apples, grapes, spinach, for some reason she loves asparagus to bad i cant get my kids to eat like that) maybe i should skip the raw and stick to 100% kibble til shes older?


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

jamie lind said:


> she is currently getting ACV in her water. no meds. she is 5 months old. i dont feed her only raw. she gets fed orijen large breed puppy 2 days then i wait at least 12 hours then she gets raw for 2 days. i heard puppies shouldnt just be given raw. she eats the chicken quarters pretty slow. when she gets raw i feed her chicken quarters, beef liver, beef kidneys, plain yogurt, ground venison, and whatever else i can find cheap. she also gets fruits and veggies every day(she eats anything apples, grapes, spinach, for some reason she loves asparagus to bad i cant get my kids to eat like that) maybe i should skip the raw and stick to 100% kibble til shes older?


"Puppies shouldn't just be given raw" is incorrect. One reason this is sometimes mentioned is because if you screw it up, it will affect a puppy more than an adult. 

Grapes are toxic to dogs - take that one out ASAP!

I would switch the chicken leg quarters to MEATY chicken backs/neck. If there is a lot of skin on them, take the skin off most off them. Chicken leg quarters are better included in the diet after teething is completed. This is a finer point - You won't kill your pup on the leg quarters, but the likelyhood of having problems is increased. Look for non-weight-bearing bone at this point.

I would skip the kibble. Switching back and forth isn't helping your puppy's digestion. 

I have not had any luck with ACV in water. I would put it directly on the food. ACV mixed with plain yogurt is a HUGE favorite around here.  If you need to increase the amount of ACV, putting a little in each meal would be preferable to one larger amount once per day. I would not go over 4 tablespoons per day, every day.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

jamie lind said:


> i heard puppies shouldnt just be given raw.


Heard from whom?


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## jamie lind (Feb 19, 2009)

thanks on the grape thing never heard that one. on the puppies not eating raw i remember reading it on some site dont know which one. i guess im worried about missing something while shes growing. maybe someone can direct me to a site with very specific raw diets (not a little bit of this a little of this and dont forget some of this). thanks jamie


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