THE IMPORTANCE OF A BONE
Posted : Sunday, 25 September 2005
Fresh Meaty Bones are a vital part of any dog's or cat's diet. The awareness and popularity of feeding dogs and cats fresh bones is growing as each month passes. People are becoming much more aware of proper pet nutrition as it makes for a much healthier and happier life for our beloved pets and also helps us humans in the hip pocket nerve as a properly fed pet will save enormously in vet bills over the life of the animal, especially in their later years.
Bones, along with some fresh meat and a good quality dry food, form the three corners of the pyramid base to a healthy diet. Fresh bone marrow is one of the richest nutrients available. Not only do dogs and cats instinctively know this, they also know they need it and should have it. Have you ever seen a dog going for its life, trying to lick the marrow out of the centre of a big shin bone, it tries and tries to get its tongue as far down the opening as it can. It knows how good it is. Therefore, who are we to argue with forty thousand years of evolution. We should be giving our animals fresh bone on a daily basis.
There are three important aspects to feeding bones.
1. They should always be raw. Any cooked bone has (A) Had all the goodness cooked out by the application of heat and (B) Has become brittle during cooking, making it much more prone to splintering.
So, always make sure the bone is raw. Even chicken bones are perfectly safe raw BUT they are the worst if cooked, therefore, always raw, never cooked.
2. Bones must be of a size that suit your animal. They must be able to handle the bone so they can crunch it up and swallow it all down as they go. This is why big shin bones are of little use to anybody. They are OK for teeth and gum exercise but the animal is getting no nutrirional goodness from all its efforts. As well, they will usually end up buried under the rose bush or left to go white and dry to be picked up and put into the garbage bin on Saturday mornng.
3. Bones need to be fed, along with all other dietry intake, in a volume so the animal is hungry enough to want to actually eat it. If a dog or a cat is not hungry, because it has been overfed with too mush meat, dry or scraps, it will instintively take the bone and bury it. This is evolution at work. In the wild, dogs especially, will make a kill, eat their fill and then bury the bone in case they don't make a kill over the next two days. When hungry, they will go and dig up their previously stored bones for that day's meal. So, if your dog is burying its bones, cut down on the volume of the rest of its food. Dogs and cats should always be hungry enough to want to eat their bones when offered.
We carry a range of beautiful fresh meaty bones in sizes to suit all animals. For cats and small dogs, chicken necks and wings. For medium dogs, brisket and roo tails, for large dogs, roo tails and sheep necks. And for all dogs except the smallest, lamb shanks which are big enough to give all dogs that extra challenge they do need on a weekly basis to really spend a few hours working on their bone.
All our bones are recieved fresh, they are all meaty and we pack them down into 1kg bags that are then frozen for sale or delivery. As marrow is so rich, it will "go off" quite quickly if not kept frozen. So when your bones arrive, keep the packets frozen and grab an old ice cream container to store three or four days worth only in a fresh state for the daily feeds. It is perfect to offer your pet its bone in the morning, as everybody is going off to work or to the shops etc. This will keep them happy and content while they get used to being alone for the day.
So remember, factor some bone into your animal's diet and your pet food purchases, you will be doing all concerned a big favour.
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