Ruso

This is a very interesting subject; I had a whippet before and he ate chicken wings and thighs easily. I started to give him RMB when he was five or six months old. He also ate kibble, and the first thing I gave him raw was a turkey wing. As a total novice to raw, I thought he woluld eat the flesh and leave the bone, and I was first surprised and then horrified when I saw him eating the bones too.
My toy poodle is now three months old; I haven't given him anything raw yet (just chicken liver and breasts boiled). I am thinking in half chicken wing to start (I don't know if there are necks around here) but I don't know if he's too young and I should wait, what do you think?

fjm

I know people who wean pups onto raw - I'd try him with a half wing and see how he does.

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

Carley's Mom

You can ask the butcher to order you some. I had to do that and they were happy to do it. Also, I have read it is not even the chewing , but the eating that helps the teeth and you can grind them up and give them to your dogs... My new girl doesn't like raw like my older girl. I have had to encourage her to eat it. She even threw up the hand fed chicken I gave her once. She is doing better, I had given up on her ever eating a turkey neck and she stole Carley's the other day... something about taking it from Carley made it taste so good... she ate every bite. lol

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Quossum

I have a toy dog, an Italian Greyhound, and she has eaten raw all her life. She eats whatever the big dogs eat: turkey tails, chicken parts (including drumsticks), pork riblets. I've never had a choking incident with her, but every once in a while she (or one of the other dogs) will try to swallow too large a chunk and gag/hack it back up.

One tip to avoid choking is to be sure the dog is eating a *large* enough piece of meat. The rule of thumb I've heard is that the chunk of meat should be at least as large as the dog's head. That way the dog is forced to gnaw and chew rather than being tempted to swallow large chunks. That's why I would be cautious about chicken necks: they're a good size for swallowing whole. I *do* feed mine (even the IG) chicken necks, and I use them for training, too, but all of my dogs are experienced raw eaters.

Congrats for exploring raw feeding! It's one of the best things you can do for your dog's health. I've fed raw since 2007; all my present dogs have eaten raw their entire lives. Good luck!

--Q

NorthJerseyGirrl

I have also read the rule about not giving bones or pieces of meat small enough to swallow (and similarly taking away chews when they get down to 2" or so) -- but I don't get it. If you are giving them a bone to eat (as opposed to recreational bones) won't they just chew it into small pieces and swallow them anyway? Similarly with big pieces of meat?

Quossum

Yes, but since they're chewing off pieces, they'll instinctively chew off pieces the right size to swallow. It's when the chunks are too big to be swallowed whole yet not big enough that the dog realizes they need to tear it a little smaller that the trouble can occur. In a way, this is a habit the dogs get from eating kibble: the food is "ready to eat," no real gnawing or tearing required. Once they get used to eating raw they get used to gnawing / chewing their food more. Or at least that's how it seems to me!

--Q

CT Girl

No way could Swizzle eat a whole chicken neck in one gulp but there is no harm in giving him something larger like a drumstick till he gets the hang of it. For Swizzle the neck works out great. He gets some happy chewing time. I give him one about every other day. I feed commercial raw, Aunt Jenni, and if his poops get a little too hard I give him a chicken heart or gizzard. These come packaged together and are very reasonably priced. I wrap them up individually and have them on hand in the freezer. I have heard ground bone has the teeth benefits of a whole bone but I think they would miss out on the mental benefits. Swizzle is always calm and happy after he has a bone. I think it is great you are open to exploring raw for your dogs.

Ruso

Here at the supermarkets it's easy to find quails (hope it's the right word in english, I looked it up in the dictionary). I fed them to my whippet, just the whole bird (they come clean, without heads) and he loved them. The bones are tiny and very soft; maybe just the drumsticks are a good start option for a toy poodle.

KristaLynn

Jewel is 9lbs and I give her chicken wings and half turkey necks. My parents cook a lot of turkeys and started saving the necks for Jewel but they're so big I wack them in half before freezing them, yum yum. Ribblets are a good idea, never tried them!

We did have one issue, Jewel swallowed the large end of the chicken wing without breaking up the bone enough and it got stuck. It took her a couple hours to work it back up. I don't worry too much because she's a HUGE DIVA and if I don't hold her RMB for her she won't eat it.