Which part of the bone?

[Roscoesmommy]

Dbf just killed his first deer of the season and we thought it might be a good opportunity to give the dogs a raw bone and freeze some for later on down the road. I wasnt sure which part of the deer would have the best bones for them to chew on. Does anyone know? Maybe the femur? Everytime I have given them raw bones in the past I just buy the "soup" bones at the store and they dont specify which part of the body it is.

 

[daisykaye]

Deer bones are not the best bones to give for chewing. They tend to splinter. I have always just thrown away the bones and just fed the meat. My dogs love deer meat.

 

[Roscoesmommy]

Oh yes, they love the meat. You should have seen them yesterday when dbf had the rack home and he was cleaning what was left of the fat and meat of it. You can bet that they were right under his feet getting every last morsel that he "accidentally" dropped on the ground. I thought that maybe the thicker bones would have been ok to give them...

 

[meliss&kash]

I've never fed deer bones nor meat, but as a general rule, the non-weight-bearing bones are the best for our furry friends, they are not as hard and have better nutritional value. So I would try the ribs, or spine, or neck, but do watch to see if they splinter like Daisykaye says. Watch out for the marrow as it can cause the runs. Femurs and the like are usually harder and I'd be scared for their teeth. I used to fed venison ribs though, which I think is some kind of deer? (forgive me, I don't know my animals!) and it went down fine!

 

[Roscoesmommy]

I am not looking for a bone for them to eat, just a bone for recreational chewing. I want one that they CANT eat or swallow and I didnt know what part of the deer was best to give.

 

[SoCal Angela]

The ribs with plenty of meat are good for chewing. I don't get the chance to feed deer too much but I know hunters who do and once they've taken what they want to eat (prime human cuts), they basically throw down big hunks of legs, ribs, hips, etc and let the dogs clean down to the bone. To second what others are saying, the weight bearing bones (legsy) are very dense so they can and will damage teeth if chewed too long. But as long as there is plenty of meat for them to work on, it'll be a workout well before they get the bone to a dangerous point.

Anthing is better than them soup bones...so have fun!!