The General Chat Thread (2025)

[JAS_OH1]

My dog gets fresh bones direct from the butcher. He's never complained.

But those are raw, right, whereas the ones sold in retail and grocery stores here are cooked or even smoked. I tend to think the more natural the better for dogs? The cooked ones it seems to me would be more likely to splinter.

 

[PAcanis]

But those are raw, right, whereas the ones sold in retail and grocery stores here are cooked or even smoked. I tend to think the more natural the better for dogs? The cooked ones it seems to me would be more likely to splinter.

That is exactly correct.
Cooking/smoking changes the properties of the bone. That's why dogs (and obviously wolves, coyotes...) can eat raw bones all day. Including birds. But once you cook the bones, they can splinter.

 

[TastyReuben]

Bones from the butcher here are all cooked.

 

[Gone Hiking]

I don't know if they are available there, but we have blinds here that can be raised/lowered from the top and bottom. I ordered some for a window that's across from a neighbor's window and keep the bottom covered and the top open.

View attachment 135238

That's what we have in our bedrooms. Ours are the blackout blind version that we keep drawn from the top. You can't see zero/zip through them, and on the weekends, I often close them up so we can sleep in without sunlight waking us up, though we're coming into that time of year where that is sort of mute.

 

[SandwichShortOfAPicnic]

That is exactly correct.
Cooking/smoking changes the properties of the bone. That's why dogs (and obviously wolves, coyotes...) can eat raw bones all day. Including birds. But once you cook the bones, they can splinter.

I remember being told that cooked bones were oh so dangerous and raw chicken wings were fine.
Then years ago I watched my 10llb Bichon Frisé swallow one whole!
I waited to see if the poop stop arriving and a vet visit was needed.
But nope the whole wing (drum to wing tip) that was inhaled in a millisecond went past more smoothly than a British rail train!
Still I never gave him another one!

 

[karadekoolaid]

But those are raw, right, whereas the ones sold in retail and grocery stores here are cooked or even smoked.

Completely raw.
Mr Porky loves them. He'll happily spend an hour chewing the bone (good for his teeth), nibbling off the bits of meat and extracting the marrow.
Then that bone will be recycled a few days later, and I'll find him in the garden, tail wagging, gnawing on the same old bone.

 

[medtran49]

Rawhides are no longer recommended for dogs either since they can cause obstructions IIRC.

The only bones our dogs have ever gotten legally are cooked prime rib bones, and only under supervised chewing sessions. Because of the mess, one of us takes them outside and lets them have at the bones for half an hour or so on the porch, which then gets hosed down. Our big girl who could stand up and take things off the counter and out of the sink did get some chicken bones and a spatula or 2 and a few wooden cooking spoons until she had us trained not to leave things unattended.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Over here giving a dog cooked bones is a big no no. Personally I think that’s a load of nonsense but it’s something that’s well established
Guess thats not the case in America?

Same in Italy

 

[MypinchofItaly]

I am usually used to wake up early but not that early like this morning. I have to thank my neighbours for chatting at 5am as if it was 5pm. I am a patience person except for one sacred thing: sleep.
Silence is a must during night and in the morning at least until 8am. I have a light sleep and the slightest noise can wake me up... and when I'm woken up by noise caused by others, I become really unsympathetic. I can even go downstairs in my pyjamas and knock on the neighbours' door telling them to shut up just like Jack Nicholson in Shining would do.

 

[PAcanis]

Here's Johnny!