Is raw bone marrow good for dogs

Give Your Dog a Bone!!

Steve’s Marrow Bones are a far cry from the dog bones you see in the regular stores – mostly because they are truly bones, not just something synthetic and fake! Chock full of valuable nutrients such as phosphorous and calcium, bones and bone marrow are an important part of your pet’s raw food diet. Whether you are feeding your dog a raw diet, looking to transition to Steve’s, or just wanting a healthy and nutritious treat for your pet, our marrow bones are the perfect fit. Our beef bones are for recreational eating and are not designed to provide whole nutrition or to be eaten whole like poultry bones. Rather, they are a form of mental stimulation and enjoyment for your pet. We recommend that you have a designated area for your pet to eat that is easily cleaned, and that you monitor your pet while they eat bones.

Our raw beef marrow bones come from the same free-range, grass-fed, grass-finished cattle as our beef meat. They are nice and meaty with a lot of extra cartilage and connective tissue. They help strengthen the gums and clean the teeth.

The two-inch bones are perfect for smaller dogs, and the four-inch bones are best for dogs over 30lbs. The four-inch bones come in both a traditional pipe cut and a unique split cut that allow any size dog to get at all the marrow.

Safe Handling

We sell our marrow bones frozen, and we recommend you feed them frozen as well. If your dog is the type that likes to hide toys in the couch cushions, you probably want to feed these outside. Nobody should have to find a messy bone while relaxing on the couch! If a piece of bone breaks off, discard the small pieces. Do not cook the bones – they will become too brittle and could splinter while your dog chews on it. Once the bone has been licked clean or left for over an hour, discard the remainders..

Google Review

By Debra Manfield, Owner

Despite the precautions outlined below, bones can become an important part of your dog’s diet. When fed responsibly, they can help with their dental, diet and mental health.

Supervise your pet when feeding raw bones and manage your pack if you have a multi-dog household. Bones are high value resource and fights can break out.

NEVER feed cooked chicken bones, or any kind of cooked fowl bones – EVER. They can splinter and perforate your pet’s intestines or stomach and cause severe injuries or death.

Slow Roasted marrow or femur bones offered by some pet manufacturers while okay to give to your dog, offer none of the benefits of raw bones. Your dog might chew off a large chunk, something more easily done with a cooked bone, swallow it and not be able to digest it causing gut pain (colic), scarring of the gut lining and bleeding, choking, impaction, even death. Never feed a knuckle or marrow bone that you have cooked at home….those will definitely splinter and cause harm.

Size the bone right.

Large dogs can handle large bones like 5” or larger marrow bones, large knuckle bones, whole chicken frames and wings. Do not give a large dog a small bone ever. They tend to want to try and swallow the smaller bones and they can become lodge in their throat or they can get bones stuck across the roof of the mouth or behind their molars. If giving dogs raw poultry necks, always chopped them up…some dogs will try to swallow the whole neck and can suffocate or choke to death. Some bones, like chicken bones, are for consuming quickly while others, like beef and bison bones, take a bit more time.

Do not feed bones to dogs that tend to break their teeth when chewing or to dogs that have had restorative dental work.

If your pooch has a predisposition to pancreatitis, withhold raw marrow bones as they are too rich. You can however scoop out most of the marrow and feed a “low fat” bone to that pooch so they can enjoy the other benefits.

Do not feed pork bones. Only feed rib bones to very small pooches. Most medium to large dogs will run into trouble if you let them have rib bones because they tend to consume too much bone which can result in impaction or because the rib bone can be broken into smaller pieces becoming a choking hazard (see size the bone right).

Handle raw bones carefully.

Always refreeze or refrigerate bones that still have marrow and meat left on them. Put the bone in the refrigerator if giving it back the next day or refreeze it if several days will pass before the bone is given again.

Toss old bones away that don’t have any marrow or meat left. Even though your pooch might enjoy gnawing on it, it can become brittle and break apart.

Knowing the precautions of how to feed raw meaty bones will keep you pets happy, healthy and chewing!

Don’t forget kitty!

Cats are obligate carnivores and as such require high quality animal protein, muscle meat and organ meat, plus raw meaty bones. Cut up a turkey or chicken neck, removing most of the skin, and let them have at it. Once accomplished, the pieces can be larger. Sometimes, cats prefer starting with the softer chicken bones, including backs, wings and legs. Again, NEVER cook these products as the bones will become brittle and splinter causing very serious injury to your cat. Get them started young. Your cats will soon be begging you for raw bones and you’ll be rewarded with seeing brilliant feline fangs!