RAW chicken wings to clean teeth

From my friend Juliet in Dorset, England.

She and John own two great Vizslas, Radar and Rio. 

She responded to questions about how to clean a Vizslas teeth without expensive vet cleaning bills on a previous post.

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-brush-your-vizslas-teeth.html

"Hi there - 

I'm definitely talking about RAW chicken wings and lamb ribs (about raw bones in general). Here in the UK I can buy wings from my local supermarket but can also source all raw bones directly from butchers, butchers wholesalers and abbatoirs.

Cooked or baked bones must NEVER be given as they can splinter cause perforation of the GI tract.


Chicken wings are a brilliant source of fat, protein and minerals. The chewiness of the wings helps keep teeth clean without brushing.


Raw meaty bones (including meaty lamb ribs) help to scrub the teeth clean and the gristly stringy bits floss the teeth. It's very important to remember that it's not crunching the bone that does the work (even though they will eat EVERYTHING (!)...it's gnawing off the meat and cartilage that does the trick.

My two also get raw recreational bones (these are non-edible bones like big knuckles) - these are also valuable tooth-cleaners plus are good mind soothers and muscle exercisers.


Raw meat is also good because it does not stick to the teeth to start with and therefore, does not encourage the formation of bacterial plaque on the teeth.


Feeding dogs a raw diet including the raw meaty bones means (imho) that they are healthier and suffer less from common modern diseases such as chronic colitis, atropy and periodontal disease. They are also less likely to suffer from blocked anal glands (a very common condition in dogs fed wet food or poor quality kibble).


Here are a few of the other benefits of feeding raw and raw meaty bones (RBM): Reduced doggy odour and “dog breath”; chewing RMBs cleans teeth and supplies minerals, but, most important, dogs love it…it gets their endorphins going; the time it takes for a dog to chew RMB gives their stomach time to get the acids moving; produces firmer, more “pick-upable”, less smelly, smaller stools.

Juliet

http://radarreddog.blogspot.com/

Another opinion about chicken wings by John (Juliet is his better half):


"Hi Rod,


Juliet can elaborate but I can say that both our dogs have been fed on raw chicken wings since they were old enough to pick one up and we have never seen anything untoward happen and do not see anything looking like a bone coming out the other end…

We have been cautioned about feeding the longer stronger leg bones but the wings and chicken frames (carcass stripped of meat, legs and wings) seem absolutely fine and they love them.

The big no-no is cooked chicken bones which seem indigestible and can splinter potentially lacerating the gut.

Rio picked up a cooked leg bone, probably from somebody's discarded take-away dinner, and this came out his backside (fortunately) in one piece..I know 'cos he needed a hand!"

"Excellent - do let me know how you get on.  By the way, if Bailey and Chloe have never had a raw chicken wing before, don't be surprised if it takes them a while to work out what to do. They'll probably lick it and push it around for a while before actually getting on with the crunching bit...just leave them to it, they'll soon work it out!!! "

Juliet