Bones

Scotties love to eat bones but you must NEVER give your puppy/dog, cooked bones.

Cooked bones are hard and brittle and can splinter inside your dogs intestines or bowel which can cause internal ruptures that can be painful and need expensive medical treatment.

Crunching on raw bones is very healthy, it provides much needed calcium in the diet and very beneficial for dental hygiene. A dog’s digestive system is built to process meat and raw bone material. You still need to be watchful to ensure that your puppy is managing bones OK.

Small bones can wedge inside the roof of their mouth. When puppies are loosing their milk teeth it is just as good to stick to crushing up their turkey necks to provide the calcium and leave the brisket and rib bones till their second teeth are established.

Bones are not only a healthy snack for dogs, but they are great entertainment. For a dog, ripping into a nice bone is as good as us relaxing with an interesting book. It’s a relaxing way to spend some time.

There are different types of bones: long bones, flat bones, rib bones, knuckle bones.........

Size Does Matter!

Recreational bones should form part of your Scottie's balanced diet. Chewing bones, although safe, can create problems in your Scottie if you are not wise in your bone choices.

Bones have been known to cause bowel blockages, broken teeth, loose stools or constipation. However all dog's digestive tracts are extremely acidic and well designed to metabolise bone as long as we choose the right ones.

Always balance their bone intake out with meat.

Scotties, although small in stature, have the teeth size and jaw power of much larger dogs. However large weight bearing bones are just too big and hard for any dog. Although they love the entertainment of chewing these bones they are very hard and can break teeth. I find that Scotties do best with brisket and beef/lamb rib bones. You can also give them whole drumsticks. I find that chicken necks are a good bone source for puppies but adult Scotties tend to swallow them whole! I only give my Scotties brisket and rib bones. I no longer bother with chicken as its nutritional value is very poor.

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