# Raw chicken wings for an 8.5 week old pup?Now at the vets!



## PJD001 (Jul 28, 2006)

One of the people who picked up their pup from us this week just sent me an email saying the pup was spending the night at the vets, They fed her a raw chicken wing and it did not digest. The vet said it is OK to feed them that. I can't imagine it at that age. Apparently her little tummy was full from her normal food and the wing did not digest properly and had to give her an enema and Xrays. Their tummies are so small at that age. I would imagine the pup would not have chewed it to start with! I have never fed my dogs raw chicken bones ever. Poor little girl, hope she is OK.


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## Blaireli (Jun 3, 2008)

Poor baby! I can't believe the vet would feed her that!


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## Fennway (Mar 16, 2009)

you have to wonder where the logic comes from sometimes, love my vet but i dont hang off her every word, if she told me to feed our guy raw chicken, id say no thanks.
Hope the little one is ok


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## PowderPuff791 (Mar 12, 2009)

Never mind at that age, aren't chicken bones the WORST that a dog could get into?


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

I know a lot of breeders that wean their puppies straight onto raw. It's really not that uncommon. However, kibble and raw digest at different rates, that's probably where they ran into trouble if both were fed around the same time.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

I am one of those people who lack logic and wean my pups onto raw food at 4-5 weeks of age.  
At that time they get chicken wings and they basically suck/chew the meat off the bone and gnaw on the bones. By the time they are 8-9 weeks of age I no longer give chicken wings as they just inhale, don't chew, them. At this age they get larger pieces of poultry to ensure they chew it. 
The chicken bones are fine and healthy for the pup to eat as long as they are NOT cooked as this causes the bones to become brittle and dangerous. My guess in this situation is the pup swallowed the wing whole and that is why it had a problem processing it.


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## PJD001 (Jul 28, 2006)

kwhit said:


> I know a lot of breeders that wean their puppies straight onto raw. It's really not that uncommon. However, kibble and raw digest at different rates, that's probably where they ran into trouble if both were fed around the same time.


Yeah but wings? It's the bones that would worry me.


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

PJD001 said:


> It's the bones that would worry me.


If the bones are raw, they're fine. 

I'll ask my friend what she starts with. She breeds Field Spaniels.


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## norabrown (Jul 20, 2007)

PowderPuff791 said:


> Never mind at that age, aren't chicken bones the WORST that a dog could get into?


If you are feeding "Raw" which many people do chicken wings and turkey wings are an excellent part of the dogs diet.

Remember in the wild they do not cook their food and they often hunt birds and chickens.


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

Doesn't it also become an issue as well when a dog was given raw and kibble around the same time?


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## Lisa_and_Willow. (Dec 18, 2007)

Diesel was weaned onto raw and I happily fed him chicken wings when I got him at 8 weeks. He was raw fed until about 4 months when my local butcher closed so I moved to raw frozen blocks. I feed kibble now but I was fine feeding raw.

However he never inhaled his food like many goldens do, each chicken wing took him ages to crunch up when he was a baby.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

To be fair, lots of people give raw chicken wings to their pups, and many raw feeders do give bones with the meat. On the flip side, though, this kind of situation is exactly what vets warn about when they tell you not to feed raw.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

Very few vets are raw advocates, but then, very few vets are all that educated in or interested in nutrition. 
Raw chicken wings are perfectly fine to feed. I give mine frozen, which encourages them to crunch and chew them as opposed to defrosted ones which are easily inhaled and will "slide" down.
It's quite untrue (and unfair) to say that people who feed raw "lack logic". I myself feed kibble, but my dogs do get raw wings and marrow bones as "treats" on a regular basis. I simply reduce the amount of their regular kibble meal on those days that they get wings/bones in order to prevent diarrhea from getting too rich a meal.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Pointgold said:


> Very few vets are raw advocates, but then, very few vets are all that educated in or interested in nutrition.


But plenty that are still take a fairly strong stand against feeding raw both from a nutritional and a safety standpoint. I'm not interested in arguing against feeding raw, since plenty of principled and educated people choose to feed that way, but it's important to know that GI obstruction from bone fragments is a potential problem if you choose to feed raw bones.

Do I think that danger outweighs all the potential benefits or automatically makes raw a bad way to feed? Of course not. But just like bloat is a bigger risk with kibble (since a dog can gorge and bloat very easily on an accidentally open bag), obstruction is a real, if rare, concern with raw bones.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Yup. Plenty of litters are weaned onto raw food, and plenty of adult dogs thrive on a raw diet, bones and all!


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Any update on the PUP???


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

tippykayak said:


> But plenty that are still take a fairly strong stand against feeding raw both from a nutritional and a safety standpoint. I'm not interested in arguing against feeding raw, since plenty of principled and educated people choose to feed that way, but it's important to know that GI obstruction from bone fragments is a potential problem if you choose to feed raw bones.
> 
> Do I think that danger outweighs all the potential benefits or automatically makes raw a bad way to feed? Of course not. But just like bloat is a bigger risk with kibble (since a dog can gorge and bloat very easily on an accidentally open bag), obstruction is a real, if rare, concern with raw bones.


 
I am no advocate of raw diets, I feed raw bones only as treats because my dogs love them and I believe that they are safe (and how I handle doing so to make it as safe as possible.) GI obstruction from raw bones _is extremely _rare. And, just as with tennis balls (and socks ) I'm not going to stop using them.


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## Pudden (Dec 28, 2008)

kwhit said:


> kibble and raw digest at different rates, that's probably where they ran into trouble if both were fed around the same time.



that shouldn't be a problem. Every meal contains food that digests at different rates; even in a single kibble you have components (protein, carbs, fats) that digest differently.

I'm sittin' here eating a croissant with salmon and lettuce; they'll all re-appear at different times, but I anticipate no digestive problems


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Pointgold said:


> I am no advocate of raw diets, I feed raw bones only as treats because my dogs love them and I believe that they are safe (and how I handle doing so to make it as safe as possible.) GI obstruction from raw bones _is extremely _rare. And, just as with tennis balls (and socks ) I'm not going to stop using them.


Exactly. We manage risks, since we aren't keeping the dogs in hamster balls.


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## Pudden (Dec 28, 2008)

the Pudden gets raw as well, but she inhales, so I have to be careful with bones. No chicken bones, ever - they're just too small. I only give her HUGE bones (eg, moose legs, beef knuckle bones) that she can suck and chew on but not swallow. She also gnaws on antlers a lot.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

I would say a chicken wing for a golden pup is too small as well. A better choice would be a back, or even the back with the breastbone still attached, but with the wings and legs/thighs removed. And not with kibble, but separate. Any bone that's bigger than the dog's muzzle SHOULD be fine since they'd have to chew it, but then I feed my guys anything - but they also know to chew their food. 

Often kibble fed dogs have no clue how to actually eat anything since they just swallow the kibble whole. 

All of my guys are on raw, the two younger dogs have been on raw since puppyhood or before. With Ticket though I switched him to ground meals then bigger raw bones after a few weeks. Storee has always been on raw.

Lana


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

I know a lot of people who feed raw chicken wings to dogs much larger than Goldens 

And...they start at 8-10 weeks of age. Not all are raw feeders, either. They just give them for treats, or if they begin to go down on the pasterns as they grow. The chicken wings will tend to help straighten them back up.


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## PJD001 (Jul 28, 2006)

Penny & Maggie's Mom said:


> Any update on the PUP???


 Pup is fine and was home the next day. Thank Goodness for that. I think the main issue according to the owner, was that she ate it whole without chewing it on a stomach full of kibble. She had said the pup seemed hungry for more and gave it the chicken wing. She said until the pup learns to chew the food, she will giver her larger pieces. I also suggested that she feed the raw seperately from the commercial food. She does not intend on switching to a raw diet, I think it was meant as a treat or a top up. When i gave them the pup, I did do a list of do's and don'ts and how much etc. with the food. The kibble they were on is quite concentrated, so even though it does not look like they are eating as much, they are certainly getting enough. At least she is OK and no damage was done. Gave us all a scare though!


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

The worst thing about this story to me is that a vet would feed something to a puppy without the owner's permission.... honestly knowing that the puppy is doing ok, if I were the owner that would be the thing that makes me most angry!!

I don't care WHO it is... no one feeds my dogs anything without my express permission to do so. I hope she brings that up with the vet.

And I'm so glad the pup is ok!!


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## Ash (Sep 11, 2007)

I know many breeders that feed raw to pups as young as 4 weeks. I, myself fed my 6 week olds chicken backs and beef bones, frozen of course with no issue. They LOVED them. Chicken wings are a little to small for my liking. As, Laura said frozen and not make a big diffrence.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Gilmour gets 1 oz of fresh raw ground beef with his dinner every night (along with 1/2 tsp of bone meal mixed in).


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## Suzie G (Jun 29, 2008)

*Young pups and chicken wings*

Hi, Suzie G. here

I have fed my dogs raw for 12 yrs and have never had problems with any part of a raw chicken. I do not mix raw with kibble. Pups love raw chicken wings and bone in chicken breasts .

This is a picture of our Maggie with one of her first raw meals.


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