Puppy Culture Potluck: Ep19 - Marrow Bones: Are they Safe to Give to Your Dog?

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I'm Jane Messineo Lindquist

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and this is a Puppy Culture

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potluck podcast.

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You bring the topics,
we bring the conversation.

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Today's topic is marrow bones.

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We get a lot of questions
about the safety of marrow bones

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as a chew project
to give your puppy or your dog.

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So let me read you the question.

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Looking for advice and information
on giving puppies bones.

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I've heard so much conflicting information

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about the benefits and risks
that I'm thoroughly confused.

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A dog dentist
once told me not to give my dog anything

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to chew on that
I couldn't dent with my thumbnail.

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Yet here I see hooves and raw meaty bones
being offered.

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Thoughts?

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So let's talk about marrow bones.

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There is no one answer to this question
about the safety of marrow bones.

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It really

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depends on the age and chewing strength

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and thoughtfulness
of chewing of your breed.

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Many people object to marrow bones
because they've been told that weight

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bearing bones
run the risk of fracturing teeth.

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And indeed, canine dentists

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often advise against marrow bones.

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But if you think about it, canine dentists

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only see the bad outcomes
from marrow bones.

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I would imagine if you took into account
the entire population of dogs

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that are given marrow
bones, the actual risk

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for your dog is probably quite small.

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At least statistically.

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I have not had a fractured tooth
for any of my dogs in 30 years

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that I've been giving my strong
chewing bull terriers marrow bones.

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But it definitely
could be a consideration,

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if you're in a breed
that's prone to teeth fractures,

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because I do think some breeds
probably are more prone than others.

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And we're going to talk a little bit
more about that.

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I'm sure that diet and individual
genetics play a role in this.

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There are certain in humans for instance,

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genetics, where teeth
can be more likely to to fracture.

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So I don't know.

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I haven't found any studies,
but I would imagine that

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some dog's teeth are stronger than others.

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And I would imagine nutrition
and prenatal nutrition and whatever

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the puppies or the dam has been fed
her whole life

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would have an influence on this.

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So the risk is probably not equal
for all dogs.

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At least that would be my hypothesis.

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What I do know from the science out

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there is that

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individual genetics and breed aside,

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the risk of dental fracture
appears to go up in a linear fashion

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as the size and strength of the dog
increases.

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One study of 492

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dogs that were presented
for dental fractures found

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that 75% of them were large breed dogs.

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25% were medium to small breed dogs

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and none of them were toy breed dogs.

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So again, the risk appears to go up
not unpredictably

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with the size and the strength of the dog.

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Makes sense.

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Teeth are teeth.

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The Rottweiler has a bite force that is
800% more forceful than the Papillon,

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but the Rottweilers teeth are made
of the same material as the Papillon.

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Sure, the teeth are bigger and stronger,

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but the actual molecular material

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that the teeth are made of is the same.

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And it makes sense
that the larger the dog,

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the more risk of fracture.

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By the way, for those of you
that are taken aback by that 800% number,

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a link to the study
that talks about the variation

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of bite force between breeds,
I'll put that up on the show page.

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By the way,

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in that study, they did classify

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the reasons as why those teeth

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had fractured, and the vast majority

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of the fractured teeth involved
something other than chewing a bone.

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Mostly it was playing
or carrying a rock or something like that.

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So while I'm not completely discounting
the possibility

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that your dog could fracture a tooth
on a marrow bone because it is possible,

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I'm going to say that I think the risk

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has been a bit sensationalized.

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And, you know, the fact is

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that dogs and puppies
especially need to chew

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and they need to chew hard

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in order for proper bone modeling.

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Jaw, bone density and shape has been found

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to be positively correlated
with chewing hard objects,

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that's in rodent studies,
and the connection

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between chewing and bone
modeling in humans is well-established.

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I mean, just Google chewing and bone
modeling, 100 citations will pop up

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so humans and dogs
have to chew and chew hard.

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In fact, sidebar,

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scientists

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hypothesize
that a lot of the dental problems

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that modern humans have are
because we don't

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chew hard foods anymore.

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Not sure that I want to be
part of the pilot program

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that goes back to eating nuts and grains
and nothing else.

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But, you know, there it is.

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You do need to chew.

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You need to chew. The dog needs to chew.

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And I'm not sure that chewing only things
that could be dented with a fingernail

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is going to get that job done of proper
bone modeling,

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particularly in puppies.

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Just to clarify, it's

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not just puppies
that need to chew and chew hard.

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It's dogs as well, adult dogs.

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Because if if you don't chew hard, then

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and this is true from human
dental science, you start losing bone.

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That's why when, for instance,
you maybe lose one tooth

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or you don't have good occlusion,

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you'll

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start losing bone because there's nothing
to oppose that other tooth

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and put pressure on it
because it's the pressure that

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triggers you to remodel bone constantly.

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We're constantly remodeling that bone.

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So it's an, it's
super important for puppies

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because we want them to develop correctly,
but it's important for dogs

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to, to maintain
what we've built during puppy hood.

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And I'm just going to say the advice
not to give anything

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that you can't dent with
your fingernail is madness.

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With a strong chewer like a bull terrier.

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If you can dent it with your fingernail,
they can choke on it.

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And if it's possible for them to
choke on it, they'll find a way to do it.

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So softer chewing items are a hard
no for us,

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but maybe they're on the menu
if you have a toy poodle.

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But then again, if you have a toy poodle,

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that dog is unlikely to crack
a tooth on a marrow bone.

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So maybe you don't really need
to worry about it.

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That's your call.

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What's more of a concern for me
with the marrow bones

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is the richness of the marrow,
which can lead to loose stools.

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Marrow is a super food

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and it's extremely good
for puppies and dogs.

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But in moderation.

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I know a lot of people write in on these
threads and say, well, it's just fat.

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And yes, marrow has a lot of fat in it,

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but it's got a lot of other stuff,
which that's a whole podcast in itself.

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But it is an amazingly healthy food
for your puppy or your dog.

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But again, too much of
it is going to give them diarrhea.

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So for my adult dogs,

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I freeze the marrow bones
so they can't get a ton out at once

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and I just take it away from them
when I feel they've had enough.

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And then for my puppies
because it's hard for them to chew it

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and not very attractive for them to chew
if it's frozen.

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I let them have the marrow bones
for a short period of time

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and then I take them away before
the puppies can have too much marrow.

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So I want to read this,

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this comment
that somebody wrote in on on this thread

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and she said, this probably isn't an issue
with bull terrier puppies,

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but long headed breeds
should be careful about marrow bones.

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You just haven't lived
until you've used a dremel to remove

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marrow bone from a Borzoi’s
lower jaw, zero stars,

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definitely do not recommend.

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So there you go.

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That's another consideration.

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If you've got a Sheltie or a Borzoi, maybe

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you don't want to give them a marrow bone.

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So let's sum this up on a risk benefit

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spreadsheet.

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Let's do a virtual spreadsheet.

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Marrow negatives; possible
fractured tooth, possible

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getting jaw stuck, possible diarrhea.

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Positive of marrow; proper

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bone modeling of the jaw, proper teeth
setting into the jaw,

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no choking hazard and a super food.

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So there it is.

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I hope that positioned it for you
at least.

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You know, as with anything,
the answer is usually,

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it depends and marrow

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bones are a good example of that.

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If you liked this podcast,
you'll love our puppy owner course

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available at madcapuniversity.com.

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If you're a breeder

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check out our breeder course
also available at madcapuniversity.com.

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Breeders, if you want to get your puppy
owners started the right way,

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check out our bulk discounts
for multiple copies

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of our puppy course at puppyculture.com.

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Well that's it for this time.

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Thanks for listening.

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Bye bye.