That said, as far as chicken bones are concerned, I have talked with my (very trusted) vet about them, and she has told me that a dog’s stomach acid is strong enough that it breaks done chicken bones quite quickly and completely. The problem with chicken bones is the damage they can do to the esophagus on the way down. (Or in Mia’s case, coming back up!) She says that she tells people to avoid cooked chicken bones completely, but once a dog has ingested them, as long as they are showing no signs of discomfort or coughing, they are most likely fine.
NOW, I do not know how Cerenia functions, or whether it affects stomach acidity. So that COULD make a difference. We didn‘t talk about that.
What your vet says about the stomach acid dissolving the chicken bone is true in most cases, but there are some considerations. In the following scenarios, the stomach acid may not be adequate in which case you could wind up with an undigested bone chard getting into the intestinal tract, constipation or even a blockage if way too much bone is consumed at once. This applies to both raw and cooked bones.
1. If a dog is kibble fed or on pepsin, their stomach acid is going to be weaker and they are going to have more trouble breaking down bone than dogs who are used to eating bone. It is important to introduce bones gradually using bones that are appropriate in size and density.
2. The bone is too dense for the dog. A drumstick and a wing are very different in their density. A very small dog may have a difficult time breaking down a drumstick versus a wing.
3. The dog gulps the bone. Even if a bone is not too dense, if it is swallowed without somewhat chomping it up it is going to be more difficult to break down.
4. The dog is fed too much bone at once. There is only so much stomach acid available, so overwhelming it with too much bone at once (even if appropriately sized for the dog) may result in constipation or worse yet an undigested bone chard getting into the intestines
These principles apply to raw and cooked bones, although it is going to be much worse for cooked bones. However, I never feed cooked bones so no experience there. It is something I will never do and I will not feed dehydrated bones either. I have personally experienced all the following trying to get the feeding of raw meaty bones right:
1. I fed too much bone at once and they got constipated which was easily resolved by adjusting the amount of bone fed.
2. I fed too much duck wing or it was too dense for Mia and she pooped out a bone chard 1.5 inches long. Duck wings are no longer on the menu.
3. My yorkie gulped part of a chicken neck. He vomited it up several hours later about the time food moves into the intestine and ate it back up. I have removed necks from the menu because they are too easy for him to gulp.
In spite of these few issues, I have not had any problems and I feed raw meaty bones on a regular basis. However, it is critical to feed raw meaty bones wisely or bad things can happen which in most cases will eventually resolve themselves on their own.
Anyway, I think I have strayed along way from the topic of vomiting up cooked bones but I thought people may find this interesting. If a dog gets into the garbage and eats a ton of chicken wings or whatever other bone is there, it may be best for him to hack it back up because if it winds up in the intestinal tract that could be worse. Just my opinion based upon personal experience. Dogs have super resilient digestive systems and sometimes they know best how to handle bad stuff. And almost 100 percent of the time they do just fine. Although we may be getting up in the middle of the night for a few days until they resolve things...
😅
