How Many Marrow Bones Per Week?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Spud has never been a big eater.  It is  hard to judge how much he is actually eating, but I think I need to start a journal. His eating habits don't bother me; a 1 1/2 cups a day maybe, then on day three or four, he lays on the floor and does a big meal.  Still, he eats under the RDA of Acana- 21/2-41/2 per day.  His weight was good at his last vet visit.

I doubt he is taking in a cup a day recently.  Could be just him.  He does that on occasion or could be due to the events of the last 6 weeks. I think that is normal too.  It may be just some grief. Also, winter months mean less exercise = less  hunger.

The last two weeks, I have been giving him marrow bones to keep him happy and to keep him quiet while DH works some strange hours and also to supplement his lack of interest in eating.

With all this talk about pancreatitis I began to wonder how many marrow bones per week would be an acceptable amount for a 57lb dog?

In beef, is the marrow in the long bone primarily fat, as it is in humans?

Just wondering how much bone marrow is too much?  How much fat is in one bone marrow?

[BG and Gavin]

I don't know the answer to your question, but what about alternating the marrow bone with a restuffed one containing some canned dog good and baby carrots then frozen.  Keeps his just as busy, gets some good nutrients into him.  Just a thought.  Hugs to Spud.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I used to stuff the bones with a mixture of peanut butter, cranberries, food samples ( from the feed store), and yogurt. I thought of that too, but considered all the fat in peanut butter. 

Frozen carrots sound good.  He is not ... well food driven.  I think if he could play with the food, then he is driven.  Maybe if food squeaked?   :)   <--I'm serious.  LOL

Tonight at the dinner table I hit the plate and dropped some potato and beef onto the floor.  He smelled it, then put his head back down. 

I'll try the frozen carrots.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yogurt, low fat and craisins, a little peanut butter should be OK. Carrots of course OK. Is he way too skinny, a little skinny is good. And I do put a little people food , like a tbs, on Luca's food when I want to encourage him--yes, piglet Calla gets some too.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

He is not skinny at all. Of course, he is a huge fluff ball right now, so visually he looks fine.  But I've done a feel to his body and he still has a lot of stuff packed on the bones    :)  He is fine weight wise.

A lot of this is work hours and our new schedules too.   I am giving him bones to keep him quiet a lot of the time.  Like a mother puts her kids in front of the TV to keep them quiet. 

Soon, we can go outside and play more   :)   Soon

[F, Calla & Luca]

So he's fine food wise. A little training on the barking? It will be good for him to get some thing to work on.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

OH the training is there and we keep working on it too.  He knows exactly what he is doing.  F.J. goes off to bed and it starts.

He is sleeping and napping with F.J. all kinds of hours during the day.  Then F.J. naps in the evening a few hours.  Then I go to bed at night.  He is getting to much rest too,  I think.

Starlit is gone and F.J. goes back to work at a new job at the same time. He is confused with all the new schedules.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The marrow in the beef femur bones is primarily fat.

JD can no longer have them, but when he could, I microwaved them until the marrow was soft enough to push out of the bone, and I'd put it in his food bowl. (But you can just toss it). Then I'd rinse the bone and dry it off so it didn't get grease all over the rugs. You might want to try that if you're concerned about the fat, so Spud could still have his bones to keep him happy and occupied. Then you can address the eating issue separately with some "extras" in his meals if you're concerned that he isn't getting enough calories.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

He only wants the marrow.  He could care less about the bones.   Good idea about grease and rugs.  Ugh.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I still only feed them outside until they are scoured by the doods.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yes, marrow is very fatty, in cows too. I cook the bones for 10 minutes and remove almost all the marrow. They still love them. They love whatever is left and stuck on the outside too. Luca eats 2 cups max, sometimes 1 1/2. 43 pounds. Calla gets about a cup and a 1/4 and whatever she steals. 63 pounds. They get some treats,maybe 50 to 100 calories on a big day. We see what's what at the big spring weigh in.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Okay, so your dogs are about the same size as Spud and they eat relatively the same amount regardless what the bag says.

I have noticed he loves Grassland, but is not so interested any longer in Wild Prairie.   I buy a large bag of Wild Prairie and mix in Grasslands for taste.   It is a price difference thing but I may not get another bag of WP. At least not for awhile.

So have you tried the new flavors? If so, what do your dogs think?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Nope. I did try the fish one, Pacifica, recently. They ate it but it smelled mildly fishy : ( Mostly I go between the Wild Prairie, Grasslands and Ranchlands. More Wild Prarie interspersed with one of the others. I didn't want to mess with success.