Can Dogs Have Pork Bones? Are you feeding your dog pork bones after you’ve cooked them for dinner or some pork chops that are left after your BBQ grilling session? Many veterinarians feel that is a colossal mistake.
They believe that these yummy treats shouldn’t be given to dogs at all. But why so?
Can Dogs Have Pork Bones?
Can Dogs Have Pork Bones? Quick Answer NO! Pork bones, raw or cooked, aren’t recommended to be fed to dogs. They are likely to splinter or may lead to dental issues if your dogs chew on them.
If your dog tries to swallow small pieces of pork bone, this can be a choking hazard and cause blockages in the intestine and damage to the esophagus and other organs.
These are severe conditions and could be dangerous for your dog. Pork bones are small in size; hence they are hazardous as big dogs tend to swallow them as a whole.
Raw vs. Cooked Pork Bones for dogs
Are raw pork bones good for dogs? It doesn’t matter whether the bones are cooked or not, they may harm the dog.
In any case, the pork bones are not recommended. The bones can be used raw for a raw diet, but they should be ground up with other meats to provide your pup with the nutrients they contain.
It doesn’t happen often, but some dog owners do allow their dogs to eat raw bones during a raw feeding session, however, that is filled with great risk.
The type of bone, unlike popular belief, doesn’t make a difference. The damage caused by a grilled BBQ pork rib is same as the rib from a pork chop or a steamed bone.
What makes the difference is the size of the bone that was consumed, and what size your canine companion is.
There is a possibility that the bigger dogs with bigger intestines may be able to pass bones easier than smaller dogs.
No matter what the case and no matter the type of the bone, they carry risks. They may be fewer than a cooked bone, but they should be avoided overall.
Some Uses of Pork Bones
If you don’t want to waste these pork bones, try using them in soups. You can mix the soup with dog food to enhance the flavor. However, before doing this, it is advisable to consult a veterinarian if your dog has intestinal or nutritional problems, especially pork, high in fat content.
A nice piece of pork makes a delicious meal. Whether you’re chewing on pork chops or eating smoked ribs on the grill, you’ll notice pork bones left at the end of the feast. As always, your dog arrives at the scene as you approach the end of the meal. But does that mean it is okay for your dogs to eat it?
In fact, there are many reasons why this is not the best idea. Like chicken and steak bones, pork bones are not recommended for dogs. Please read this article further to find out why it isn’t a good idea to feed pork bones to your dogs.
Bone Indigestion Risks
When it comes to eating pork bones, there are some risks associated with it. These are just risks. This means that your puppy may get well after consuming bones.
However, because of the risks, it makes no sense to consciously endanger your dog’s health by giving your dog the leftovers of the afternoon barbecue. Here are a few risks reviewed in detail!
Bone Splinter Damage Due to Pork Bones
One of the more severe risks associated with feeding puppy bones is that they can splinter when swallowed in the mouth. The sharp edges of the crushed bone can easily pierce the intestine during digestion. This can cause severe internal bleeding.
After that, it shows symptoms similar to bones being stuck in the intestines. This means that symptoms include diarrhea, change in appetite, and severe abdominal pain.
In serious cases, it may also require significant surgery. That’s the stress it puts on your four-legged friend, and it’s just not worth the risk.
Obstruction of the Bowel
Another significant risk associated with chewing pork bones is that they can cause a severe obstruction as they move through the intestines. Tiny debris can pass through or fall apart. However, bones can clog the mouth and throat before they reach the stomach.
If excessive salivation and coughing occur after the dog chews or plays with the bones, this may be an indication of a problem. In this case, you should consult your dog’s vet immediately.
Even if the bones manage to get into the stomach, the digestive activity of the stomach and intestines is not enough to break the bones into tiny pieces.
It is still possible that the bones get stuck elsewhere in the intestines. Sometimes the symptoms of obstruction can appear even after 72 hours, which is absolutely an emergency and requires immediate consultation of the vet.
Intestinal obstruction restricts blood flow to tissues and can lead to serious illness and death. Symptoms of bowel obstruction are vomiting, a change in appetite, diarrhea, diarrhea, or severe abdominal pain that does not go away within a few hours.
If there are obstacles, the vet may need to perform surgery to remove the problematic piece of bone from the dog’s system. This is a very major and invasive surgery and should definitely be avoided!
Dental or Oral Issues by eating pork bones?
In addition to intestinal emergencies, some dogs have broken a tooth or two while chewing on a bone. It is not a potentially life-threatening situation, but it is indeed very painful.
Pork bones for dogs pose a significant threat to their mouths. Cooked bones splinter and damage the mouth from the inside. This might cost you a lot of dollars along with the pain and suffering of your pup.
Raw bones are a double-edged sword if you ask me. On one side, chewing on bones is beneficial for your pup’s dental health along with their mental health too.
If raw bones are too big for your pup or too hard for your pup, you are going to have a dog with some shattered teeth! The most common course of treatment for broken dog teeth is an anesthetic extraction. Here’s another problem your dog doesn’t want to be in!
My Dog Just Ate a Pork Bone. What’s next?
This is a prevalent problem. So, what to do if your dog manages to get his paws on some pork bones?
If it’s not too late, your first reaction should always be to take the bone away immediately. However, in most cases, the dog ends up swallowing the bone before you get the chance to take it away.
In such cases, you need to monitor your dog really closely for any warning signs. Some dogs are able to pass the bone without any issue, while for others, it creates many issues.
Symptoms to look out for:
If any of these symptoms are observed, it’s necessary to take your dog to the vet immediately to see what the best way to move forward is.
Here are some steps that you could take as a precaution if your dog ate a pork bone. First, it’s vital for you not to panic. It’s crucial that you stay calm and don’t take any unnecessary actions.
If you panic, your dog panics and gets scared too.
Step 1: Thoroughly Examine Your Dog
If your dog has swallowed a pork bone, you need to be attentive and look for any signs of distress. These could include choking, excessive pawing, and gagging, requiring a vet’s attention right away.
You could call your dog’s vet immediately or take them to the vet if you observe any such symptom. You need to know that trying to take out anything from your dog’s throat is not advisable unless you can see it clearly on their tongue. You could make matters worse otherwise.
Step 2: Clean Up
Dog’s tend to put anything they see around in their mouth to chew on. So you need to make sure you clean any bits of bones or trash to ensure that your dog is safe. Be vigilant and notice what is missing.
It will help if you put your dogs in their house or a room while taking notes or cleaning to make sure they don’t ingest anything they aren’t supposed to.
Step 3: Call your Vet
Sometimes when your dog ingests something, it might seem fine on the outside. You can never be too careful, so it’s best if you call the vet and schedule a check-up just in case to make sure everything is fine.
Swallowing a bone is a big problem, and vets can provide with the necessary information needed. The vet might warn you of the different warning signs to make sure your dog is completely fine.
Warning signs include:
Step 4: Never force your dog to vomit
This is an important step. It is essential to know that you should never make matters worse by making your dog vomit forcefully. Making your dog vomit forcefully can make matters much worse if the bone comes back up and gets stuck on the way.
Who wants to worry about more health problems or damages when it comes back? Take the dog to the vet, and don’t take any unnecessary steps on your own.
Step 5: Watch for any changes.
If you notice any significant changes in your dog’s behavior that last more than a few hours, it is advisable to make an urgent veterinary appointment. If your dog is lucky and manages to squeeze out an entire bone or a piece of bone, you should find it in your dog’s stool about 48 hours after ingestion.
Your veterinarian may ask you to “fill” their stomachs with bread, pumpkin, or other foods used to harden the stool around the foreign body in their intestines.
Also, to prevent this scenario from recurring, we need to find a better way to protect the trash. Dogs are snoopy and inquisitive. Their nose becomes very useful, especially when it leads to a treasure trove of potential bites.
Accessing the trash can allows dogs to try all kinds of food. Many of them can be very harmful to your health.
What Type of Pork Bones Can Dogs Have?
Pork Rib Bones For Dogs – can dogs chew on pork rib bones
So, your dog ate a pork rib bone now what? Pork ribs sound like a good idea for your dog but beware; these juicy bones can splinter and cause significant damage to your dog. Splinters can break apart anytime and damage the inner layers of the mouth, throat, and intestines.
Baby Back Rib Bones right from the plate seems like a good idea at first, but as discussed earlier, cooked bones for dogs are injurious to their health as they can splinter on impact.
Owners sometimes give their dogs short rib bones that are okay for dogs to eat, but if they come out of your plate in cooked form, don’t give it to your doggo.
If your dog ate a rib bone first and fore most look for any sign of choking in your doggo. Contact a vet immidiately!
Pork Shoulder Bones For Dogs – Can Dogs Chew on pork Shoulder Bones?
Can Dogs Eat Pork Shoulder Bone?
Pork shoulders may or may not pose a risk to your doggo. Every meat lover around the planet loves pork shoulder and your dog would agree with me too.
The risk factor involved with the pork shoulder is in the preparation!
As discussed earlier anything cooked can harm your dog. according to hot short scientist, you can give cooked shoulder bones to your dog but there remains a certain element of damage and injury to your dog due to the bones splintering.
This includes bones that are smoked or steamed. Be very careful and do not make this mistake of giving your dog bones that are smoked or steamed. You might think these have been cooked half way so they are safe but no such bones do have the tendency to splinter and cause harm to your dog.
Pork Shoulder Bones Must Be Prepared Correctly
Pork Shoulder Bones are great for dogs as long as they aren’t too hard to chew, they are of a good size so that your dog wotn have a choking accident.
Its pertinent to know your dog’s medical history as well, if your dog has a weak stomach and gets ill often after eating. Pork Shoulder bones might not be your best option because these bones can become a handful for your dog’s stomach to handle.
Here’s a Pro Tip only our Smart Dog Owners would know. Always clean the pork shoulder bones thoroughly before giving it to your dog. any uncooked/cooked meat on the bone might be contaminated by the time you give the bones to your dog.
Raw meat is a big NO for your doggo. Pork might contain parasites which will make oyur dog its new host. They will slowly drain the life out of your dog and that is exactly why you need to be very careful when giving pork to your dog.
A simple rule thumb for pork is: Meat = Cooked! Bone = Raw!
Pork for dogs can be a vital source of protein, but it wouldn’t be wrong to say that you can throw all pork bones out the window and never look back, period!
Pork bones given to dogs are rewards or treats that might have a full 360-degree opposite effect on your doggo than the one you imagined.
Just hours after enjoying the treat, you might be in a situation where you have to take your pup to the vet for an emergency visit because of a choking hazard or worse, bone shards launched in your dog’s stomach have damaged the intestines!
The point here is not to scare you, but you let you know from the experience as a DVM we have seen thousands of such cases. Pork rib bones splinter, causing blockages of the intestines, lacerations of the internal organs. In some severe cases, dogs eating pork rib bone has led to death as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Listed below are the most commonly asked questions related to dogs and pork bones.
I’ve seen ham bones marketed as dog treats. Are these safe?
If you want to reduce the risk of needing any emergency veterinary trips, avoid them. Commercially-packaged ham bones possess the same risks as any other pork bones when ingested by your dog.
Can bones provide a good mineral supplement to my dog?
It is without doubt that the bones posses high mineral content, but for the safety of your dog chewing on bones is neither a safe nor effective way of providing nutrients.
They find it highly difficult to absorb minerals from a whole bone. Moreover, the minerals, for example dietary calcium, must be strictly balanced in the diet. Numerous documented cases of puppies who have developed limb deformities when given a calcium supplement have been reported.
Are raw pork bones okay for dogs?
Raw pork bones are less likely to splinter than cooked ones. Still, it may cause obstruction whenever the dog is swallowing anything which is not entirely digestible.
Raw feeding is usually not recommended. In particular, the raw pork, may or may not be a source house to a parasite Trichinella spiralis which is normally killed during the cooking of the meat.
The larvae of the parasite reside inside the muscle tissue of the pig and will infect the dog by maturing to its adult form in the intestine after ingestion.
Moreover, dogs fed with raw diets shed dangerous bacteria which is found on raw meats and bones. For this reason, the raw diets are strongly discouraged in households with young children or immune compromised individuals.
Are bones good to clean my dog’s teeth?
The studies suggest that the tartar accumulation on the teeth can be sufficiently reduced by chewing on hard treats and bones. The danger of periodontal disease will be reduced, but Tartar can still linger below the gum line; an area which bone will not be able to reach.
The specifically manufactured ones that improve dental condition can be a benefit to your pup. However, the best way to keep your dog’s mouth clean is by brushing on a regular basis. You can use some of the easy DIY methods as well.
My dog really loves chewing his pork bones! What can I give him instead?
Some of the safer alternatives when looking for a good chew toy may be toys that are either sturdy enough to hold up after a long duration chewing session or crumble into small pieces that are readily digested when swallowed.
There are some that are even flavored with pork or contain pork as an ingredient. The diehard pork-loving dogs won’t be missing out too much! It is important that you supervise your dog during playtime and replace the worn-out toys.
If you still want to make good use of your table leftover then a safer way for your dog is to make them into a broth. Simmer the bones in a pot of water for a day or to be more precise up to 24 hours.
People use bone broth to make “pupsicles” for their dogs. By filling an ice cube tray with bone broth and dog-safe fruits and vegetables you can make your own version. Peas, carrots, and watermelon are good choices.
Final Thoughts – Can Dogs Have Pork Bones?
It is best to leave the dinner leftovers on the table away from your dog. The puppy eyes may be hard to resist, but you’ll need to do it for the health of your pup.So, can dogs have pork bones? The answer should always be a NO after reading all of our info!
As Smart Dog Owners, It’s recommended that dogs are not given any bones from the table because of the potential risks involved.
There are many alternative options that you can choose from, there’s bound to be something that will satisfy even the most discerning pork bone enthusiast, without the surprise trip to the vet!
