Are marrow bones safe for dogs?

When I was a kid my family had a cocker spaniel.  She ate kibble, but my dad also used to give her an array of raw bones to chew.  I remember raw marrow bones were one of her favorite treats.  She would spend hours working on them, trying to figure out how to get all of the coveted marrow out.  There are health benefits to feeding dogs marrow, but when I got older and had dogs of my own (ha) I learned that there are also potential dangers associated with feeding raw marrow bones.

I remember when I first got Kitsune, doing research about what types of bones are safe for dogs and coming across numerous accounts of dogs who had gotten marrow bones stuck on their lower jaws.  Hollow marrow bones can get lodged around dog’s lower jaw, right behind the canine teeth.  Apparently this phenomenon isn’t all that uncommon.  Sometimes the bones get so stuck that vets have to use bone saws to remove them.

You could argue that selecting the right sized bone could eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, this risk.  Even so, there are other potential problems.  Weight bearing bones of large animals, which includes beef marrow bones, are very hard – harder than dog’s teeth.  Hard bones plus over exuberant dogs can lead to broken or fractured teeth, which can be painful and expensive to treat.

If marrow bones are so dangerous, why did we include it on our A to Z foods list?

The marrow inside marrow bones contains vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.  Fatty acids help promote healthy brain function, skin and fur health, faster wound healing, and a healthy immune system.  Marrow contains elements important to the body including vitamin A, iron, calcium, phosphorous, and zinc to name a few.

To give my dogs the benefits of consuming marrow, while also avoiding the potential dangers that can come with giving them intact marrow bones, I make them bone broth! 

Bone broth is, basically, soup stock that’s made by allowing bones to simmer in water for long periods of time.  Adding vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar) helps draw nutrients from the bones.  I use our slow cooker to make bone broth, and almost always include at least one beef marrow bone, although other types of bones can be used as well.  When your broth is done, make sure to strain out the bones and only offer your dog the liquid/jelly (bone broth has a gelatin like consistency after it cools).

Bone broth is an amazing food topper.  It can be a great way to get nutrients into a sick dog.  Like the gelatin we posted about the other day, bone broth can help support joint health.  It contains natural forms of glucosamine and chondroitin, as well as many other essential vitamins and minerals.  If you make too much, you can freeze bone broth to make it last longer.  I usually freeze it in ice cube trays so I can easily defrost a few cubes at a time.

Looking for more ideas for healthy “human” foods you can share with your dog?  Check out my other blogging from A to Z challenge posts!

Making bone broth is a great way to provide your dog with the benefits of marrow bones, without having to deal with any of the potential drawbacks.  Do you like cooking for your dog?  Have you ever tried making bone broth?

What’s kefir, you ask?

I’ve been making milk kefir for my dogs for years now!  Milk kefir is a probiotic packed drink that is made from cultured/fermented milk.  Think yogurt, only with even more probiotic goodness, and a thinner consistency.

I feel like I started making homemade kefir before kefir was cool!  These days, kefir can easily be purchased in most grocery stores.  I haven’t looked too closely into store bought kefir to be honest.  I assume a lot of them probably have added sugars etc. that wouldn’t be the best for dogs.

Homemade kefir is really easy to make!

You can purchase kefir kits that allow you to make usually a couple batches of kefir.  Alternatively, I purchased kefir grains which, if cared for properly, have a pretty much unlimited lifespan.  I bought my kefir grains in March of 2015 and they are still going strong!

I’m not an all-knowing kefir guru – I’m sure you can do research and learn a lot more about kefir than what I’m going to share here.  But I’ll tell you a little bit about my experience with it.  Basically, kefir grains are weird little clumps of bacteria and yeasts.  Sounds lovely right?  When you put them in milk, the grains digest sugars/lactose in the milk, and in turn culture the milk.

What are the Benefits of Kefir?

Think of kefir like you would yogurt – only it’s better!  Kefir contains more live strains of beneficial bacteria/yeasts than yogurt does.  The strains of bacteria/yeast found in kefir can colonize the digestive tract.

So, if you haven’t figured it out yet, the main benefit of homemade kefir is its probiotic properties!  Before discovering kefir, I used to give my dogs probiotic supplements daily to help with their digestion.  Since the addition of kefir to their diet, I’ve been able to stop purchasing commercial probiotic supplements.

Because it helps maintain a healthy digestive tract, kefir is great for the immune system!  It also contains calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A, B2, B12, D, and K.  When I bring up kefir, dog owners often point out that many dogs don’t handle milk well.  The bacteria/yeasts in kefir solve that problem!  They digest the milk sugars/lactose, making kefir well tolerated even by people/pets who are lactose intolerant.

Is it Gross?

It sounds gross, right?  I wasn’t crazy about the idea of fermenting milk in my kitchen when I first started our kefir journey.  It doesn’t smell bad, which is one thing I was concerned about.  Both my dogs will readily drink it – Fenrir especially enjoys it.  The longer you leave it to ferment, the stronger the flavor.  I’ve found that my dogs personally seem to enjoy lightly fermented kefir.  If I forget about it and accidentally over ferment it, they usually don’t like it as much.

After feeding kefir to Kitsune for a while, I got brave and tried it myself.  It has a flavor similar to plain yogurt, but to me tasted more tart.  I don’t like it plain, but often drink it now as part of my morning smoothies, and sometimes add it to my cooking as well.

You can find lots of recipes for foods to make using kefir online – including things like kefir cheese, sour cream, etc.  I typically just give my dogs a teaspoon or two plain with their breakfast, but I do occasionally make them kefir cheese treats as well.  If you end up with too much kefir, you can freeze it.  When your kefir grains reproduce, you can feed the excess to your pets, or dehydrate them.  I usually feed my excess grains to the dogs, but do have some that I dehydrated in case something happens to my culture and I have to start over.

I could probably write a lot more about kefir, how exactly to make it, share recipes, etc, but this post would get way too long!  If learning about kefir and what I do with it is something my readers are interested in, I’d definitely be willing to write more about it in the future.

Looking for more ideas for healthy “human” foods you can share with your dog?  Check out my other blogging from A to Z challenge posts!

Have you ever tried kefir?  What did you think of it?  Does your dog like kefir?

At our house, we spend a lot of money on honey!

I’m a big fan of anything sweet, honey included.  In our town, we have an awesome farmer’s market that is frequented by an apiarist (beekeeper) who sells local, raw honey.  It costs more than supermarket honey, but, in my opinion, tastes a lot better.  Normally, we have to be careful to keep our sweet treats away from the dogs.  But honey is a sweet snack you can feel good about sharing with Fido!

**Just a quick warning: Honey is high in sugar and calories.  For these reasons, it’s not advised for overweight pets or animals suffering from diabetes.  Because raw honey can become contaminated with botulism spores, it should not be offered to young animals (including humans) who do not yet have fully developed immune systems.**

Do Dogs Like Honey?

Mine do!  Kitsune and Fenrir will happily lick up plain honey.  It’s sweet, and most dogs do seem to enjoy the flavor.  If you don’t want to offer honey plain, try using a small amount as a food topper, or make some sweet homemade treats.

In the past, I’ve even used honey to convince Kit to lap up medication that he otherwise wasn’t interested in.

Does the Type of Honey Matter?

The honey you can typically buy at the grocery store is pasteurized and filtered.  Pasteurized honey won’t hurt your dog, but many of the potential health benefits are compromised when honey is heated (pasteurized).  I prefer to buy locally sourced honey because it is thought to help combat against allergies.

Have you ever heard of Manuka honey?  Its honey sourced from New Zealand, created by bees who collect nectar from Manuka bushes.  Manuka honey has been shown to be an effective natural antibacterial and is sometimes used as an alternative treatment for infections and wounds.

Health Benefits of Honey

One of the reasons I really like offering Kitsune honey is because he, like me, suffers from seasonal allergies.  Locally sourced raw honey contains pollen from local plants.  By eating these pollen spores, you are potentially exposing yourself to the same types of spores that cause you to feel so miserable during allergy season.  Eating local honey works much the same way as allergy shots – exposing yourself to small amounts of allergens to desensitize your immune system to the cause of your allergies.

Raw honey also contains enzymes that can help improve your dog’s digestion!  It’s also a great energy source if your dog is feeling sluggish and could use an extra boost of energy.  Honey is not only high in energy boosting sugars, it also contains minerals such as potassium, iron, magnesium, plus B, C, A, E, D, and K vitamins.

Honey is a natural anti-inflammatory, making it beneficial not only for wound healing, but also for reducing inflammation in the digestive tract.  In addition to helping to reduce inflammation, honey has antibacterial properties that can help to reduce the overgrowth of bad bacteria in the digestive tract.

Lots of Potential Benefits!

But remember not to give raw honey to puppies, and only give it to adult dogs in moderation.  Kitsune’s vet recommended we offer a half of a teaspoon of raw honey to Kit a day to combat his seasonal allergies.  Too much honey can cause GI upset.  It’s also very calorie dense, so care should be taken when feeding it to a pet who needs to lose weight.  If your pet has any health issues, talk to your vet before introducing any new foods.

Do you like honey?  Does your dog?  Call me crazy, but I like having at least one sweet treat that I can share with my dogs.  My normal “go to” sweet is chocolate, which, of course, I have to keep away from Kit and Fen.  But I like that I can share a bit of honey with them – and I know they like it too!

Looking for more ideas for healthy “human” foods you can share with your dog?  Check out my other blogging from A to Z challenge posts!