No bone is truly ‘safe’ 100% of the time for 100% of dogs.
It might interest you to know that dog health insurers do not cover any illness/injury caused by “raw food diets”.
When I first got insurance 4 years ago, I asked about that exclusion.
The answer; too many claims.
They consider those claims to be an “avoidable illness” which are not covered.
That’s why I have to practice pro-active health measures such as dental cleaning, vaccines, etc.
Case in point, Odin recently racked up quite a bill over a what turned out to be just a stomach bug.
They paid me back 90% of my vet bills.
Had he been on raw or BARF, they would not have paid me a dime.
But, they’re your dogs.
Did you even look at the link? No? It’s from a holistic vet who has studied nutrition beyond what the vet school provides (sponsored by the pet food industry). In the article she clearly outlines what “common sense” things should be considered when feeding raw bones (and for the record, not every raw feeder feeds raw bones — and not every raw feeder feeds RMBs which are recreational bones). It is a false canard that wolves live shorter lives because of diet (seriously??) and attempting to make some comparison there between captivity (where, by the way, they are STILL fed a raw diet so there goes that analysis) and domestic pets who are (on average) living longer but not healthier because of their diets and have chronic ailments many of which are fatal and cause many pet owners to euthanize or engage in high maintenance with dangerous drugs. That’s your idea of “healthier”???? Not mine.
I would recommend that ANYONE going to a raw diet (and I would absolutely recommend it!) — do proper research first. That doesn’t mean going to an online layperson’s forum or a yahoo blog where anyone and everyone can put in their .02. What it DOES require is due diligence by reading from qualified sources who have done THEIR due diligence: holistic/homeopathic vets for the most part since the average traditional vet got very little education on nutrition. Common sense is key. Far too many “raw feeders” get excited, throw their dog a whole chicken and walk off and then are surprised when there’s an issue. Ditto for those feeding bone marrow to dogs with pancreatitis. Frankly in this day and age I’m astonished that anyone would consider it riskier to feed something natural like raw food over highly processed bags of aflatoxins, phenobarbital, etc... There’s a far greater risk — as the 2007 recalls showed — in putting one’s trust in the pet food industry to provide a quality food. The FDA doesn’t outlaw things from the 4 D in pet foods.
Here’s a link which might interest you from holistic vet Jean Hofve:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-dry-food-is-bad-for-cats-and-dogs/
Yes, our dogs are ours and we thank God every day that we learned better how to feed them. When you learn better you do better.