Feeding Chicken Carcasses to Dogs

When mum adopted Chico, she was given some recommendations on what to feed him and also a list of what he was currently consuming. On both lists were chicken carcasses. Before this, I had been feeding Diego some meaty, larger bones and Daisy had consumed bones frequently during her life. Never had we given chicken carcasses. Mum wanting to be a great Greyhound owner, went and purchased some and saw how happy they made Chico. He would devour them in seconds and therefore she has been feeding him at least two a week for the past six months.

Now that we live with my mother and Chico, we started giving Diego a chicken carcass whenever Chico got one. Diego at first was a bit hesitant, and licked the carcass more than chewing it. However, over time he has now come to love carcass days, and scurries quickly away with his carcass to demolish it.

Chicken bones is a controversial subject in the dog feeding world. A lot of people say that no matter the chicken bone, it should not be fed, others suggest only feeding raw chicken necks, while others recommend all raw chicken bones. One thing all these people can agree on though, is that cooked chicken bones are a definite no-no. Under no circumstance should you allow a dog to eat cooked chicken bones, and if, for whatever reason, your dog does gulp down cooked bones, make sure to keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours. The reason behind this is that once cooked, chicken bones are dry and brittle and do not break the same way their raw counterparts would. This can cause tears, and rips inside the dog leading to a whole bunch of complications.

After some research of my own, I believe the full chicken carcasses are an amazing addition to any dogs diet. Raw chicken bones contain valuable nutrients that the dog needs, as well as giving them an opportunity to chew on bones and clean their teeth. Dogs need to chew on bones to help keep plaque and build up off their teeth, and chewing on chicken carcasses is an excellent way to really clean their teeth as the skinnier bones gets deeper between each tooth. Dental disease in dogs is a huge problem in today's society and I think a number one cause of this, is the lack of natural bones and meat that dogs are getting.

With larger, meatier bones from Cows and Deer I find that Diego's breath turns extremely foul. Diego sleeps in bed with me, and also shares our couches. He is very much an inside dog so for him to have bad breath, it really affects our lives. With chicken carcasses, I haven't noticed more of a smell than his usual breath. He can eat a chicken carcass and I will happily cuddle up with him afterwards without noticing any bad odours.

Another worry with feeding full carcasses to dogs is that they will turn into blood thirsty creatures. I can say that with Diego and Chico this is not the case at all. Although, recently on walks, Chico has found a dead duck and every time we go near it, he will try and pick it up to eat it. Diego being the little sneak he is, has found a way to get into the chicken coop to eat the table scraps we feed to them. I only noticed this recently and wonder how long it has been going on for. He stops at the table scraps though. He easily has the chance to kill and eat all the chickens in the coop, and he doesn't. He couldn't care less about them actually, he only thinks them as a menace for 'his' food.

What are your thoughts on chicken carcasses for dogs? Do you feed them to your dogs? Or do you feed different types of bones? Leave us a comment down below!