What raw bones can dogs eat?

Raw bones are the “10% bone” in the 80/10/10 guide that many raw feeders follow. Choosing one comes down to two things: keeping it raw, and matching it to the protein your dog already eats. Here’s which bones to feed and avoid, how often, how much a week, and how to handle a carton once it’s home.

Raw, never cooked

Cooking changes a bone. It goes hard and brittle and can splinter into sharp pieces, which is why the Australian Veterinary Association warns against ever giving pets cooked bones. Raw bones are less brittle, which is why raw feeders use them and why you should never give your dog the leftover bones from a roast. That goes for bones from every animal, beef, lamb, chicken and pork included.

Bones to feed

Raw feeders mostly use raw meaty bones, meaning bones that still carry meat and cartilage. Brisket bones (the soft bones and cartilage from the chest), neck bones, and chicken necks and frames are the usual ones.

The bones we sell are all raw meaty bones from New Zealand animals: Beef Brisket Bones, Beef Neck Bones, Veal Brisket Bones, Veal Neck Bones and Goat Bones.

Soft bones, such as brisket and chicken necks, are mostly cartilage and softer bone, which is why they’re popular with raw feeders. Our guides to chicken necks and lamb bones cover those two in detail.

Bones to avoid

• Any cooked bone, from any animal.
• Weight-bearing bones from large animals, like beef leg or marrow bones. They’re very dense and hard, so most raw feeders leave them out.
• Bones small enough to swallow whole. A bone your dog can gulp down in one go is a choking risk.

Match the bone to your dog’s diet

An easy way to choose is to feed bones from the same animal as the rest of your dog’s food. It keeps the diet consistent, which matters most for dogs that can’t have certain proteins.

Veal comes from young cattle, so we treat it as beef. Our shop filter lists veal on its own, so tick Veal as well as Beef. Green tripe counts as beef too.

How often to feed bones

Bone makes up about 10% of a raw diet under the 80/10/10 guide. For most dogs that works out to a raw meaty bone a few times a week, alongside their usual muscle meat and organ. If your dog’s stools get very hard and crumbly, that’s usually a sign of too much bone, so cut back a little.

Our raw dog food calculator plans about 10% of the food as bones and works out how much to order.

Here’s what 10% looks like over a week, using the calculator’s 2.5% of body weight a day for a moderately active adult dog:

Bones vary in how much meat they carry, so treat the weekly figure as a rough guide. Weigh a piece or two once to see how far a carton goes for your dog.

A week of bones for a 20 kg dog

For a moderately active 20 kg dog on Beef Mince or a beef-based mix, eating about 450 g of mince a day:

• Some evenings: a beef brisket or neck bone, in place of part of the meal, keeping the week’s bone to about the weight in the table above.
• The other days: the usual mince or mix, with some organ through it.
• The night before a bone day: move a piece from the freezer to the fridge.

Over a week that comes to roughly the 10% the calculator plans. If you rotate proteins, rotate the bones with them: goat with Wild Mix, veal with Fussy Mix.

Splitting a frozen carton

Bones are packed in together and frozen as one, so most people let the box soften a little in the fridge, pull the bones apart and bag them up. An old screwdriver helps with stubborn ones.

Once they’re bagged in lots of two or three, you can take out what the week needs. Thaw portions in the fridge, not on the bench.

Feeding bones safely

• Always supervise your dog with a bone, and take it away once it’s small enough to swallow whole.
• Feed bones outside or on a surface that’s easy to clean.
• If you have more than one dog, give them space so nobody tries to gulp a bone to protect it.

A keen chewer does well with a meaty bone it has to work at. Our guide to raw food for Staffies covers bones for a strong chewer.

A few more habits help: move a bone to the fridge the night before, keep fresh water nearby, and give it after part of a meal rather than to a starving dog, so it gets chewed rather than gulped.

Quick answers

How are your bones packed?

In 10 kg cartons that measure 36 × 27 × 18 cm, so check your freezer space before you order. They arrive chilled: let the box soften a little, pull the bones apart and bag them up for the freezer. See the full raw dog bones range.

How long does a carton last?

A 20 kg dog eating about 50 g of bone a day gets through a 10 kg carton in around six months.

Common questions

What bones can you give dogs?

Raw meaty bones, such as brisket and neck bones, matched to the rest of the diet. Never cooked bones, and not the heavy leg bones of large animals.

Can dogs eat brisket bones?

Yes, raw. Brisket is the meaty breastbone and rib end, with plenty of cartilage. We sell beef and veal brisket.

Can dogs eat soft bones?

Yes. Raw soft bones such as brisket, chicken necks and chicken frames are popular with raw feeders. Supervise, as with any bone.

Can dogs eat raw chicken bones?

Yes, raw ones. Raw chicken necks, wings and frames are soft and widely fed. Cooked chicken bones never are. Our guide to raw chicken for dogs covers them.

What about marrow bones?

Most raw feeders leave out the heavy leg and marrow bones of large animals, because they’re very dense. Brisket and neck bones do the job.

Do bones need thawing first?

Yes. Move a piece or two from the freezer to the fridge the night before.

What do raw bones cost?

Our raw bones start at $5.40 a kilo, and a carton lasts a medium dog months.