Note: Not sure who the author is of this article. Sandy
The idea for chicken wings comes from a diet explained in the book
"Give your dog a bone" by the Australian vet Ian Billinghurst. It has
just been distributed in the US (I'm afraid I don't have full details but the
ISBN number for the original edition is 0 646 16028 1) or directly from him at
"Give Your Dog a Bone", PO Box 703, Lithgow,
(http://members.aol.com/abywood/index.html).
TDr. Billinghursts book,
"Give Your Dog a Bone" can be purchased direct from either: "Give
Your Dog a Bone", PO Box 1750, Sandusky, OH 44871-1750 for $28.00 + 4.10
shipping, 1-800-241-9111 ex505; or from Direct Book Service 1-800-776-2665 for
$27.95 + shipping.
He advocates feeding
dogs a diet based around raw meaty bones (50-60%), together with smaller
quantities of vegetables (completely crushed - I mince mine or use a juicer and
feed the pulp), meat, offal (heart, liver, kidney), dairy products, eggs, fish
and some cereal. He suggests that 80% of the bones should be chicken wings - but
mine get mainly chicken wings with some chicken carcasses - occasionally other
bones (usually beef ribs once a week and a rabbit once or twice afortnight -
when available). Other bones can be turkey, lamb, beef (the least useful as
mostdogs cannot eat them completely), and rabbit. Everything is fed raw (except
rice, beans and tinned fish).
The benefits of feeding raw
meaty bones (generally) are that
they contain calcium and phosphorus in balance +
other minerals
they contain good quality protein
they contain essential fatty acids
they contain vitamins A,D & E in the fat
they contain copper and iron in the marrow
they contain anti-oxidants and enzymes
the action of eating bones cleans the teeth and
provides exercise
The benefits of
chicken wings in particular are
all of the above +
they are a good balance of bones and flesh to
provide the above benefits
they are from young animals so bones are soft and
free of toxins
they can be easily managed by dogs of any size
and age
they have the best fatty acid content of all
bones
they are very high quality protein.
In case you are concerned
about the safety of this I should emphasize that the bones must be RAW. Cooked
chicken bones are very dangerous as they become sharp and hard. Raw bones on the
other hand are quite soft and the dogs simply crunch them up. Add to that the
fact that a chicken wing is bones inside a good coating of chewy flesh and skin
- so the bones are well padded.
Other concerns are
with salmonella etc. from feeding raw food. While you need to be careful
handling raw meat yourself dogs are unlikely to have problems with organisms
such as salmonella. Their digestive systems are designed to cope with raw meat.
If you are concerned you can treat meat before feeding using grapefruit seed
extract which you soak the meat in. Personally I do not dothis and have had no
problems.
How many wings/bones
you feed daily will depend on several things. One is whether you are adopting
the complete bone-based diet (so that the bones are the majority part of it) or
using the bones as a kind of treat.
For maximum benefit the diet
should be followed but wings are a healthy treat. It also of course depends on
the size of your dog and its metabolism and activity level. The bones should
make up 50-60% of the whole diet (with veggies, meat, offal, dairy, cereals etc
making up the rest). As a guide my 80/90lb, fairly lazy maremmas each have 8-10
wings a day + 1 or 2 carcasses - or 12 wings and no carcasses. You may need to
experiment to see what your dog needs to maintain a healthy weight. A friend
with Yorkies and a Border collie pup who feeds this diet says she worked out how
many to feed the pup by watching to see when she stopped eating them and started
hiding them away!
You are not limited to
wings. The wing is simply a convenient and often cheap part of the bird where
the bones are manageable by dogs of any size. But if you have reasonable sized
dogs there is no reason why they shouldn't eat drumsticks/legs, carcasses or
even the whole bird! I have given mine whole chickens (literally), legs,
carcasses and complete wings (not just tips) without any problems. But the wings
are perhaps the best place to start for the nervous - they are completely padded
by flesh - the bones are small and soft - and they are a relatively easy
proposition for even the smallest dog. Get whatever bones are availble cheaply
in your area - if it is not chicken then try turkey or rabbit or lamb. But
chicken parts are usually cheaply available if you get them in bulk (I freeze
about a fortnight's worth at a time which I get for 10 pounds sterling (about
US$15) - which is cheaper than the kibble I was feeding!)
In addition to the
wings (which mine have daily for one of their two meals) I feed minced veggies
mixed with meat, offal (sometimes minced), eggs, cheese, milk, sardines, tuna,
table scraps, or baked beans. The veggies are minced first to crush them and
then are mixed with one or more of the above. You can use just about any veg -
and also the stuff that you would throw away like the outside leaves of
cauliflower and pea-pods. In terms of quantity - again it is a bit of an
experiment but I generally give mine the equivalent of two medium sized carrots
a day each (made up of different veg) + 0.25-0.5 lb meat/offal or 1 egg or 0.5
pints of milk or 1 tin of sardines or 0.5 tin of tuna or beans. I watch their
weight and reduce or increase accordingly. Once or twice a week I give them a
porridge made of rolled oats (1-2 cups), milk (0.5 pint), eggs (1) and honey (1
tsp). I sometimes add minced fruit (apple, coconut, raisins) to this. I
supplement at the moment with Hokamix - a natural herbal supplement. Before that
I gave regular Brewers Yeast (Vit B), Kelp (Iodine and minerals), Wheatgerm (for
Vit E), Cod liver oil (Vit A/D) and parsley (Vit C). I sometimes give garlic
tablets also.