| And this brings us to the last word, Bones. I have a lot of things to say about bones. First, they must be raw for dogs to safely consume. Cooking makes the fat in the bones hard and brittle. And some bones are much easier for dogs to consume. These are for the most part, poultry bones, and non-weight bearing bones found in herbivores (goats, cows, sheep, deer, elk, bison, etc.). Weight bearing bones are mainly leg bones. So, the good bones? Chicken necks, chicken backs, wings, thighs, and drumsticks. Turkey necks. I cut turkey necks up as some dogs get greedy and try to swallow them whole. Pork neck and breast bones, pig tails and pork ribs. All types of rabbit. Most cow bones are too hard for any dog to consume. And for small dogs, I tend to use more chicken necks and backs and cut them into smaller pieces. But the sad news is, no, bones do not clean teeth. Not at all. What does keep teeth clean? As I mentioned, the lack of starches and sugars in the diet. This means no grains, no fruit, no potatoes, no carrots, no winter squash and no peas. And if carbs are used for fiber in cooked diets, why not raw diet? Because the bones act as the fiber and as the NRC (National Research Council) states, (the gold standard for dog nutrition) ‘dogs have no need for carbohydrates, and they provide no nutrition to dogs.' They DO cause larger stools, gas, stained and decayed teeth, and dogs struggle to digest and process them. Dogs have a short and simple digestive tract that isn't made to ferment or process much, if any, fiber or carbs. Read more about that in the article above on vegetarian diets for dogs, and here on how the digestive tract of dogs differ from ours: https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/digestion-anatomy/ | 
