This a question which I am very often asked, luckily most dogs come through this with out any problem but you should treat the situation warily.
You see bones of any sort are not good to be given to dogs by the way because there is always the possibility of something going wrong, although this only happens rarely why take the risk?
Small bones can splinter and penetrate the intestinal tract thus causing peritonitis which is a very dangerous situation. With larger bones the dog will gnaw them down to powder and the resultant bone meal can sometimes set in the dog’s intestinal tract and cause an obstruction.
Given half a chance most dogs will take on the role of dumpster drivers and swallow all kinds of things, often this does little harm but you have to be wary if this involves chicken bones, rib bones or any other small bone which could splinter and cause your dog problems. If you suspect your dog has done this and your dog appears normal then the best thing to do here is to just sit it out, that is about all you can do as it is not recommended to make dogs sick to recover solid objects like these rib bones, chicken bones etc.. Just monitor your dog, feed him or him or her as normal and see what happens, in my experience most dogs will get way with this type of thing particularly larger breeds. If the dog has just swallowed these bones then some vets suggest that you should feed your dog some mashed potato or a few slices of bread as this will server to cushion the bone fragments as they pass along your dog’s intestinal tract. This can be very effective …
When you think about it wild dogs and feral dogs will be doing this on a daily basis and this is the way they are adapted to feed as opportunistic feeders and scavengers. For them to be able to crunch up and swallow these rib bones and chicken bones then the fragments may well become small enough to pass through your dog’s digestive tract without problem. However there are no guarantees and occasionally in the past at my clinic I have seen problems related to intestinal obstruction and other intestinal tract damage. You would be therefor be wise to monitor such dogs for symptoms such as vomiting, lethargy, not eating, straining or abdominal pain and of course consult your vet without delay if you think this may be happening.
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