Keeping your dog's teeth clean and white

A raw Knuckle bone once a week is effective for healthy teeth and gums

Giving bones to your pet to chew on is an effective method for keeping tarter from accumulating and aids in keeping your dog’s teeth clean. Raw knuckle bones (the joints), from your local butcher or meat counter at the  supermarket, are great because they are soft  and allow your dog to scrape its teeth into the bone, nicely cleaning food and tartar from teeth. These bones still have some tendons and muscle meat. They will clean your dog’s teeth and  provide a nice oral workout as well as a healthy amount of natural calcium. Your dog will enjoy a good knuckle bone. It will be content and relaxed while chewing, and a little sleepy afterwards.

I like to go to the butcher (Stater Brothers) and ask for a large femur bone. I then have the butcher cut the bone into quarters (see diagram) so the bone marrow is exposed, allowing my Ridgeback's to get all the good stuff. The cost of the femur bone cut up like this is about $5 and I usually give him one quarter of the bone per week. I put the rest of the parts in the freezer allowing it to last for about a month. I will then defrost another piece every week and give my Ridgeback a new one to chew on. He loves this and it keeps his teeth clean and healthy.

 Cooked bones can splinter and cause mouth injury as well as intestinal problems.

- Do NOT give your dog cooked bones!
- Make sure to give your dog bones that are too large to swallow.
- Do NOT give unthawed frozen bones to avoid the possible breaking of teeth.