The Feed Real Institute advocates feeding dogs raw meaty bones (RMBs) as their primary calcium source, providing them with an outlet for their instinctual need to chew. Many veterinarians will try to discourage you from feeding bones to your dog for various reasons, including the fear of creating nutritional imbalances, the risk of bacterial contamination, and the risk of dental injuries and gastrointestinal obstructions.
However, the benefits of RMBs far outweigh the possible risks! RMBs provide calcium to your dog, mental stimulation, jaw exercises, and the oral health benefits that chewing on the bone offers. As your dog chews, the bones act as a natural toothbrush, scraping the plaque and tartar from her teeth. The cartilage, tendons, and connective tissue surrounding the bones naturally floss between your dog’s teeth.
When creating your dog’s fresh food meal, we recommend to start with 10-12% bone. The calculations used to develop your dog’s meal are based on age, weight, and activity level.
How The Feed Real Calculator Creates Your Dog’s Bowl
To calculate your dog’s daily food intake (DFI), you multiply your dog’s weight by its activity level. We are looking at the ancestral diet. Adult dog activity level multipliers:
- Inactive = 2% (0.02)
- Somewhat Active = 2.5% (0.025)
- Very Active = 3% (0.03)
- Super Active = 3.5% (0.035)
Decide on the Bone Percentage (BP) that you plan to use. We recommend starting with 12% bone.
Next, choose the Raw Meaty Bone (RMB) to feed based on what is available and the appropriate size for your dog. See the extensive list of bones below. Your choice of RMB determines how much bone and muscle meat to add to the bowl.
Using all of this information, use the following calculations to figure the amount of each component to feed.
- RMB: DFI x BP% / RMB%
- Seafood (SF): DFI x 10% (0.10)
- Liver (LV): DFI x 5% (0.05)
- Other Secreting Organ (OSO): DFI x 5% (0.05)
- Fur/Fiber: DFI X 5% (0.05)
- Muscle meat: DFI-RMB-SF-LV-OSO-Fur
Let's run through an example of a 100-pound dog that is somewhat active:
- DFI = 100 x 2.5% = 2.5 pounds of food
- Bone percentage (BP) = 10-12%. We will work with the recommended 12%
- We will use duck wings as the RMB with a 30%. So the amount of RMB calculation is:
- 2.5 (DFI) x .12 (12% BP) / 0.3 (RMB %) = 1 pound of duck wings
- Seafood: 2.5 (DFI) x 10% = 0.25 pounds or 4 oz
- Liver: 2.5 (DFI) x 5% = 0.125 pounds or 2 oz
- OSO: 2.5 (DFI) x 5% = 0.125 pounds or 2 oz
- Fur/fiber: 2.5 (DFI) x 5% = 0.125 pounds or 2 oz
- Muscle meat = 2.5 - 1 - 0.25 - 0.125- 0.125 - 0.125 = 0.875 pounds or 14 oz
What is Meant by Raw Meaty Bone Percentage?
The raw meaty bone percentage refers to the ratio of bone to meat. It is determined by how much muscle meat is present after processing. When poultry necks are processed, the butcher makes little attempt to remove muscle meat. However, when cutting up the breast of the chicken, most of the meat is cut away for human consumption, leaving little to no meat on the bones. That is why there is a higher percentage of bone on the chicken frame than on the neck.
Common Raw Meaty Bones to Use in Your Dog’s Meals
Chicken
- Chicken Head 75%
- Chicken Neck 36%
- Chicken Wing 46%
- Chicken Rib Cages 80%
- Chicken Back 44%
- Chicken Foot 60%
- Chicken Breast 20%
- Chicken Leg Quarter 30%
- Chicken Leg 27%
- Chicken Thigh 21%
- Chicken Drumstick 33%
- Chicken frame 80%
Duck
Turkey
- Turkey Neck 45%
- Turkey Wing 33%
- Turkey Back 50%
- Turkey Breast 14%
- Turkey Thigh 20%
- Turkey Leg 38%
- Turkey Foot 60%
Beef/Ox
- Beef Ribs 52%
- Ox Tails 45%
- Ox Tail Tips 90%
Lamb
- Lamb Neck 32%
- Lamb Ribs 27%
Pork
- Pork Feet 30%
- Pork Tails 30%
- Pork Ribs 30%
Rabbit
- Rabbit Head 75%
- Rabbit front leg 15%
- Rabbit hind leg 14%
- Rabbit spine/back 15%
- Rabbit front quarter 23%
- Rabbit hindquarter 17%
Veal
- Veal Ribs 35%
Choosing the Right Bone for Your Dog
The best way to avoid potential injury and choking is to provide bones based on the dog's size.
Match the bone with the size of the dog’s head. The concern is if the bone is too small rather than too large.
Small-breed dogs often do best with:
- Rabbit
- Duck feet
- Chicken necks
Medium breeds often do best with:
- Rabbit
- Duck necks
- Duck wings
- Chicken feet
- Pork tail
Large-breed dogs often do best with:
- Pork feet
- Duck necks
- Turkey wings
- Turkey necks
Raw, meaty bones are the foundation of the fresh food bowl for your dog. Raw bones in your dog’s diet provide calcium, phosphorus, and other trace minerals. However, you should NEVER feed cooked bones to your dog. Cooking alters the bone matrix, rendering it undigestible.
Takeaway Bites
- Raw, meaty bones are the foundation of your dog’s fresh food meal.
- The recommended amount of bone to feed is 10-12% of the total weight of the meal.
- The easiest method to determine the amount of bone to feed is to use the Feed Real calculator.
References
- Feed Real Calculator
- Brady, C. (2020). Feeding dogs dry or raw? The science behind the debate. Farrow Road Publishing.
- Habib, Rodney; Becker, Karen Shaw. (2021). The Forever Dog. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.