Can you give your cat RAW bones to chew and help clean their teeth?

I'm talking about for gum and teeth care. What kind of raw bones are safe to give your cat?


thx

Can you give your cat RAW bones to chew and help clean their teeth?
Yes you can. I give my cats raw chicken wings a couple of times a week to help keep their teeth clean. Crunching bones is how cats in the wild keep their teeth clean. While cooked bones can splinter so should never be given, raw bones are safe. Chicken wings and chicken necks consist of soft bones that are unlikely to cause damage to a cat.





My 10 year old cat took to eating these very quickly (to start with I cut the wings at the joints and gave each section separately, but now I just give him the whole wing). My 2 year old cat isnt' so keen and will only eat smallish pieces of raw meat, but I'm working on getting him to accept larger pieces and eventually bones.
Reply:NONE





cats will chew bones that can break and cause damage





don't ever give bones to a cat.
Reply:You can give cats raw bones but they must be raw and cannot be cooked. Also, make sure the bones are not too small and are fresh and from a reliable meat source.
Reply:no but they do like let u buy these treats that clean there teeth give them 1 evry night
Reply:don't give them anything like that.


the cat will probably not even like it. they are not like dogs who loooove to chew on things.





For theeth and gum care what you can get is specially designed cat food. the pieces are bigger, the cat HAS to chew and cannot just swallow.
Reply:NO, NO, AND HELL NO. Never give any animal bones.


If they swallow them the bones will get stuck in their


throats. They will bleed internally,and choke to death. If


you need something to clean their teeth,go to the pet store


or give them dry food.
Reply:It is not appropriate to give bones to a cat.





Instead, for good teeth and gum care, give your cat a high quality kibble or dry catfood.
Reply:I would definitely not recommend giving bones to a cat. Dogs chew on bones to clean and strengthen their teeth, but cats don't have the omnivore teeth that dogs have and cannot grind their bones. They can only bite and splinter them, as far as I know. While their carnivorous nature means they're well adapted to do this, they do have very small throats and I would be worried about them choking.





As other answers are saying, get the cat some dry food, some of which will actually say on the label that it is designed to clean a cat's teeth and gums.
Reply:YES!





You absolutely can give cats RAW bones.





Any RAW bones is fine. Just make sure they aren't cooked.





http://www.rawfedcats.org/benefits.htm





Warning... good but graphic link to a kibble fed cat with bad dental disease compared to raw fed cats.





http://www.rawfed.com/dental.html
Reply:It is not safe to get cats or dogs bones that come from meats. Bones can splinter and pose a chocking hazard, or cause injury to your pet.





You can buy specially designed bone chews from your local pet shop.





Better yet there are cat treats that control tarter and bad breath. That would be the safest route.
Reply:Yes, you can feed certain raw meat with bones to help clean their teeth. Chicken necks are particularly popular for this. Sorry that you are getting so many incorrect answers.
Reply:The facts on giving a cat raw bones are controversial. Some say that you can and should do it to give them calcium and other essential nutrients and to help clean their teeth, others say that even raw bones are fairly hard and prone to either lodging in the throat or stomach, or worse, splintering and ripping them up internally. Both sides are rather rabid in supporting their point of view.





Because there's so much debate over it, I'd rather play it safe than sorry. There are several products out there that contain raw bone in a ground-up form, and that's a fairly safe compromise. As for cleaning teeth, the surest way to do that is to brush them.
Reply:No, and especially not avian bones. They can splinter and stab or choke the cat.
Reply:Absolutely.





I give my girls raw chicken necks. Other people use wings, and probably others use other parts. But necks I can tell you about.





You can use chicken necks or turkey necks. The turkeys will obviously be bigger so you'd probably have better luck starting with chicken.





You can find these frozen at some of your better independently owned pet stores. The chains probably wouldn't carry them. Or maybe you can find them in a grocery store, organic market, or something like that.





What I did was to cut the necks into very thin slices - maybe 1/8 to 1/4" thick. I crushed up some kibble and rubbed that into and over the pieces. They ate them right up. After doing that for a week or two, I gradually increased the size.





I'm at the point now where I can give them 1-2" pieces. I've been advised that it would be best to give the whole neck - or maybe a half - 2-3 times per week. But I may never get there. So I give them these smaller bits every night.





So far so good!