Will chicken bones harm my dog? Well, when I was a young vet and just qualified I often lost sleep over dogs which had accidentally swallowed chicken bones. Now as an older vet I scarcely give it a second thought, you see I have come to understand that in most cases they somehow seem to get away with this. But let’s talk about this a bit more …

How serious is it if your dog swallows chicken bones?

I have to say that bones of any sort are not good to give to dogs because there is always the possibility of them { rarely } causing some problem or other. If you give bones to your dog on purpose then consider stopping doing it, why take the risk?

You see small bones can splinter and penetrate the intestinal tract thus causing peritonitis which is a very dangerous and sometimes fatal condition. 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 like cement and can cause constipation or an intestinal tract obstruction.

But back to chicken bones. Will chicken bones harm my dog? When you think about it wild dogs and feral dogs will be swallowing them on a daily basis and this is the way they are adapted to feed as opportunistic feeders and scavengers, and it would be rare for them to suffer adverse effects. And in my opinion, the same thing applies to domestic dogs as well. Another factor which helps in this situation is that some digestion and softening of chicken bones is very possible because of the gastric juices.

What to do about it if your dog swallows chicken bones?

If you suspect your dog has swallowed chicken bones and your dog appears normal { As is most likely } then the best thing to do here is to just sit it out. Actually, that is about all you can do as it is not recommended to induce vomiting to recover solid objects like chicken bones as these sorts of sharp objects can potentially cause problems on the way back up.

Basically, just monitor your dog, feed your dog as normal and see what happens, in my experience most dogs will get way with this type of thing particularly larger breeds.

If your dog has just swallowed these chicken bones within the last hour or so then some vets suggest that you should then feed your dog some mashed potato or a few slices of bread at once. You see as this will serve to form round and cushion the sharp bone fragments as they pass along your dog’s intestinal tract, this is a logical measure and can be very effective.

What adverse symptoms should you look out for?

Of course, there are no guarantees and occasionally over the years, I have seen problems related to intestinal obstruction and other intestinal tract damage following dogs eating chicken bones. So where a dog has swallowed chicken bones you would be wise to monitor your dog for any odd symptoms such as vomiting, lethargy, lack of appetite, straining or abdominal pain and of course, have your dog examined by a vet without delay if you have even the slightest concern.