Introducing Raw - What Size Bones?

[lemondrop]

I'm starting to introduce some raw to my cats, mainly with preventative dental health care in mind. My understanding is that raw, meaty bones are great for this because of the chewing required. They mostly eat canned food and kibble with the occasional commercial raw rotated in; I'm not really worried about balancing homemade raw diet because I'll probably only give them bones a couple times per week.  

We tried raw chicken wings earlier this week and they LOVED them. They can have sensitive tummies sometimes, but no one had any digestion issues. I was really pleased. All three of them got the hang of crunching the bones and managed to eat the wing tip, the radius, and the ulna. But all three of them left the humerus (after getting most of the meat off). So my question is, is that size bone too big for them or are they still building jaw strength and they'll work up to it? What are good "starter" bones?

 

[goingpostal]

Your kitties will need to build up jaw strength.  Good soft bones would be like quail, game hens, chicken rib/breast, small rabbits (1-3 pound). 

 

[lemondrop]

What size bones are they working up to? I don't really know what a good goal is for them.

 

[mschauer]

I don't feed bones to my cats but if I did I would target only very small bones. Like what would be found in the prey cats have evolved to eat: mice, birds, lizards. They can certainly handle larger bones, especially when young, but I'd stick with the smaller ones to minimize the risk of damage to their mouth and teeth. In my opinion, anything the size of a chicken drumette (humerus) or larger would be too large.

 

[ritz]

I cut up chicken backs, but when available--and when I'm feeling rich--I use bones from quail and rabbit.

 

[meowlifestyle]

That's great your cats took to chewing on bones so quickly. Mine have been been raw meat since kittens and they are not a big fan of chewing on bones. I give chicken necks and chicken wings, I don't see a reason to go any bigger than that because in nature a chicken is still much larger than their natural diet of mice or small birds.

Congratulations to your kitties!