Oxtail

[Dawnspell]

Has anyone fed raw oxtail to minis?

My son works part time at Waitrose and brings Jasper the occasional treat from the butchery. Last week was calves liver which he wouldnt eat raw it had to be dehydrated

This week he brought home oxtail. Its not one long piece but cut into the individual bone segments about 1.5 to 2 inch in length. i dont know how crunchable they are for dog jaws to break them up or if theyre a bit small that he could choke. Anybody know ?

[zeta1454]

I would be a bit wary of giving smallish chunks of bone to a mini schnauzer if ours are anything to go by as there is a risk of them being swallowed whole and causing choking. We did have a scare some time ago with a small raw chicken wing which Magic swallowed whole - no ill effects and she did not choke but frightened me enough not to give her anything that small again. I would think that the ox tail could be crunched up by an adult mini as their jaws are strong but it is whether they will crunch it or try to swallow it that would worry me. I think with many dogs it can be better for them to have a large bone to gnaw at unless you are confident they are not likely to try and take it all in one go.

[Dawnspell]

The choking was my worry. I've come up with a solution. I got my ratchet loppers out and cut the larger sections in half then cut across each section 2 or 3 times. He can still have a good chew and gnaw but none of the pieces are choke size. He really likes it they've got quite a bit of meat on too.

[Oscar 12345]

That sounds better Alison. Otto is a swallower, couldn't trust him with bite size chunks.

[Valentin01]

I gave mine oxtail once and they swallowed part of the bone quite big and both were sick.

[Dawnspell]

An update we've had no problems by chopping it up. He's since been treated to 1kg of fresh salmon last week and lamb scrag end slices this week. He's a bit spoilt