02/07/2025
🦷 Let’s kick off dental awareness season with some Myth Busting! 🦷
“Wild dogs and wolves eat bones, so it must be safe for my dog too.”
👉 Not true — and here’s why:
While it’s true that wild canines (like wolves and African wild dogs) do chew and sometimes eat bones, it’s a mistake to assume this is safe for our pets.
1. Bones are also risky for wild dogs and wolves — we just can’t observe the consequences.
• In the wild, animals often die young. If they crack a tooth and get an abscess or suffer a gut obstruction from bone fragments, nature will take its course, and they will unfortunately not survive long.
• Studies of wild wolf skulls show a high rate of broken and infected teeth from chewing bones. These wolves would have experienced pain and discomfort.
• Internal injuries from sharp bones are also likely a factor in early mortality, though this risk is slightly reduced with raw bones and goes unrecorded in the wild. Obstruction of the oesophagus or gut is still a high risk with raw bones.
2. Domestic dogs live longer — and we’re responsible for their health.
• A broken tooth in a pet dog can cause chronic pain, infection, and expensive dental surgery. Avoiding giving them hard objects to chew will help prevent unnecessary tooth and gum damage.
• Dogs do not understand the damage a bone can do when swallowed so will often swallow fragments and even whole bones. These can choking, blockages or perforations in the gut, constipation and severe pain when defecating (from bone shards).
3. The risk far outweigh the benefit.
• There’s no nutritional benefit from chewing bones that can’t be achieved with safe alternatives (like dental chews or pet safe rubber toys).
• Cooked bones are especially dangerous — brittle and sharp — but even raw bones can be hazardous.
Bottom line: Just because wild animals do something, doesn’t mean it’s safe or smart for our pets.
