I believe its *cooked* chicken bones that are bade for both cats and dogs
for this reason. Just a note, out dog once got a steak bone lodged between
the inside of the top of her mouth, wedged between the teeth on either side.
It was a bit of a trauma for all concerned. We stopped giving her any bones
at that time.

karen

If the chicken bone is raw, it´s ok, if it´s cooked, it´s not ok.
Avian bones may break as needles when cooked and cause problems.

Cooked chicken bones get brittle and can easily break into sharp bits. Raw ones
are supposed to be okay. Some say raw chicken is good for cats because it has
natural enzymes which are lost in cooking. I personally don't give my cats any
bones, better safe than sorry. I just give them a little bit of chicken cooked.
The raw idea scares even though I know they eat raw food in nature. My last cat
would sometimes go into the trash and eat an entire cooked chicken carcass. He
ate all the bones but the legs and thighs which he'd just break in two and suck
on. He never had a problem but I wouldn't recommend it. He was a stray street
cat, stoumach of steel.

Oops, that was probably me and it was irresponsible for me to be so
vague about it. RAW chicken bones, wrapped in plenty of RAW meat, are
minimally risky for a cat to eat. The long bones like drumsticks are
riskier than non-weightbearing bones like backs, necks, and ribs. For ME
and MY animals, the benefits of feeding meat on the bone (especially the
benefits for oral health) far outweigh any risks. When in doubt, take
your vet's advice. And, of course, there's nothing to stop you from
pampering your kitties by offering a little of the cooked meat from your
chicken dinner. :)

I would never feed cooked bones of any kind, poultry or other, to my
cats or dog because of the risk of splintering and the risk of blockage
(cooked bones don't digest as easily as raw).

-Alison in OH

Cats should never be given COOKED bones.  RAW bones are fine. My cats are on a
raw diet and do great with bones. But make sure you're giving bones that are
manageable such as chicken wings, cornish hen or quail.  I wouldn't recommend
beef bones.  

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

You could give them the occasional treat of some of the chicken itself, sans
bone.

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble")  Paul Simon

had a question about the safety of chicken bones and cats.

Thanks everyone for helping me out with this.  Now that I know it's
OK, I'll let my kitties go hog-wild on the raw bones whenever
available.  I bet they'll be thanking you, too :-}

~Shelly~

I've read all the responses from others to your query, and feel I
should voice an opposing view.

I've shared my life with many different cats over more than three
decades. In all that time I have always shared my meals as well, at
least the meat part. And that includes the bones from fried chicken.
(I'm partial to Popeye's spicy chicken.) And none of the cats has ever
had the slightest problem with it.

I should add that I do make sure that I eat all the breading off the
fried chicken before letting the cat have the bone. I've noted that
cats don't seem to like things picante. And besides, the breading is
pretty heavy in carbs and stuff that isn't probably very healthy for
them.

I think the reason they have never had a problem is the same as why I
have never had a chicken bone impale my throat or internal parts. You
see, I just chew the meat off the bone. I don't eat the bone itself.
My cats instinctively do the same thing. I remember one cat who loved
the chicken bones more than most. He would chomp the ends off the
drumstick and other large bones and crunch them down. He would also
gnaw on the rest of the bones to get all traces of meat off them. But
the center portion of the bones were always intact when he was
finished.

My current cat (Old George) is part wolf -- that is, he really bolts
his food down. But when I give him a chicken bone he eats it much more
carefully. I've even seen him spit out pieces of bone, the same as I
do when I accidentally get a bone sliver in my mouth.

There are those who distinguish between cooked and raw bones, claiming
that the cooked bones will splinter. Well, then they'd be dangerous
for me, too. After all, humans have been eating cooked birds only for
a few thousand years. We didn't have kitchens during our evolution.
Most of us critters have figured out how to eat our prey without
causing harm, including humans. It may have taken us a few million
years, but we've got it down. I think cats are just as clever. At
least, all of mine have always handled it easily.

--
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