Not All Bone Is The Same

When you see bone added to your pet’s food, have you ever wondered if it’s biologically appropriate for your fur baby? Sure, dogs and cats are capable of digesting bone, but should they?

There’s no dispute for dogs, gnawing on a bone has physical and psychological benefits. But as dogs and cats age, just because they can eat bone, is it the best for them. I use to be able to take shots and feel great the next day. But now… no shots for me. A body’s capability and function declines over time. Bone gets more difficult to digest as our animals age. Plus, there are issues like CKD where bone can make the condition worse.

The bone added to our pet’s food usually comes from large mammals like cows, pigs and lamb. Lamb and cow bones have some of the highest densities of all bone. Load-bearing bones at that. It’s a waste product from human food production sold cheaply to pet food companies, adding weight and volume to expensive ingredients like meat. Bone contains no unique nutritional value that can’t be easily obtained from some other source, like lab-produced calcium, or easily digestible eggshell which is used in our formulas. 

Your cat’s body was designed to eat low density bone from a mouse or small bird. When you add cow, pig, or lamb bone to the food, this is a much denser bone than their body can easily manage, especially as they age, than their bodies are built to digest. It can lead to gut and digestive issues. This is the same with dogs, especially small and medium breeds as they age.

All bone isn’t created equal. A mouse bone is much easier to digest than ground or pulverized cow’s femur. Remember that when you’re looking at your pet’s food label.

Fetching Foods offers ALL products as boneless, BY DEFAULT. We have a small selection of products containing bone of the animal they came from, and are clearly marked as exceptions. The animal is partially deboned then ground. Our four products with bone, two have boneless options: quail, squab, rabbit, duck. Custom Meals can be designed using bone.