Message Number: YG2052 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Brett Middleton
Date: 2001-04-02 15:55:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Furballs and feeding bones

Sukie wrote:
> Our's do get powdered bone [snip] I simply am not wild about what
> happens when a diet containing larger bits of bone goes wrong.

Bob responded:
> Bone powder, depending on how fine it is, the amount, and the amount
> of HCl excreted by the stomach, would probably completely dissolve
> and wouldn't be useful in transporting hair.

I'm as much of a coward about bones as Sukie. When I grind a raw
chicken, there's always about a cup full of stuff that won't go through
the plate no matter what I try. This seems to be mostly cartilage, but
contains some nasty-looking bone spicules. It's too much of a pain to
try to sort it out, so I just throw it away.

But, now you've got me wondering if I'm not losing the best part of the
bulk. Is the part that *does* go through the grinder plate enough to
clean out the hair, or is it too small to be useful? (What gets
through is enough to make pretty speckles on an x-ray, unless those
were just the eggshells.)

Brett

*SLMW 1.0* Thank goodness ignorance isn't painful.