[nanashi7]

I made a dinner last night with boned chicken, I stripped all the meat off prior to cooking. Now I have these raw chicken bones with a bit of stuff left on them. Can I give them raw? Should I prepare them in a certain way?

 

[PaigeRose]

My experience is only with dogs - and unless feeding a PMR/BARF or other raw diet I wouldn't give a chicken bone of any kind to a dog - but cooking makes the bones brittle. Raw bones are stronger than cooked.

I think I read somewhere that people give rats bones - cooked or uncooked. The marrow is apparently yummy. Personally, I'd probably do uncooked and remove them after a day or so. Something with how rats chew wouldn't allow a bone to splinter like it would if a cat or dog were eating it.

 

[tok]

Bones are a favorite in this house! I will usually stock up on bones from our meals and freeze them for later use.

I'll usually scrape most of the fat & ligaments on the chicken legs n such before I hand them to the rats.
I just gave them some rib bones last night.

 

[Rattenstein]

Personally I'd roast them first, because raw chicken could have salmonella. I've given roasted bones before and they were stripped to dry nubs by the next morning.

 

[Fu-Inle]

I've been giving my rats cooked chicken bones for months and never had a problem.

 

[ilovescience]

I read somewhere that cooked chicken bones are fine (for rats).

 

[QueenBea]

Cooked bones are just fine for rats because Rats knaw, they don't chomp them down as fast as they can like dogs. Thats why bones can stab a dog's stomach. Rats don't have this issue.