Fracture of upper 4th premolar (photo by J. Crosby, used with permission)

No–Chewing and ingesting bones can cause serious injury to your pet!

While dogs seem to love chewing on bones, they can cause painful and even life-threatening injuries.

Broken teeth are the most common injury we see.  These fractures, usually of the carnassials, are very painful if the pulp cavity is exposed and can abscess.  Treatment and/or removal of these teeth can be very expensive and fractured teeth with exposed pulp cavity should never be left untreated.

Bones can also cause serious problems such as intestinal perforation and peritonitis, intestinal or gastric blockage, rectal bleeding, choking, severe constipation, and lacerations to the mouth, tongue, and esophagus.  Pathogenic organisms on bones may cause severe diarrhea and vomiting.

For more information, visit http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm208365.htm