What are beef marrow bones, and why would anyone give them to their dog? We are huge fans of these bones at my house, and I thought I would share five reasons why your dog should be munching on them too! Since dogs are not allowed in the store where Mom buys these delicacies, I had her snap a photo for my post. Don’t tell me you are not drooling looking at them!
Reason 1 – beef marrow bones are all natural
There is nothing fake about these bones. We purchase ours right from the butcher in the cooler case. They come in all different sizes, and they even have regular or smoked. They need to be kept cool or frozen so they don’t go bad because there are no preservatives. Mom buys a bunch of them and keeps them in the bags in the freezer for evening snacks once or twice a week.
Reason 2 – beef marrow bones are delicious
Unless your dog is just plain nuts, they will love the taste of these bones. I’m super picky, but I sure love them. Bones are something dogs eat in nature and simply love. Bailie and I work hard on them and gnaw on them until they are completely clean – inside and out.
Reason 3 – beef marrow bones are great for dental health
Dogs can clean their teeth naturally by chewing bones. Yes, there is always the danger of breaking a tooth. Yes, dogs should be monitored when chewing bones to prevent any choking or ingesting of the actual bone. If you think about it, dogs can break their teeth playing ball, or doing many things. Unless your dog is a super aggressive chewer, beef marrow bones are an excellent way to help keep those chompers shiny clean. The bones come in lots of sizes, so you can get the best size for your dog. Remember, I’m ten and have the teeth of a four year old, partially from chewing bones!
Reason 4 – beef marrow bones are good for overall health
Bone marrow has many health benefits for your dog besides their teeth. The adiponectin has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers. Marrow also supports kidney and digestive function, it can aid in repairing wounds, and will help generate new red and white blood cells. All that healthy stuff in such a tasty bone – what a great thing!
Reason 5 – beef marrow bones cure boredom
Chewing on a beef marrow bone will relieve boredom in your dog and tire them out. Getting these bones cleaned off is no easy task. Bailie and I spend well over an hour many times working on our bones. When we finally finish, we are tired out because it is hard work! You can see in the Instagram video the hard work and how focused Bailie is on her bone! We save some of the bones and make our own stuffing too, like the salmon ones with beans and sweet potatoes!
Do your dog a favor, and grab her some beef marrow bones! You can order them online, or get them in pet stores, but we find the most fresh and least expensive ones are just down the road at our local butcher! Make sure and try different sizes and if they have them, smoked ones too! Yum!
I love them too…the best moment is when a big piece of marrow comes out after I worked like a berserk on that bones… and the second best moment is to hide them under my dad’s pillow :o)
I don’t think I ever get a big chunk. I like the marrow out like an ice cream cone. Never thought of putting them under my mom’s pillow. She might like that.
Schooner and Skipper plus our 3 grand dogs love raw bones. It keeps them busy while they are licking out the bone marrow. We buy from a meat market 20 lbs at a time and keep them in the freezer. If they are frozen it takes them a lot long to get ll the bone marrow out.
We get a couple fresh ones when Mom comes home from the butcher, then she freezes the rest. The frozen ones are really a lot of work, but we love to do that kind of work.
We used to give these to our first dogs all the time. We sold them right at the store I work at, but I don’t think we could get them anymore. I’m not sure if that’s why we stopped or if it’s because I heard about the tooth breaking. Like everything else, Luke won’t let me brush his teeth, so I need him chewing on things like this to keep his teeth clean.
Some grocery stores carry them too, but they don’t usually have the selection and they are more expensive. It’s best to find a butcher, we find.
YUM! The mom wants to know if they leave any stains on the carpet or sofa where I would eat mine? XOXO, Sparkle
Not really. If they are fresh and have a lot of blood like stuff on the outside they might, but the few times we have had a bit of the blood on the carpet, it came right up with cold water. The smoked ones don’t leave any stains, or you could look for a plain one that doesn’t appear to have any blood at all on the outside.
Thank you, Emma! Sparkle
I would love to give my dogs beef marrow bones. Rodrigo is a strong chewer and I worry that he’ll break his teeth on these bones. I give our dogs beef knee caps and beef knuckle bones. They also get a few different raw meaty bones.
Beef marrow bones are easily accessible because I can buy them at our grocery store; but Rodrigo ruined it for everyone 🙂
That is a multi pet problem, one thing ruins it for all. We all chew pretty diligently, but have never come close to breaking one of these. Katie tried knee caps, but she managed to break them into small pieces, so we couldn’t have those.
Good info, thanks. We always wondered if it would be ok to try this
Lily & Edward
On this subject, we don’t mind being the Guinea Pigs 😉
Yum! The Lapdogs used to get them a lot, but then we stopped because some had an issue with runny #2 after having them. We tried the partial baking method, but that didn’t work well either. Might have to try again – do you give them raw only?
We have them raw, but the ones we get are either not that big, or not packed with marrow. Mom hand selects them from the bins. The smoked ones are tasty too.
Might have to look into these. I used to give Dakota commercial beef knuckles….I bet these are much better!
They are probably less expensive too. Buy a bunch and freeze them. They will keep for months and it takes longer to get the marrow out when it is frozen.
I know y’all really must enjoy those,. Happy chomping!
We do, and cat bro Bert tries to get into the action too.
So yum!! Even Mommy drooled when she saw that first picture, and she pinned the salmon stuffing recipe. Whooppee!!!
LOL! My mom loves to gnaw on bones too! She only eats t-bone steaks at home because she loves to clean off the bone! Hard to believe we are adopted sometimes because Mom is so similar to us!
Cure boredom? Faraday NEEDS that – for REALZ. MOL!
It works for cat bro Bert. He loves to chew on our dog bones if he can get his paws on one!
We don’t get bones very often because Mom says I act like a jerk when I have a bone. Of course, I don’t but Pierre comes poking his nose over at MY bone and it is necessary for me to let him know that is NOT okay. I’m sure you can understand. Still, we do get them on occasion and Pierre eats his in his kennel. Now, I just have to talk her into a marrow bone!
We are always kept separated when we get these delicacies as they are worth giving up your life for I think. They are so healthy and yummy! You have to get some!
My dogs love marrow bones! 😀
You dogs are smart dogs because they are awesome!
You are lucky to get them at a good deal at your butcher, that’s awesome! Bones really are a wonderful way of cleaning those K9 pearlies the natural way all while relieving boredom. I stopped giving beef bones since Buzz broke a molar on one and am now giving softer bones such as turkey and duck necks.
We do some pretty hefty chewing and gnawing, but Mom prefers the harder things for our teeth. Any bones are better than no bones.
OMD…Our mouths are watering!!!
Smileys!
Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo
They should be. Those bones are so yummy!
You’ve inspired me to try the smoked bones. Harley wasn’t interested in the raw, and quite frankly I couldn’t stand the smell.
My mom says the smoked ones smell pretty good, but we didn’t notice too much odor with the raw ones. We love them both.
I know you can easily get these were we live, sure wish my mom would let us try one, they look so yummy! Love Dolly
They are a wonderful treat, and healthy too. Great combination.
My gang loves marrow bones fresh or smoked, they don’t have issues with them.
We take them however we can get them. They are wonderful!
Hey Emma, do you chew these up until you swallow and eat them? Or does your mom take them away once you chew them down a bit? I’m asking because I’m not sure which is best and I worry if my dogs swallow them they won’t digest them. Am I being paranoid?
I’m sure some dogs do munch them into pieces, but we gnaw on them for hours and they don’t normally chip or break up. Mom is always around when we have them just in case, but we would not recommend a dog breaking them up and swallowing them. I would try one and see how they do with it. If they break off a piece then I would take it away, but ours last seemingly forever. Mom saves them for us to just chew on empty sometimes and she also fills them with wet food, or a fun mixture like our salmon treats. Since the bones come from those huge cows, they should be strong, but as with everything some might not be as strong as others. Give them a try, supervised. We get ours in the evening when Mom wants to watch a few hours of TV, so she can keep an eye on us.
OK, thanks Emma!
Our dogs are in the aggressive chewer category so they have to miss out. I do know of a couple of dogs that needed extensive dental work attributed to these bones.
I guess we feel there is a risk with pretty much everything. We love to chew, but are not real aggressive, so they work well for us. Bailie also loves antlers which are also a dental hazard. One day one of us might need dental work because of them, but we feel the benefits outweigh the risks and we only get them 1-2 times a week for a limited time. People eat popcorn which is a risk. My mom eats it 1 to 2 times a year and broke a tooth doing it 2 weeks ago. So is life!
I’ve been giving my Siberian Husky marrow bones for four years. She get’s one a day in the morning with her morning meal. Because there’s a lot of marrow in the bones I buy, I dig the marrow out and mix it in with some dry food and then put the bone in the bowl with the mixed food. Once she’s finished with the food she goes to work on the bone. She will gnaw on it anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Her feeding area is the laundry room where I have recycled rubber mats which are easy to clean for the mess that is sometimes created from the blood and marrow. When I started her on marrow bones, in addition to dropping some unwanted weight, her gums got a lot healthier right away. The weight loss was because I replaced the horrible canned food I was mixing with her dry food for breakfast with the marrow. For dinner she gets pulled chicken mixed with dry food.
I was told to bake them for ten minutes to kill bacteria. Yes or no??
Never heard that before.
Hi! How soon can a pup have raw marrow? We have a 4 month old who would love to chew and stay busy! But worried it might upset her tummy… our almost 2 year old pup loves them! But now, can’t give one without the other… :). Is she ready?
Where do your pups eat these bones? Don’t they leave raw meat residue all over everything? Do you clean them first?
Hi My name is Cozy and I’m a 5 year old miniature dachshund, I just wanted to “bark in” and say, my mommy has been giving me these bones since I had my baby teeth, and I love them so much!
Hi, I absolutely love reading these cute and informative comments. I have a 13 yr old yorkie, can I give her raw beef marrow bone?
I am not a veterinarian, so I can’t really say, but healthy dogs should not have a problem.