Ground Chicken Bone

Poultry plants cut the valuable meat from the carcass and leave necks, backs and frames that are mostly bone. Raw pet food makers grind that bone with meat and organs so a meat recipe carries its own calcium.^5,7

1. 01 // Source Necks, backs, frames The bony parts left at poultry plants after breast and thigh meat is removed.
2. 02 // Process Ground fine Milled with meat and organs. For comparison, USDA requires 98% of bone in mechanically separated poultry under 1.5 mm.
3. 03 // Process Frozen or freeze-dried The mix is not cooked. Freezing and freeze-drying preserve it but do not kill bacteria the way heat does.
4. 04 // Output Bone in the mix Bone blended through a raw or freeze-dried patty or nugget, not shipped as a separate dry meal.

1. 01

   Supplies calcium meat lacks

   Muscle and organ meat run short on calcium. In 95 German raw rations, the worst 10% gave under a quarter of the calcium recommendation, with calcium to phosphorus below 0.6 to 1.²

2. 02

   Keeps the list all chicken

   Bone lets a raw brand reach its calcium minimum from the chicken itself instead of listing a mineral supplement, which suits a short, meat-first ingredient list.

3. 03

   Uses low-value carcass parts

   Necks, backs and frames are what remains after the higher-value cuts are sold. Grinding them in turns a cheap part into the recipe's mineral source.

How much No trial has tested ground chicken bone itself. Six beagles fed meat and bone meal at up to 24% of a diet kept normal digestibility and stool.⁹

1. Brands say

   A natural source of calcium and phosphorus

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   Broiler leg bone tested at about 18% calcium and 8% phosphorus on a dry basis, nearly half of it ash. That is plain chemistry. No dog study shows bone calcium absorbs better than a mineral supplement.¹

2. Brands say

   Bone gives the calcium to phosphorus ratio of whole prey

   Outruns the evidence

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   Bone alone runs about 2 to 2.2 parts calcium per part phosphorus, from just under to just over AAFCO's 2.1:1 maximum, and meat shifts it. In 95 raw rations, bone-based feeding missed in both directions.^1,2,3

3. Owners say

   Bone in dog food can splinter and hurt my dog

   Outruns the evidence

   Evidence

   1. Strong
   2. Some
   3. Thin
   4. None

   In a 261-dog review of upper gut blockages, bones were 61% of the 111 esophageal cases. No study has examined finely ground bone, and the FDA shard complaints, 3 animals, came from one raw brand.^6,8