Hi there. I haven't been here in a while. I'm back because I need help.

Unfortunately one of my three dogs, Greta, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (rear left leg) 1.5 weeks ago and had amputation yesterday. She has been on a raw diet since I got her 4.5 years ago. She turned 5 last month.

About one week ago she stopped eating her RMBs and I believe that was due to her discomfort and pain prior to surgery. I didn't worry too much about it then as it was the least of my concerns. She came home today and was very hungry. She inhaled all except the RMB. I feel that the reason she won't eat them now is due to the discomfort of that darn cone. I can't remove the cone because she is really wanting to eat those stitches.

I know I've read that it's not good to cut RMBs up, nor do I know if that would even help. Any recommendations on how to help her eat them while wearing the cone? How long can she go without bone before being affected by missing calcium?

She gets pork brisket bones and turkey necks as RMBs.

I appreciate any advice.

I hope her recovery is speedy and complete.

You could try grinding RMBs, but it takes a pretty heavy-duty grinder. You could also try switching to chicken RMBs, which would be softer and easier to eat and digest while she's recovering. Chicken backs, perhaps. Or chicken necks, which would be easy to chop into teeny safe bites if necessary.

As a short term solution you could even substitute ground egg shell. One egg shell per pound of boneless meat would approximate RMB.

I guess we can close this out and here is the rest of the story in case it's helpful for others.

After an inspiring pm from a Leerburg webboard user I cut the bone up into small pieces (though nobody should ever do this unless it is absolutely necessary, based on my reading)and Greta ate all of the pieces very quickly. She definitely was still hungry.