Answer: Opinions tend to be divided on this matter. Certainly in the wild a cat will consume all of its prey with the exception of plucked feathers, hairs and some small pieces of bone. The majority of the bones, are eaten and provide valuable source of calcium. These bones, of course, are small and uncooked and seldom seem to cause problems by lodging in or piercing part of the digestive tract.
If a cat is receiving a balanced commercial diet, or a bone meal supplement with a home prepared diet, it will already be receiving a adequate calcium and therefore will not actually need to consume bones, However, there is no doubt that many cats enjoy chewing bones and the exercise which is provides for the teeth is valuable in preventing an accumulation of tartar which may lead to periodontal disease, particularly if the animal usually receives a ‘wet’ diet. In practice bone seldom become wedged or splinter internally. Usually, any problems are associated with fish bones or which cooked bones, e.g. rib bones occasionally get wedged across the roof of the mouth between the large upper teeth, or a canine tooth may ‘spear’ a vertebra which is animal then has difficulty in dislodging.
Some nutrition lists actually advise feeding cooked bones with the musicale meat, e.g. in chicken or rabbit; other advise cooking bones separately and then mincing them before adding them to rest of the food. Irregular bones are best avoided and it is always advisable to remove the small needle-shaped banes from fish.
However, the benefits of bones can be provided in other ways; bone meal is an alternative source of calcium, and dental exercise can be provided by chewing at a hard biscuit or a rawhide ‘chew’ or by the regular feeding of dry cat food. Any bone deliberately provided should preferably be uncooked, relatively large (e.g. part of a limb bone) and not irregular or easily splintered.
