Percentages listed reflects the portion of the part that is estimated bone.
You want to feed bone covered in the meat, never bare. In order to have an idea of how much of a raw meaty bone to feed you need to have an idea of what percentage of the cut is composed of bone. This list will give you the commonly accepted percentages of bone in a variety of proteins and parts. However, nature is perfectly imperfect so keep in mind not all bone in items will be these listed percentages. The guide is a rough estimate as nature will dictate the actual amount from individual animals. It is in my opinion best to overshoot your bone amounts slightly rather than underestimate. If following a ratio based diet shoot for 12%-15% for adult dogs and 15%-18% for puppies, around 8% for adult cats and 10% for kittens.
CHICKEN BONES
- Chicken back...44%
- Chicken neck with skin...36%
- Chicken neck without skin...75%
- Chicken foot...60%
- Chicken leg quarter...27%
- Chicken head...50%
- Whole chicken (cleaned)...31%
- Chicken drum stick...33%
- Chicken bone in breast...20%
- Chicken thigh...21%
- Chicken ribcage...80%
- Chicken wing...46%
- Chicken carcass...60%
- Cornish hen (whole/ cleaned)...39%
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DUCK BONES
- Duck neck...50%
- Duck foot...60%
- Duck head...50%
- Duck wing...39%
- Duck frame...75%-80%
- Duck leg...34%
- Duck breast...15%
- Whole duck (cleaned)...28%
TURKEY BONES
- Turkey neck...42%
- Turkey foot...60%
- Turkey head...50%
- Turkey bone in breast...10%
- Turkey wing...33%
- Turkey leg...38%
- Turkey back...50%
- Turkey whole (cleaned)...21%
- Turkey thigh...20%
- Turkey tail...10%
*Important note with turkey bone- I don't recommend most bone be fed from turkeys aside from neck, head, tail, and wing tip & flat. The leg bone of turkey is dense and has a tendency to break in an unfavorable way, much like a cooked bone. The bone named as suitable should only be fed to appropriate size dogs.
PORK BONES
- Pork feet...30%
- Pork ribs...30-40%
- Pork tail...30%
- Pork neck...50%
RABBIT BONES
- Whole prey, unprocessed, with fur...10%
- Whole (cleaned)...28%
- Rabbit head...55%
- Rabbit front leg...15%
- Rabbit hind leg...14%
- Rabbit spine/back...15%
- Rabbit front quarter...23%
- Rabbit hindquarter...17%
LAMB BONES
- Lamb ribs...27%
- Lamb neck...32%
- Lamb chop...15%
GAME BIRDS
- Whole Quail...10%
- Guinea hen...17%
- Squab (pigeon)...23%
- Wild Duck...38%
- Pheasant whole...14%
- Cornish Game Hen (cleaned)...39%
- Whole goose...19%
- Dove whole...23%
SMALL PREY
- Mouse whole...5%
- Rat whole...5%
- Guinea pig/cavies...10%
You can access the nutritional composition of many whole prey species here .