Rawhide

[TGA]

My pup is 4 months now so I've started to give him some different things to chew.

I got him some rawhide the other day which he absolutely loves! However I've read online about some problems associated with it (swallowing and blocked intestines etc).

Anyone have any experience of it?

Also are there any alternatives that I could give him?

 

[Trish]

I use to buy the small sticks which all mine enjoyed them , but i do have a few greedy ones here that prefer to swallow than chew and we did have a problem with one of ours .

Alfie started vomitting this certain day and continued until there was nothing in his stomach , he still wanted to eat so after we laid him off food for a few hours we gave him some chicken and rice bit that came back within 15 mins , so took him to the vet who gave 2 injections , as soon as we got home alfie vomitted again and to my suprise a large piece of raw hide came up , was a fair size too ,(i had given them a chewy that morning ) after that he was back to his normal self .

So now if i buy rawhide treats i buy the solid one's and the big bone shaped ones , the ones shaped like a shoe and the thin sticks are hazzardous for dogs

 

[Hula]

Never had any problems with them but I never leave them alone with them .

 

[lurcherman]

i stopped 5 yrs ago cus of the possible dangers, theres is dangers in so many things nw,

 

[tinabow]

pets at home do the large sizes of rawhide there bone shaped

last ages and they can only chew little bits of at a time friend of mine buy the large ones for her staffiexrottie

last him 3 months she says well worth the 10 pound

 

[eingana]

My GSD Molly loves her rawhide, but it has to come in the really big heavy rings which she can hold easily with her paws to get chewing on. It takes her a couple of weeks to get through one and all I take off her is the very last solid bit which she could swallow whole- all of the rest of it comes off in little pieces which she has chewed a lot.

I don't know whether the risk is different with a dog that could have a much narrower GI tract though- very delicately built dogs could have a much higher inherent risk of blockage than a GSD that's got much wider intestines.

One alternative to rawhide is giving a stuffed Kong, but Molly never really took to that to be honest.

If you watch them when they chew and you're aware of when they have chewed rawhide so that if they show any signs of a blockage you take prompt vet action (rather than starving for a day etc) and you follow simple things like buying the rawhide in really big compressed shapes so that they have to chew bits off and can't swallow hard bits of rawhide whole, and you remove the last bits so that the remaining lump can't be swallowed, then I think you're reducing the risk to an acceptable level if your dog really enjoys a good chew.

 

[Lanny]

I do know a dog (a German Shepherd) who died when a rawhide he gobbled down got stuck in his system and swelled up to the point it killed him. You need to be very careful with these things. Over here in Canada there has recently been a recall of Chinese manufactured rawhides (and most of them sold here seem to be from there) because of dangerous pathogens in the rawhides that made dogs sick (and/or dead). I will not feed my dogs rawhides for both reasons. Instead we purchase what are called soup bones here -- bones that have a marrow centre. Typically these are cow leg bones and they are very good because they are extremely hard (having supported huge amounts of weight while the animal was alive. We sprinkle the bones with garlic powder, pop it into the over for about a half hour at 350F and this hardens the bone and kills any possible contaminants within the bone at the same time. Our dogs love these things and you don't have to worry about swelling pieces as you do with rawhide, or serious contaminants from imported rawhides.

Lanny

 

[Sadie]

I've not given our dogs much in the way of chewy things but they did enjoy fresh marrow bones and the chew bones that Aldi and Wilkinson's do. I didn't know you could get such a thing as Rawhide. :>

Our dog behaviourist reminded us that chewing/licking is a natural way to distress and all dogs should be given "chew" times during the day. Dogs deprived of this will chew their own joints or even chew up items around the home. (w00t)

Good thread.

Sadie x

 

[eingana]

I do know a dog (a German Shepherd) who died when a rawhide he gobbled down got stuck in his system and swelled up to the point it killed him. You need to be very careful with these things. Over here in Canada there has recently been a recall of Chinese manufactured rawhides (and most of them sold here seem to be from there) because of dangerous pathogens in the rawhides that made dogs sick (and/or dead). I will not feed my dogs rawhides for both reasons. Instead we purchase what are called soup bones here -- bones that have a marrow centre. Typically these are cow leg bones and they are very good because they are extremely hard (having supported huge amounts of weight while the animal was alive. We sprinkle the bones with garlic powder, pop it into the over for about a half hour at 350F and this hardens the bone and kills any possible contaminants within the bone at the same time. Our dogs love these things and you don't have to worry about swelling pieces as you do with rawhide, or serious contaminants from imported rawhides.

Lanny

What sort of dogs do you have? My GSD can break off great sharp pieces of cow leg bones whether they're cooked or raw and so can every other GSD I know. They're also responsible for a load of broken teeth in dogs, so lots of advice is never to give leg bones to dogs that are capable of breaking them up.

Molly is a completely raw fed dog, so she's used to eating bones as part of her diet and eats chicken carcasses or racks of lamb ribs for her breakfast every day. She also enjoys a beef rib bone as a treat and will eat a whole rib bone in 20-30 mins.

Amazing that a dog with jaws so strong can also be gentle enough to act as a foster mum to newborn kittens without hurting them, isn't it?

 

[Trish]

Have you tried the Stagbars ? i find them excellent and lasts weeks , all mine love them .Pets At Home have strated selling them in 3 sizes , i get the small for the whippets

 

[eingana]

Oooh, another good alternative for chewing is filled hooves. When we get them they're frozen and filled with fresh raw mince, and Molly eats the horn as well as the mince.

If your dog is teething we also offer pups bushwack/paddywack, which is dried tendon. It's really very hard stuff, so if they need to cut their teeth in they can chew that without any problems, and it doesn't go soft after being chewed for a bit. This means that if it gets taken out into the garden and gets really filthy you can take it off them, wash it and give it back to them.

Another thing for teething is raw carrot, frozen if their mouth is really sore.

 

[Lanny]

We have whippets... this is a whippet forum is it not? I agree they are not as energetic chewers as dogs such as German Shepherds, which we have owned two of (both rescues ... dogs abandoned at our boarding kennel by people looking for a polite way to dump their responsibility on someone else), and mini Daschhund Gus who could demolish anything. But they are known for that capability!

Lanny

 

[eingana]

Sorry- I'm still new to this forum and I'm reading it all as a 'dog' discussion rather than a breed specific one.