I posted yesterday about Max's chewing habits and my worry that I couldn't find anything safe for him to chew except for antler chews and his Kong Safe Stix. Wrong!! Just after I posted I noticed that Max had managed to bite at least an inch off the end of his chew. (These are split antlers with the marrow exposed and supposed to be safer for their teeth). By mid afternoon he started having soft poos and by early evening he started being sick. After a sleepless night of vomiting I took him to the vet. She feels confident that it was the antler splinters irritating his stomach and intestines. So I am now £100 worse off and have decided he'll just not be allowed to chew anything ever again. (I know this is totally unrealistic but we live in hope )
Re: Beware - antler chews! We took Holly's antlers away as we thought they were very hard. There are many better things to chew.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Have you tried a kong goodie bone extreme ? I got them for my two in January and they are still going strong. Scout is a power chewer and although there are some marks on them now there's very little damage. You can stuff the ends with treats. Once scout has the treats out he carries on chewing the bone. We've had antlers, nylabones and anco roots but I got worried about their teeth so tried the goodie bone. Having said that the Anco root did pass the thumb nail test once it was softened by chewing. Small bits came off but a bit like very small wood shavings no splinters and it never upset their stomach and my two have sensitive stomachs. I think it depends how hard Max bites down.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Poor Max hope he is OK and feels better soon. I threw our Antlers in the bin the last time this was discussed as they are so hard. xx
Re: Beware - antler chews! It's typical, I'd just bought 5 antler chews to save on postage!! Max had an extreme kong goodie bone, he chewed through the end and consumed a few bits before I removed it. What do you use Holliesdad? Max just bites through and eats everything I give him. He's still very lethargic tonight and hasn't eaten for over 24 hours. Poor old Max.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Poor man Hope he picks up soon. Antlers are just too hard for teeth, even if they don't manage to break off splinters.
Re: Beware - antler chews! I haven't given Maisie her antler chew toy back since her teeth started breaking (not on the chew, but just her puppy teeth issues). She also doesn't have her fake stick she loved since it just seems so crunchy and bad for those teethies. It's sad because she liked it (and it was pricey!) but I don't trust giving it to her even if she doesn't get splinters off it . Thank god for Kongs is all I have to say.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Harley has 2 antlers as has never had a problem. She isn't a big chewer though. I think all dogs are different and some things don't suit everyone.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Oh poor boy, I hope he picks up soon. We stick to stuffed rubber things - kongs, treat balls, kong goodie bones. And completely edible things - small amounts of rawhide, pizzles, dried fish skin bones (and recently we've been trying duck and chicken necks but they last no time at all).
Re: Beware - antler chews! Homer loves a good old chew. He gets quite restless in the evening and wants to gnaw and chew. We used to give him alntlers, he also has a extra large Nyla bone and he has another hard plastic dumbbell shaped chew. Anything softer including tuffy's stuffed toys which he loves get destroyed in minutes. The soft toys are now for supervised play only but he'll play fow a while then take the toy off to his bed and start working at a spot to get the struggling out so has to be bribed with treats to give it back, he then stares sadly at the cuboard for ages. We have had to take all his harder chews and antlers away because at only 2 1/2 his canine teeth are badly worn down. Any raw hide chews disappear in minutes and give him an upset stomach. I've tried kongs but he starts to chew chunks of the rubber off, even the large black ones. Rope toys result in stringy poops. I'm going to try try stitching wads of tough fabric like denim together without any stuffing inside. These may not look pretty but may work for him. I've also though of making toys out of sheep fleece if I can get hold of some scraps of fleece cheaply and learn how to stitch leather. I'd like him to have something that we can leave in his toy box and he can shake about and chew for uo to 10 minutes without constant intervention that will last more that a few minutes but are soft on his teeth.
Re: Beware - antler chews! Yes it's certainly tricky for a serious chewer. The layers of denim are a good idea!
Re: Beware - antler chews! I cut strips from a pair of old jeans, form the seams to make them tougher, and then tied them into knots. The pups love chewing on them
Re: Beware - antler chews! Fleece material as in what jumpers and dog blankets are made from is quite difficult to chew. I know this because when my two were pups and could chew up anything they got my old hunter wellie socks. I let them have them and they lasted ages. After that I got my auntie to make me a giant pillow case out of two fleece blankets to go on their bed in the kennel. It got ripped a couple of times from them scratching to make a nest but never chewed through even though they'd tried, soggy corners gave it away. : Equafleece do what they call a Dogknot made from fleece http://www.equafleece.co.uk/store/dog_nots.html I made my own from a fleece blanket that had got a big hole ripped in it. Best of all no sewing required. ;D
Re: Beware - antler chews! Thank you for the suggestions of denim and fleece etc. I'll try anything! Max is still under the weather today but has eaten a little bit of chicken and rice so it looks like he's on the mend. My friend commented today that I had a lot more grey hairs recently (thank you friend!). There's no mention of this side effect in the Happy Puppy Handbook!
Re: Beware - antler chews! [quote author=JulieT link=topic=10596.msg157089#msg157089 date=1429253998] Oh poor boy, I hope he picks up soon. We stick to stuffed rubber things - kongs, treat balls, kong goodie bones. And completely edible things - small amounts of rawhide, pizzles, dried fish skin bones (and recently we've been trying duck and chicken necks but they last no time at all). [/quote] Have you tried a trachea? Those seem to last the longest of fully edible stuff Maisie has tried. Need to watch towards the end that they don't swallow the last big bit. Also, it gives the poo a bit of a disgusting appearance... Not sure how many more Maisie will get.
Re: Beware - antler chews! I did try trachea (blurghh...) both on its own and wrapped in rawhide. Runny poo and it didn't last any time at all, unfortunately.
