Hi all looking for something for my nearly 7 month old lab to chew on. She has nearly destroyed all her puppy toys. Not sure if she is still teething but chews like mad on anything she can and it looks like it's the first large tooth, sorry unsure if it is her premolars. Can puppies have raw bones these days or is this a no no? If they can which bones are OK, if not what else is suitable. Have heard rawhide and jerky are ones to avoid. Help so many conflicting opinions!
A safe, long lasting chew is the holy grail I'd say that a large, filled and frozen Kong is the best you can do for a safe, lasting chew. Start with unfrozen though, while they learn about getting the filling out of the Kong. Get a BIG Kong. Even better, get a couple. You can put anything in a Kong and freeze it. I plug up the end with butter then stand the Kong in a mug and fill with whatever is to hand then freeze - mashed pumpkin, leftover risotto, spaghetti bolognaise sauce, kibble topped up with milk, beef mince.... It's totally fine for pups to have raw bones but stick to soft ones they can crunch up and eat in a fairly short while. Anything from a chicken, duck, quail, turkey, pheasant, rabbit or fish is fine. With mammals avoid weight bearing bones (no leg bones) as they are too hard but ribs, tails and necks are fine. Sorry if this is a bit squeamish inducing!! Raw offal is fine too. If your pup has not had raw meaty bones before then a chicken carcase (legs, breast and wings gone) is good as it's pretty soft but impossible to eat in one gulp, thereby encouraging chewing. Think of raw meaty bones as a meal though, not really as lasting entertainment. Hope that helps. I'm sure many others will chip in
Ps. If you do feed raw meat then keep your pup's worming regime up to date, especially tapeworm, and wash your hands after handling the meat.
I like these Bento balls, I rarely buy the inserts as they are expensive, but I pop a fish cube in there and mine enjoy chewing it out http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003O69TWC/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1438593335&sr=1&keywords=bento+ball
Homer is three and we are still in search of the chew toy that doesn't get destroyed in minutes or doesn't wear down his teeth. His canine teeth are quite worn already as we gave him antler pieces to chew on. At the time when he was going through his wild phase at about 6 months to 18 months, were the only way to calm him down at the end of the day. But unaware at the time his teeth suffered. He has gnawed his way right through a Largs extra strong kong and chews holes in all his Tuffy toys to pull out the stuffing. I give him raw chicken wings and oxtail bones.
I have given up on trying to find chews. Charlie doesn't get them, and that's that - he gets kongs and that's all. I ruled out all antlers, nylabones, anco roots and so on for the risk of damage to teeth (or in the case of the anco roots, risk of damage to my furniture as he would hurl them around). And ruled out rawhide, fish skins, bully sticks and so on because of the runny poo they generate. So we stick to kongs and kong goodiebones and nothing else. I did buy the everlasting treats and the bento balls, but he cracked the everlasting treats within a few seconds and just crunched them up and scoffed them. I gave him a duck neck and it generated the most terrible bout of liquid poo. I'm sure I could get over that if I worked up to feeding more raw stuff, but it's my choice to feed kibble, so I don't want to do that. The odd chicken wing seems ok, but it's gone in a micro second, so isn't doing much as a chew experience. And a duck neck is gone in 3 crunches too.... I now buy him extreme black kongs as I find that the others split quite quickly but still have quite a few red kongs on the go - I have about 20 and seem to need to throw them out after about a year. So that's nearly 2 kongs a month. Still, it's worth it for the periods of kong peace they buy.
We have graduated to XL Kong extreme. Molly has nearly all her food in them, soaked kibble with any leftovers mashed in. it is a bit of a chore preparing them everyday, but oh the peace as she licks and slurps her way through them They are supposed to be good for her teeth and it cuts down on the risk of bloat so I feel it is a good deal all round.
