I know everyone must be tired of me and my teething chewing puppy...but any advice still gratefully...if you can stand it. Charlie is really keen to get his teeth on wood, and stops all the time on walks now to crunch up sticks (which I do my best to prevent, but this makes woodland walks a challenge!). If he gets a stick, he seems to eat it - and has sicked up bits of wood recently. So I'm doing my best to provide safe chew opportunities. I've had a shock by thinking I was giving Charlie an edible type nylabone, to be horrified to see Charlie crunch up and eat half of a really massive non-edible one before I'd read to the end of the leaflet and found it was made of plastic (billed on the front of the packet as "encouraging non destructive chewing" and "for powerful chewers") - it all seems to have come out the other end with no harm done, thankfully. Off I go to buy more stag bars and kongs (he finishes kongs faster than I can fill 'em up and freeze them, so I'm freezing in bulk). I also spent a while carefully reading the packets of other chew options in the shop. Pedigree jumbo bones contain 45% of the energy requirements for a 30kg dog. Would be ok if it lasted more than a day, but I didn't rate its chances. Was really annoyed to find this information hidden under the gummed down flap! Have heard bad things about high protein rawhide - is it true this is best avoided? Bought pedigree dentastixs - hah, I can't see these doing much for his teeth, as it took him under 2 minutes to eat 124calories worth of stix. And I tried "smartbones" a safer alternative to rawhide apparently, but took the first one off him when he removed the choke sized knotty end in about 10 crunches. I looked at various sterilised bones and dried animal parts (pig ears, hooves etc.) but there was no information on the packets about the sources of these or what they contained (they seemed to have an endless shelf life, so was a bit suspicious). I'm not keen on feeding bones from the butcher as I don't know what to buy, and the advice on this site (I think) is bones should be fed with meat as part of a meal, and I feed kibble. Maybe I should rethink that... So that's me sticking to kongs and stag bars for now. Is that the best I can do, or am I missing a trick? I have endless rubber and rope chew toys, ruff toys etc - new ones are ok, but he doesn't settle down for long with them. Although he'll play with them fine if I interact with him (but I do need a break!).
Re: Edible chews Pedigree jumbones in this house are a special treat but last almost as little time as the dentistix : Lilly is not a "destructive" chewer but likes a good chew none the less. Haven't had any problems with rawhides. Or meaty bones. We also tried anco roots but not a lot of interest. Likes the antlers but episodic - more interest if "someone else has one" : jac
Re: Edible chews Jac - what meaty bones? What, exactly, would I buy from a butcher (so sorry to sound so dim! but I am totally clueless!)? And do you give these as part of a raw diet or just on there own? Thanks (dumb questions again!)
Re: Edible chews Julie,sympathies,I've got a cruncher and the only reason I think I still have a standing house is because I have spent a small fortune on toys and I've been lucky enough to be able to police and be home to occupy him. Pippa has written about bones in a raw diet article....she advocates a bone 'sandwich' ie only feed with tissue,( muscle...chicke etc) if I have time ill have a look through and try and find it for you.I know you are calorie controlling your Charlie at the mo .the whole bone thing worries me and I haven't been able to do it despite really common sense ,safe advice from Kate and Karen. Dexter chews up everything toy wise.....in Dubai I can pay £7 for an indestructible toy and its in bits in an hour .....spent a fortune here too yesterday.Bought nylabones( the plasticky ones I think you mentioned about £7..... He gnaws and wears them away gradually ) a new safestix( not a pink one!) that I will use on walks now not as a chew toy. I looked at the rawhide....I'm scared of them though as In have heard choking stories....and I despite them looking and smelling as bland as anything I guess there are calories implications too..... Mum gives Derry pigs ears...they go in a flash and I've heard choking stories about those too and to be honest on the rare occasion I have given him one it has felt oily when I have picked it up. Frozen kings and flavoured ice blocks are our biggest success and they are mass produced and feels like a conveyor belt...specific shelf in the freezer allocated now ! X
Re: Edible chews Thanks Angela, so comforting to hear your conclusions - yes, I'm going into mass produced frozen kongs here. I'll clear out a shelf and arrange it with support structures. God knows what I'm going to do come winter when frozen kongs won't seem so good... Maybe his teething will be over by then. I think I've read the article you talked about. If I start feeding meat plus bone, I think that's the end of the kibble, really. He is only on less than 50% of the recommended amount anyway. Maybe I should bit the bullet and look up this raw feeding stuff. Maybe crunching his way through bones is what he needs, and I'm hopelessly trying to compensate with my dentastix and kongs... By the way - EVERYONE - I needed another safestix as left Charlie's in London. I bought a PINK one - and we carry our pink safestix with pride! A pink safestix should become the forum logo, I think. ;D ;D
Re: Edible chews I may have to get one just to carry around Julie ;D I doubt missy Lilly-pops would retrieve it if I threw it anywhere : Regarding the bones, I usually ask the butcher for "a bone for the dog" and it varies what I get. Sometimes something like a fresh marrow-bone version of the "stuffed bone" like you would get from pets at home, sometimes I have had something akin to a bit of a cow's shoulder with a fair bit of meaty stuff attached. Usually she leaves the biger bones once everything is sucked clean. Last week I got 3 smaller bones that looked like...well.... a cartoon bone - with the two knuckly bits either end. She successfully crunched her way through these in their entirety (well....one is still in the freezer). We are kibble feeders. Started giving bones before ever being on here and reading Pippa's raw food info. No problems so far. Doesn't seem to have an adverse effect on the bottom end, and never any vomits afterwards, apart from one bone which had a HUGE amount of meat on it - think she just had too much. Once she has a bone in the garden, we don't see her for ages. Its a garden-only treat, so saved for nice days. She would sit out in a thunderstorm and scoff one. Don't know if this helps at all. Our butcher seems to know what to give us and has never asked us exactly which bit we would like. It is a bit scary though. My OH's dog always got meaty bones and marrowbones so I was OK with this, but I felt the same way as you about raw fish (which she LOVES by the way - she had a chunk off a hefty sea-trout the week before last). I was really anxious the first time and didn't know what to do with it jac
Re: Edible chews Thanks so much for the reply Jac, really helpful. Right, off to find a book on dog bones : always my refuge - find a book : oh, the inexperienced... But, the butcher in the town is lovely, maybe I'll pop in tomorrow and just ask... Pink safestixs are where it's at! ;D
Re: Edible chews I really sympathise, Otis is just the same a chew monster. He chewed through the phone cord the other day. Funnily enough, he goes through phases of wanting to chew on me, so I do get a bit of respite. I have found these bones made of ground rice, very bland obviously that pets at home do, they seem to last awhile, but like you the frozen kong seems the best thing, I just worry that he might be getting to much food, I think I will measure how much I put in his kong. Maggiex
Re: Edible chews I give Hattie & Charlie chicken wings, chicken carcasses, marrow bones or any meaty bones from the Butcher, a bag of dog bones £3.00. My sister regularly goes to Smithfields Meat Market and gets me a bag of bones £1.00 - bargain!! I give bones aswell as their kibble once or twice a week as a teeth cleaning aid and treat . Also give rawhide chews as they do like them and pigs ears, dried tripe bits just to vary treats. Gave up on the Denti Stix as they were demolished in 30 seconds and very expensive. No ill effects here they just love em all!! ;D Helen x
Re: Edible chews I hear cows ears last longer than pigs but never tried them myself (as it were ) I usually get my bones from the butcher for free when I am in getting my own supplies - every few weeks or so, its not a weekly occurrence (usually its asda )
Re: Edible chews Got to say,I've had a sneaky lick and tentative teeth scrape of a white bacon flavored nylabone chew.......I just couldn't get my head around how something so plastic looking and feeling was edible! Now I know I'm going to get blocked from the site......I know ive been walking a fine line for a long time! ;D !!!
Re: Edible chews Angela! : Nuts! But, I think I've done as nutty things... Um...What did it taste like?
Re: Edible chews We have our moments. Don't get out much...but they sell them online Lady will know where to get good black and white ones ;D Ha Ha! just saw your post [quote author=Dexter link=topic=2238.msg20630#msg20630 date=1376254095] Got to say,I've had a sneaky lick and tentative teeth scrape of a white bacon flavored nylabone chew.......I just couldn't get my head around how something so plastic looking and feeling was edible! Now I know I'm going to get blocked from the site......I know ive been walking a fine line for a long time! ;D !!! [/quote] Had the odd nibble of a dog treat myself - you are in good company!
Re: Edible chews [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=2238.msg20635#msg20635 date=1376254291] Lady will know where to get good black and white ones ;D [/quote] ;D ;D ;D
Re: Edible chews Ive always wonderd what Otis's flavoured chicken plastic toy tasted like, mmm might give it a lick now !
