Zoe had her second round of shots today and we are looking forward to the increased freedom that will come soon. With our second visit to the vet, we came armed with so many more questions than we had on the first visit. The one thing I was surprised to learn was that he said rawhide was fine provided it was in strips and not the pressed or pieced together variety. I had been under the impression that all rawhide was to be avoided. We have been struggling to find things to occupy her. The Kongs are great but she is a master at emptying them out in a hurry. I have yet to come up with a concoction that lasts more than twenty minutes, regardless of how long it has been in the freezer. I was wondering if any of you have had experiences, good or bad, with rawhide and what other types of things she may enjoy chewing on that will last a while? Nylabones have been a complete waste of time. We are in Canada and I know most of you are in the U.K. so the products may be different but the general idea will be the same. Thanks as always for the advice.
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Riley enjoys rawhide, he gets long cigars not sure if that's good or bad based on the advice you've been given. I never leave him unsupervised with it and too much gives him a dicky tummy We also let him destroy cardboard a lot, it was messy but safe and better than furniture. He grew out of it on his own too although he did snaffle a 20 pound note once :
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Hattie and Charlie have rawhide twisty things and cigars, also chips. I had no idea there could be a problem either :. Something else I didn't know, but have been giving them for years and no issues. Helen x
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... hi i have always avoided rawhide so am on a constant hunt for long lasting chews too. dried bulls penis is the longest lasting in our house but smell horrendous. frozen kongs if cunningly and intricately built with tricky blockages can keep my two uber chewers busy for about forty mins. cow femurs raw from butchers are a whole afternoons gnawing but need constant supervision and are some stories of tooth damage so they get very rarely...
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... been told its a choking hazard but i think as already noted it depends on composition of the chew...so strips etc are ok been told the knotty ended things can apparently be dodgy. however no idea about if from personal experience as im too woosy to try !
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... We like rawhide. Usually the bone shaped ones from dogs r us (oops I mean pets at home). Don't get finished in one sitting so she tries to bury them in the garden for safe keeping so not ideal in the wet. In our house like the meaty bones they are outaide treats. I guess I wouldn't give her one then leave to go shopping ( god forbid) so they are semi supervised. Last longer than pizzles and kongs for me.
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Yes, they are meant to be a choking hazard (e.g. dog bites off large, softened portion and it goes down the wrong pipe). Despite this we give Obi the pressed rawhide bones (had been told these were less of a hazard as it's harder to get large bits off) but also the large knotted ones. So far so good. He used to chomp them up but he has grown out of the crazy chewer phase now (is 17 months) and the rawhide just gets carried around or used as a retrieve toy. We also use cardboard boxes, cereal boxes, tissue boxes etc etc as entertainment. If you close them up and put a threat or two inside that adds to the fun. When we first got Obi we got a toy/treat thing called an Everlasting chew toy or treat ball or treat toy or something. You buy various rubbery shapes (fire hydrant, ball) and also pressed liver inserts that go in specially shaped holes. The liver inserts are meant to take forever to get through because they are hard and because of the way they are positioned. It used to take Obi about 40 minutes to get through one. Not quite Everlasting but 40 mins is a helpful period of time nevertheless!! These things are made in America so you can probably get them online in Canada. The toys are stuff-able as well.
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Thanks everyone. The advice is excellent, as always. I think we will give the rawhide a try with close supervision. The cardboard box is a great idea as well.
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Um....dried bull penis???!!??? Can't say I've seen that on the shelf here....
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Oh blimey ,Lisa,we were on about those last week after I was talking about licking Dexters chews.....I swiftly made is clear I wasn't going to volunteer to check one those babies out I've not even ventured near rawhide based purely on my Mum saying ......never give Dexter Rawhide,he could choke.....even at 43 I still listen to my Mum!But you are all right when you say supervision is key...as long as you are watching them......I still always go back to the kongs though...I've got a determined cruncher and he hasn't beaten one yet....
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... I'm tempted to go to the pet store to see if they have any in stock..... okay, maybe not.... In the spring I'm sure I could get lots of prairie oysters, though....
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... I gave Charlie something called a smart bone - an alternative to rawhide made of vegetable and chicken. It had the same knotty ends as a rawhide bone. He had the knotty end off and was chewing and swallowing a choke sized lump in under a minute. I approached to remove it and he started chewing faster (obviously didn't want me to take it off him). I swapped it for a sea biscuit, so all was ok. But I won't give him anything that are separate bits of stuff tied together after that.
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Hi Julie T, I bought those smart bones too, from pets at home (blimin expensive !) thought I was doing the right thing, anyway not only did Otis demolish them quickly but he had runny poo afterwards, for about three poos. So its back to sainsburys for some more paddywack which seems to suit him best. Maggiex
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... They were expensive, yes, particularly to throw in the bin. He had runny poo too - but I thought it was a dentastix as he didn't have much of the smart bone. Agree alternatives to these commercial chews are best. What is paddywack?
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Paddywacks here are dried beef tendons. They're a good chew (not fatty and they take more than a few seconds to get through).
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Both of our dogs have the cerea chews, as our big boy can't have rawhide, it gives him runny poo's and he gets very aggressive over it, he also has a deer antler to chew on, and a couple of nylabones and one marrow ring
Re: Rawhide and assorted chews... Just a quick update. We are a couple days in to the rawhide experiment. On our vet's recommendation, we went with what are called "rawhide chips" in Canada. Essentially it is a flat strip of rawhide about 4 inches wide, 6 inches long, and very thin. Likely no more than an eighth to a quarter of an inch. It is one solid piece and is not pressed together separate pieces. We only give Zoe the rawhide if we are in the room and so far it has been incident free. More to the point, I have never seen her focus on something as much as she focuses on the rawhide. We only allow two sessions per day of about 20 minutes as we did notice softer poo. We also take the time to trim off the bits that seem to be coming loose. So far, so good. I know these are not for everybody but it seems to be working out for us so far.
