Safe Chews

[Joel Sonnenberg]

I gave my girl one of those basted ham bones from a pet store, big mistake.
It seemed safe, but within minutes she had chewed it down to splinters.
I took it away from her, and she vomited up what she had swallowed.
I was shards of bone, this was 2 days ago ,I check her poop for blood she seem's to be ok.
I did a search for safe chews, and now I am wondering what is safe?

[ursula wilby]

Deer are supposed to carry lots of ticks, Margaret!
I have to admit I would never dream of putting a whole dead deer out for the dogs...I am not so certain they would get started on eating a whole deer either...

My guess is that they would leave it for a while and then roll in it...thats what they did when we had a big dead dolphin laying on the beach...no digging in to eat, just desperate to get that wonderful smell all over them...:-)

[Margaret Sierakowski]

You are right about ticks, I probably should be more careful but skinning a whole deer is quite a job :))
The dogs clear the whole deer in less than two days, leaving not a trace of it, I wouldnt want a rotting deer in my dog run. They do roll in rotting deer carcases that they find in the hills
Dead fishy things are the worst! At this time of year we get the old salmon dying off and washed up on the river bank close to the house, the dogs just love to roll on those.
When we lived in Shetland, there were dead seals and even whales washed up on the beaches, and when a dog has rolled on one of those, the smell is worse than anything I have ever experienced.
Even after the dog has been bathed, you can still smell dead seal for up to three weeks afterwards

[Nicole Wilson]

You're certainly right about the dead seals! It's absolutely awful! Especially if you have to drive home in the car with the dogs after the walk!

[ursula wilby]

I still feed the odd rawhide-bone at times, but yes there have been warnings about them in Sweden too. The way I understood it it is due to dogs chewing off too big a bits of them and on top of it all rawhide is difficult to digest.
I have also tried some dried chicken necks and the dogs have loved them too!

Unfortunatly my dogs are too spoiled to even consider carrots or for that matter broccoli stems...:-)

[Laura Kolbach]

rawhides got stuck twice in Odin's throat. it was hard to remove then but i managed it. since then, no rawhides here. only big raw bones.

[Sue and Cash]

Yes rawhide can get stuck if large pieces are chewed off and swallowed.  I monitor my dog with them and he isn't a crazy chewer so he takes forever to eat just small bits of it. 

[Howard Glansfield]

I had a dog with a bowel blockage caused by a swallowed lump of rawhide.So no more of them for my woofits.

I shall have to take a walk to the Duke of Buccleuch's estate ,a couple of miles from here, and see if I can find any deer antlers but I don't suppose I'd be allowed to take any.

[Nicole Wilson]

By the way you can now get antler chews in the UK. I believe this is the only place that sells them at the moment: http://www.puredog.co.uk/our-products.php

I have just ordered a couple and I have to say the boys love them and it keeps them occupied for quite a long time.

[Margaret Sierakowski]

Well, I should keep collecting deer antlers to sell, having seen what small pieces of antler are selling for!

I just pick them up in the field beside the house or up on the hill. The deer come down here every night to drink water from the river or eat the grass in the valley, and they sometimes shed when they are down here

[Nicole Wilson]

Yes they are rather pricey! But it looks as if they were going to last for quite a while so they should be worth it. Although we have deer around here I haven't come across any pieces of antler so far which I could collect so buying is the only option :-)

[Margaret Sierakowski]

Deer antlers last for years as dog chews, even a small roe deer antler will last at least two or three years.

They are the hardest thing I have found for dog chews, so long term they are probably cheaper than buying other dog chews

And yes, they are very safe, no risk of splintering .

[Susan Stone]

Hey Nicole, I wonder if you could arrange a large delivery to Switzerland??? Sounds like these antlers are the only reasonably safe dogchew available.