good to know. i buy max rawhide chews cuz they keep him busy but i won’t anymore. how about string? he eats string.

What kind of strings? If you choose to feed rawhides, compressed rawhides are harder to break off than the regular ones. I typically buy Nylabone products for my dogs to chew on. I also heard that raw bones(certain areas) are less likely to splinter but can be messy to feed.

One of the treats I make is blending fat free yogurt with bananas and freezing them in ice cube bins. They actually sell these in grocery stores and the pooches love them!

I have had the exact same thing happen to my Golden. I always supervised her when chewing on rawhide and she was very good about only chewing off small pieces. Then one day she was near finished with a rawhide and she was chewing and licking the remaining piece, when the stickiness caused it to get caught in her mouth. She tried to swallow it and it was stick in the back of her throat. Luckily I am able to safely put my hands in her mouth and was able to pull it back out (it was difficult due to how slimy rawhides get.) It was a very scary experience! My dogs are no longer allowed to chew rawhides. We stick to natural raw bones and natural chews like bully sticks and tendon chews.

Which are the same raw bones that won’t splinter? Where do you buy tendon bones ? Also, do u think Bella(with colitis) can tolerate raw bones? Thanks!

Many dogs with colitis are able to handle raw bones better than other (cooked) products but I’d probably give a new bone for just a short time to make sure they can handle it (not let them chew too much at once.)

Raw bones in general will not splinter. I have heard that sometimes the large weight-bearing (leg) bones can either be too hard for a dog’s teeth or sometimes pieces can come off of those.

I buy the tendon chews at 4 Legs on Clark (near Wrigley Field) or at Sam and Willy’s on Paulina and Lincoln.

Raw bones with some good yummy marrow can be obtained at a butcher.

how about just raw meat in general? any bacteria issues?

Dogs generally can handle bacteria that may be present in raw meat/bones (their digestive tracts are made to handle it) however if you are concerned you can rinse it in a mixture containing a small amount of grapefruit seed extract and water (somewhere around 1/2 tsp for a large bowl of water). Grapefruit seed extract is an anti-bacterial. It’s probably good to rinse the mixture off, although grapefruit seed extract is good for dogs it does have a bitter taste which could discourage them from the meat/bone.

when feeding raw diet, you have to be super careful about washing after each meal. you have to as hot water you can stand. the whole bacteria issue.

If you’re going to be dedicated to feed Bully Sticks or Flossies (the formal name for the tendons) you might do better at ordering a whole bunch from US Bones. This way you won’t have to pay the mark up at the store. Merrick also sells these products. Find a few friends to go in on a case with you.

As for raw bones… loves them!!! I get mine at work b/c we sell raw food, but usually any place that sells Nature’s Variety raw diet (Kraiser’s there’s one on clybourn/courtland (by PAWS) and on 11th and state) will sell their raw bones.

Deer antlers are also great for powerful chewers, won’t slpinter and last a long time. No stomach upset b/c they are not cooked. They are just minerals and the dogs go nuts for them! I get those from petexpertise.com

Happy chewing!

Great!! I’m going to order some deer antlers.

how do you find a place to order deer anters?

go to http://petexpertise.com → click on antlers → scroll down to the bottom and select amount. It’s on the main page so it’s not hard.

deer antlers?

interesting. think i will order some for max too.

my dogs are agressive chewers, are they strong? i usually give them knuckle bones.

I’ve got a good alternative. Buy some sweet potatoes and cut them into large chunks. Dehydrate them in a food dehydrator or in the oven. They come out hard as a rock and dogs love them. My vet says they are healthy and its super cheap to make a ton of them. You can also drill holes through the middle of them and string them on a rope.

thanks for the info. still need an anwser to my question.

the raw knuckle bones don’t always last as long as the marrow bones. it all depends on the cut of the knuckle (whole or halfed) and the animal it comes from. the buffalo ones last longer for my lab. my boys just like small marrow bones b/c they aren’t as into chewing as Kay.

hope that helps.

As previously suggested by others, the best bones are raw beef marrow bones. It is the only thing my dogs get. It great for their teeth, entertaining for them as they work to get the marrow out, and more cost-effective than rawhides or expensive Greenies. I get them at butchers, actually Treasure Island grocery store has really nice ones, they’re called soup bones.

where do you get bufflo knuckle bones?

For Your Canine gets them from Oma’s Pride when they order their raw food. We have a fresh supply that just came in. There’s someone there 6:30am – 10pm M-F. The knuckles are $4.

http://www.foryourk9.com

okay, cool

Thanks for all the great info everyone! I always worry about the rawhides, even though I still feed them supervised. My dog won’t eat the compressed rawhides but heloves bully sticks.

I will certainly be ordering some antlers to see if my dog likes them.

If any of you are in Oak Park I work at the Camp Bow Wow on Roosevelt and we have great prices on Nature’s Variety raw bones ( http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1483&-session=naturesvariety:44FF0362058502FB62hVY1F75EB0)...cheaper then like Whole foods. Also I think our prices on the cooked lamb and ham bones are good at like $2.50 to $4 a bone, although I think you can probably get those cheaper online if you get them in bulk.

Jess

What is Camp Bow Wow? Does it have anything to do with Bow Wow Lounge Daycare in Chicago?