Rawhide Bones

[Marilyn Minni]

Do you give your dog rawhide bones? I heard they aren't good for dogs because they expand in their stomach. What do you give your puppy to chew on?

[Tante & Jordan & now Annie!]

I never give the pups rawhide.
I buy rolled pork skin chews, uncooked bones from a butcher, cow hooves, bully stickes are good but do not last long same with pig ears.

[Marilyn Minni]

Thanks for your reply. I do give her bully sticks but was looking for an alternative since she chews them so quickly.

[Adina P]

Many dogs do just fine with rawhide. But there have been some reports of various problems. We don't give our dogs rawhide because:
1) they give each of my dogs gas... Stinking gas

2) they are consumable and I'd rather spend my money on something I don't have to replace

The main thing our dogs chew on is sterilized real bones. You can find past discussions we've had here on this topic of good chew toys if you look in the main "forum" page -- just find the tab at the top of any page labeled "Forum" and go to that page and do a search for terms like "chew" or "bones" to see where these were talked about in the past.

Other good things for puppies include Kongs and Nylabones.

[Marilyn Minni]

Thanks for the info. I'm new on this site and had not read that. I'll look into the sterilized real bones. Do you mean the marrow bones from the supermarket?

[ClarkP]

No, these aren't the marrow bones from the butcher. Is that what you meant? These are real bones that have been sterilized and cleaned and then sold as a dog chew at the pet store. Sometimes they come re-stuffed with a fake marrow of various yummy flavors. But even when that is gone, the dogs keep chewing on them forever.

We like them because they are clean (no basting and never mess up the carpet), they last forever, and the dogs like them.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

(Oops, Clark- we were posting at the same time!) As Clark said, you can buy already sterilized real marrow bones in some pet supply stores...they are wrapped in plastic and come filled or unfilled. (Look for made in USA on the label.)
I buy marrow bones from the butcher or supermarket, and sterilize them myself by microwaving them on high for 30-60 seconds, depending on the size of the bone. This softens the marrow (can be messy- I like to push it out of the bone into my doodle's bowl before giving him the actual bone) but does not soften the bone at all.

[Marilyn Minni]

I'lol look into the Flossies. Thanks!

[Jackie]

I gave Beckett a flossie about a month ago and about an hour later he threw up. I thought maybe he was too litlle(6 months old) so I waited a month and tried again a week or so ago. I only gave him a half of one. But an hour or two later he threw up! I don't know if I should just give up on these or wait till he's older. I have a few left. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jackdoodle threw up the very first time I gave him rawhide. (He was 14 months old when I got him.) I waited a long time (months) to try again, but when I did, he was fine with it. Maybe wait til he's older & see what happens.

[LeAnn, Lucy & Rusty!!]

Holy smokes!! I just looked at the price of these little thangs! Lordie.. I don't even buy myself treats that cost that much LOL... I'll stick to real bones, hooves and pigs ears. (If I don't tell Lucy about them, she'll never know what she's missing )

[Jaime]

My dog likes the durable nylabones. They are almost impossible to chew so that they don't ingest too much of the product. Make sure the ones you buy say durable, when Penny was a puppy I tried the regular nylabones and they are easy to chew and caused her to get sick.

[Marilyn Minni]

Maggie doesn't like the nylabones but I'm not sure they were the durable bones. I'll check. Thanks!