Safe Chew?

[Bonne Bouche]

Our little Bonne Bouche LOVES chewing on things. His Bullies are his number one favorite thing. He gets it for ~20 a day, usually while we groom/trim nails or when we need some quiet time and don't want to put him in his cage.

 

We wished (and I know he does, too) that we can give him more to chew on. I have a bunch of toys for him, rope toys, plush toys, nylabones, kongs (puppy and normal and extreme). He's not really a "destroyer" (I have several Dollar Store squeekies from when we got him that are still in decent condition). But when he's being mouthy, nothing we give him interests him. And he NEVER chews on the nylabones (totally ignores them -- we even rubbed cheese on them once to try to get him interested, after he licked off the cheese he never went back to it). The Kongs are boring unless there is something in it.

HE LOVES STICKS! Every single time we go outside he finds a stick. He likes carrying them around with him, and then chewing off all the bark. Is it bad to let him do this? He doesn't seem to eat them, just chewing them to pieces? I wish we could let him play with the (free) sticks all the time, but I don't think its safe really, and it makes a huge mess.

 

I had a Dingo Rawhide I bought for him after hearing good reviews on other websites for them, but after we found out rawhide was that bad, and after I saw he was successfull at pulling off a small chunk (he was supervised while chewing, so I got that right away), the Dingo went in the trash. While at home with my parents this weekend, he found a stashed rawhide of my parent's dog in a closet and just went to town! My parent's dog lost interest in it awhile ago, but BB LOVES IT. Its just a normal rolled 10-12 inch white rawhide. Since my parents got it, I'm pretty sure its a USA made one. He chewed on it for about an hour (while I was away and they were "babysitting") without knowing that rawhide was "off limits". But after seeing that he didn't make any "progress" aside from a small gummy section. I wonder if it is safe for him to chew, if he remains supervised.

 

Basically my question is two parts...

 

1) Is rawhide THAT BAD, (i.e., does anyone here give their dog rawhide?)

2) Is there any chew (other than bullies) that can be given for a more prolonged period of time, (i.e., hooves...) that may be an alternative for our teething 4.5 month old? (I've seen wooden toys that he might like, but I worry it might make him want to chew on our furniture, or that it is just an "expensive stick")

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not to mention those hambones that almost killed JD, that the FDA has been "investigating" for more than a year, that are still on the shelves.

Yes, we can still dream. :)

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Karen, does it take to long to shell the peanut?  Lexi eats peanut shells too and that is the reason she gave me, lol.   I keep telling her it will make her sick.  Hearing that you have survived makes me feel better.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I actually like the shells better than the peanuts, lol. (Only the salted kind). The skins, too.

Lexi is a girl after my own heart...and stomach.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My mom and sister eat an orange, peel and all. Whole peanuts...that is quite a feat!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm more impressed by the orange peel!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Well, now I know of three people that do this...LOL!

[Bonne Bouche]

What an amazing wealth of knowledge in this thread. I'm moderately speechless.

 

BBs stomach is handling the bullies better, so we have been doubling up on the 20 minute increments (2x a day). Whats odd, is aside from truely edible things (and wood), his "destroying" of toys is low if nonexistant. We have sevaral dollar store toys that are cheep and moderately flimsy that have been around since we got him, with minimal wear. He is oddly delicate with his balls and other toys, but when he gets a bully he can house it in no time. He's been better with the 12'' bully, because we don't get down to the last 2 or 3 inches (which he often swallows if not removed soon enough). We purchased a Kong "bone" to hold the last inch or so of the bully, and that has helped us conserve a little, and keeps BB enteratined a bit longer.

 

We also found ice to be a great chew! He loves it and its great for summer. I think we'll make popsicles with chicken broth or some other flavor to keep him interested, as we may ahve overdone it a bit, and interest is waning... I think a little will go a long way.

 

DH will get some marrow/weight bearing bones for chews too. I forgot to mention we purchased a bone from Merrick when we got him that was a beef knuckle (with no filling or crusty brown stuff on the outside) just a clean white bone. He loved it and eventually did so good on it, many small chunks would come off, and he'd eat them. We took it away from him when he had "gritty" poop. yech!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm glad to hear it is not just me!

[Camilla and Darwin]

We give Darwin antlers, which he loves. They are odorless, last forever and don't leave a mess. We also give him beef tracheas, which have worked well.

[Ellen, Brûlée, and Tira]

OK, I just have to ask...Seems lots of posters mention that they limit the time they allow their Doodles to have Bullysticks to chew on.  Is there a reason for that?  I let Brulee have hers whenever she wants.  She's 11 months, old and she really chews them quite a lot.   But she also doesn't chew up her squeaky toys at all.  Am I doing something that might harm her?  :(  Sure hope not!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Those bully sticks were lifesavers to me when Fudge and Vern were little. I did not limit their time, but I did check to make sure they were not getting large chunks off and trying to swallow them. As they got older, they were able to demolish them very quickly and it seemed to irritate Fudge's stomach, so I just stopped, but for a time, those sticks were my best friend..LOL!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Laurie, I thought it was strange that they seem to upset Murphy's stomach too as he got older. You would think it would be the opposite.  He could swallow a 4" segment and nothing would happen and now he vomits when he chews them. I wonder why?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

This is what would happen to Fudge too. She had no problems with them as a puppy, but as she got older they upset her stomach. Vern just tried to eat them too fast and he made me nervous, so I just stopped with both. I almost bought one the other day, but changed my mind and got an antler instead.