[alundy]

My puppy is teething and I am wading through endless internet articles to find something safe for her to chew! From what I am reading:

- Rawhide and pig ears can cause intestinal blockages
- Sticks and other wood can splinter and injure her throat
- Greenies can cause intestinal blockages if not fully chewed (she ate her first one really quickly so I'm not sure if I'm confortable with them)
- Uncooked bones are....ok?
- Smoked bones are ok?
- Edible Nylabones.... I'm assuming they can aalso cause intestinal blockages if not fully chewed
- Unedible Nylabones... she gets bored with these really quickly.
- Kongs... she likes to pick the treats out but she doesn't really chew the Kong
- Rubber bone - no interest in it

Any thoughts?

[opokki]

I think there is some danger with just about everything out there, especially if the dog is an aggressive chewer. Neither of my dogs are really aggressive chewers but I still like to supervise whenever they have chews just to be safe.

Natalie loves bully stix. They seem to last long and I haven't seen her be able to break off any small chunks from them. I also give her smoked bones (the ones from the pet supply stores) and with some of these she can break off smaller peices. I try to buy the thicker ones, such as knuckle bones, to prevent this
When she was a puppy I gave her a variety of chews including greenies, edible nylabones, regular & pressed rawhides, smoked marrow bones, sterilized filled marrow bones.

I think the thick sterilized filled marrow bones and the thick smoked knuckle or marrow bones might be on the safer side and also maybe the edible nylabones (except they don't last long at all). I've also heard of a canvas material bone shaped chewy called "chilly-bone" or something to that effect which is supposed to be great for teething puppies.

[Cheetah]

Try stuffing things in the kong that can be frozen (plain yogurt, peanut butter, apple sauce, etc.) and also stuffing in fruit slices like bananas, mango, melon in the ends... it lasts a lot longer. It's like a doggy ice cream cone. >^_^<

Raw bones are fine, but if it's anything other than a beef or bison femur, it may require extra supervision (Just had to get X-rays for my dog because she swallowed bone fragments from a knuckle bone) >@_@<

I don't consider smoked bones to be okay, because they have been exposed to heat and are therefore prone to splintering. Also, for the record, Eevee broke one of her molars on an extra-hard, processed, sterilized bone from the pet store and had to have the tooth extracted, which ran me over $550. >o.o<

[opokki]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Also, for the record, Eevee broke one of her molars on a, extra-hard, processed, sterilized bone from the pet store and had to have the tooth extracted, which ran me over $550. >o.o<

Ouch! Thanks for the warning.