Rawhide bones- Good or Bad?

marc515 · 12-26-2007, 08:14 AM

Not sure if this belongs here, but I have always wondered if rawhide bones are good for dogs.

We have a 92lb Lab who loves them, especially the pressed rawhide bones, but have heard they are not good for the digestive system?

Your thoughts please? Thank you

Marc

lynn'stwo · 12-26-2007, 08:31 AM

we've had a lot of dogs over the years and they all got stomach upsets on raw hide bones. I won't buy them anymore.

lovemygreys · 12-26-2007, 08:38 AM

My vote is that they are bad. I see no reason to give rawhids when there are much better natural alternatives.

filox · 12-26-2007, 09:02 AM

Will you elaborate on the alternatives....

I give them to my dogs, the rawhide bones, and they love them, dont do it every day, once in a wile, will love to hear other alternatives...

lovemygreys · 12-26-2007, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by filox

Will you elaborate on the alternatives....

I give them to my dogs, the rawhide bones, and they love them, dont do it every day, once in a wile, will love to hear other alternatives...

Raw Meaty Bones - Our dogs enjoy everything from turkey wings to deer shoulder blades to marrow bones to pigs feet. Always raw. On another board I'm on, one poster gave her dogs a whole goats head. I have to admit, that was a tad too gross for me (there were pics)...but the dogs seemed to really love it and there wasn't much left at the end of it all.

filox · 12-26-2007, 11:17 AM

My.... a goat head...

Well, one of mine has become quite good at hunting birds. He will eat them feathers, beaks and all. First time I saw him I was on the second floor terrace. and watch him stoke the bird, then he jump after the bird took flight and catch it, by the time I got down to the yard, there where only the wings flopping on the side of his head, and when I finally reach him he all ready swallow it. He seemed to enjoy it, since he keeps after the birds, he will be near the water dish, and wait for them....

Here is a pick of him... (with out a bird)

Renoman · 12-26-2007, 11:26 AM

Other alternatives to rawhide might include; Kongs, nylabones - not the edible ones and antler chews.

britishbandit · 12-26-2007, 12:11 PM

I give my dogs rawhide once in a while. Never had an issue with them getting sick or anything and they chew em up really good, they don't swallow the small hard pieces at the end without giving em a good chew first. LOL

I too prefer to use real raw meaty bones, but that's not possible with PJ. When I got him he had severe food aggression. With any type of food. Well we worked on it for a while and he's no longer food aggressive, with MOST things. However raw meaty bones are a different matter, I tried him 3 times with them along the way after he'd stopped getting food aggressive with kibble, rawhide.....etc, and it just wasn't gonna happen. Now I just don't give him them. He's fine with boneless meat, and small things like chicken/turkey necks, backs, thighs and such. But give him a good old knuckle bone or something of considerable size, and he goes into "stupid mode". It's just not worth it.

Tysa on the other hand does get the raw meaty bones on occasion, but when PJ is downstairs with my buddy. You could chew on an end with her and she wouldn't care, she's not food aggressive in the least bit. But she's never had cause to fear I'll take her food or be aggressive if someone approaches her, and I've had her from a pup. PJ was 7 1/2 months when I got him, and had already developed this aggression. Makes me wonder what did and didn't happen to him before I got him to make him this bad. I've never had a food aggressive dog before. It was pretty darn scary too, having a 95lb Rottweiler that just came into your home growling, raised hackles and eyes dilated. It took a lot of time and patience to get as far as I have with him.

UrbanBeagles · 12-26-2007, 12:18 PM

I've always used rawhides, for as long as I've had dogs, and have never had a problem with the knotted bone type rawhide. On the contrary, the first time I ever fed a Nylabone, my pup nearly choked on it when the bone, in it's entirety, slid down his throat!!! I've had incidences with certain raw meaty bones, especially pork - almost lost a dog to a pork neck & seeing a dog nearly die right in front of my eyes is not my idea of a safe chew. Don't get me wrong, anything a dog puts in it's mouth can be a choking hazard, but rawhides are no less safer than raw bones or Nylabones, etc.

The only thing is that I don't give them quite often, as too much can wear down the enamel. Other than that, rawhides are fine.

briteday · 12-26-2007, 01:52 PM

Most of us who are against rawhide believe that their are two factors that cause us not to offer it. First the processing contains all kinds of cleach and worse chemicals. Second, rawhide is not digested. So I have visions of theis slimy goo rolling around in their guts for months. Many dogs form impactions in the intestines from rawhides. Some require surgery. Not worth the risk for me.

Alternatives... stuffed frozen kongs, ice cubes, bully sticks, raw bones, home made biscuits

yodarunner · 12-27-2007, 02:47 AM

Thank you for posting this, I've always wondered myself... my dogs absolutely love them... oh well.
Filox, I thought you weren't supposed to let dogs have bird bones of any sort, I've always heard that they splinter and can cause damage. Am I wrong? or does it matter what kind of bird???

CrazyDog · 12-27-2007, 01:41 PM

I NEVER offer rawhide to my dog anymore. I lost a beloved dog 2 yrs ago because of rawhide bones. He got a large piece lodged in his intestines, which required surgery. He did not make it after the surgery. I am now totally againest rawhide and always recommend NOT to offer it to your dogs.

lovemygreys · 12-27-2007, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Filox, I thought you weren't supposed to let dogs have bird bones of any sort, I've always heard that they splinter and can cause damage. Am I wrong? or does it matter what kind of bird???

Raw bones, even bird bones, are fine. They should be size appropriate though - our dogs will swallow a chicken neck whole b/c it's so small, so no chicken necks for them. I have one greyhound that will swallow a whole chicken drumstick, so I have to be careful the size and shape bones he gets

filox · 12-27-2007, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yodarunner

Thank you for posting this, I've always wondered myself... my dogs absolutely love them... oh well.
Filox, I thought you weren't supposed to let dogs have bird bones of any sort, I've always heard that they splinter and can cause damage. Am I wrong? or does it matter what kind of bird???

Hello,
Well, it isn't about me letting him, he just gets the birds. About size, the ones I have seen are medium size birds. dove size. definitely not chicken size, I guess the bones are pretty small. He should be able to digest them.

Cheers.

PS. About the thing about the birds bones. As far as I know. raw bones will break in small pices there good, cooked bones are the ones that splinter.

yodarunner · 12-27-2007, 04:58 PM

Oh. Well that's 1 less thing for me to be worried about. They will be very happy to hear that!!

raquyx · 12-27-2007, 10:21 PM

At my house we call rawhides "bum shrapnel." Rawhide isn't digested so well, so sharp little fragments can literally slice up the dog's rectum on the way out (or other intestines before they even get that far!)

Also rawhides seem to really bring out food aggressiveness in dogs that have never been food aggressive before. For example, when we still fed my dog rawhides, he almost bit the head off of the neighbors' dog when she wandered too near to the rawhide he was currently chewing on. He doesn't do anything like that with anything else. If anything, he'll pick up the bone, ball, or whatever, and run away with it so he can chew it in peace.

If your local pet store sells dehydrated sweet potatoes, give those a try. The texture is similar but without all the nastiness rawhides tend to bring. They also taste pretty good!

ACampbell · 12-28-2007, 11:47 AM

I give my dogs a rawhide every now and then...but mine don't swallow the giblets, they leave them all over the floor for me

so I'm not real concerned with the lack of digestion because they aren't getting that far. Mine especially like the ones with the fake smoke stuff on them...they chew those down to a gooey glob on the floor within an hour.

cja75 · 01-01-2008, 08:22 PM

First of all dogs die all the time from bones raw and cooked. I never use them. Pigs ears, bully sticks, lamb lung are great chews. Bully sticks in paticular because you can get different sizes. Make sure they are natural (no salt or anything added) Only use thm sparingly ie.. not for training just a special treat. Kong toys are great too if your dog will chew it. Some just get the treats out and dont like the toy itself (doesn't smell good to them) Rawhide from what I've rad isn't really deadly or anything but usually has additives so I dont use it.

First of all dogs die all the time from bones raw and cooked. I never use them. Pigs ears, bully sticks, lamb lung are great chews. Bully sticks in paticular because you can get different sizes. Make sure they are natural (no salt or anything added) Only use thm sparingly ie.. not for training just a special treat. Kong toys are great too if your dog will chew it. Some just get the treats out and dont like the toy itself (doesn't smell good to them) Rawhide isnt too bad but has additives usually (from what i've read) so better to stay with others I mentioned above

britishbandit · 01-01-2008, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cja75

First of all dogs die all the time from bones raw and cooked.

They do? Where do you get your info from?

I've never personally heard of a fatality from feeding a dog raw bones. Cooked bones I've heard numerous people have issues with splintering and dogs sometimes requiring surgery. I feed my dogs raw bones on a regular basis, and always will. If it was as common as you say that bones cause fatalities, nobody would feed them. I'm sure you'll find many of us here feed our dogs raw bones, and never had a dog die on us from doing so. There's also quite a few people that feed a strictly raw diet, which I too would do if I were able to financially keep up with the amount my two Rotties would need each day.

Willowy · 01-01-2008, 11:49 PM

I've never heard of a wolf dying from eating a pheasant......or a coyote dying from eating your chickens (except if you shoot him). So I feel safe in giving my dogs raw chicken with the bones in. I definitely feel that it's safer than having their teeth professionally cleaned.......dogs die from anesthetic all the time, too.