[PunkyPug]

How can you let your dogs eat plastic?
I don't use these bones. They appear and feel and cut n crumble just like plastic!

Not to mention chews like this:
http://www.nylabone.com/product-finder/my-pet-is/dog-small/happy-time-longlasting-chews.htm
Ingredients:
Wheat Starch, Rice Flour, Wheat Gluten, Glycerin, Chicken, Powdered Cellulose, Lecithin, Guar Gum, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavor, Natural Bacon Flavor, Natural Beef Flavor, Annatto Extract Color, Turmeric, Mixed Tocopherols (natural preservative), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Inositol, p-Aminobenzoic Acid, Ferrous Carbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Chloride, Zinc Oxide, Copper Oxide, Manganous Oxide, and Sodium Molybdate

NOT something I'd even eat myself! My rule of thumb is: "If I won't eat it or even like the taste of it. I won't give it to my dog"(only used on dog products. NOT people food)RAW is an exception because dogs don't cook their food

 

[bgmacaw]

RAW is an exception because dogs don't cook their food

They hire humans to do their cooking.

 

[Willowy]

Nylabones ARE plastic. Which is why they feel like plastic. . .. The dogs aren't supposed to eat them, and if they do ingest small shreds, they're supposed to pass through harmlessly.

The edible ones don't have the best ingredients, no, but they last a long time and don't break their teeth. And sometimes you need a few minutes of chew time!

 

[PunkyPug]

Nylabones ARE plastic. Which is why they feel like plastic. . .. The dogs aren't supposed to eat them, and if they do ingest small shreds, they're supposed to pass through harmlessly.

The edible ones don't have the best ingredients, no, but they last a long time and don't break their teeth. And sometimes you need a few minutes of chew time!

Even when I worked at PetsMart the customers had negative reviews about how well the bones hold up. I don't see the need to feed your dog something unhealthy when you can purchase a cheap slab of beef ribs, freeze em, and let your dog go at em! Marrow bones from Publix aren't even the best(they can chip teeth) but their better than risking your dog eating plastic!

 

[Jacksons Mom]

I do agree that I don't really like giving my dog plastic to chew on. Never had good luck with nylabones personally. Jackson only likes those flexichew ones and he eats them WAY too fast... makes me entirely too nervous. I feel like I'm just allowing him to chew off pieces of plastic and hoping anything he may swallow passes. So yeah we just don't do them in this house.

 

[Willowy]

Eh, Toby loves Nylabones. He goes through one Galileo about every 3 months or so. He can't have ribs in the house, so why not? He's the only dog I've met who actually likes them, though. Most dogs think chewing on a hunk of plastic is pointless.

 

[Rescued]

my 70 lb foster lab scares me with real bones, he has some crazy powerful chompers and can crack a bone in a minute or two. We've had good luck with nylabones (never the edible ones and never the gummy ones) as they dont chip when he drops them on the concrete, dont crack, and if pieces come off they're small enough to pass through.

For a pug? go for it. But other than finding a huge frozen tibia or something, rib bones are simply not big enough for some dogs.

 

[PunkyPug]

Eh, Toby loves Nylabones. He goes through one Galileo about every 3 months or so. He can't have ribs in the house, so why not? He's the only dog I've met who actually likes them, though. Most dogs think chewing on a hunk of plastic is pointless.

my 70 lb foster lab scares me with real bones, he has some crazy powerful chompers and can crack a bone in a minute or two. We've had good luck with nylabones (never the edible ones and never the gummy ones) as they dont chip when he drops them on the concrete, dont crack, and if pieces come off they're small enough to pass through.

For a pug? go for it. But other than finding a huge frozen tibia or something, rib bones are simply not big enough for some dogs.

okay.....you've got the marrow bones in Publix. I've bought a package of 6 or 8 for about $5. Also, if you talk to your butchers in your grocery stores they'd happily give you their left over pieces/bones. A friend of mine feeds 3 danes and gets femur bones straight from publix butcher for about $1-2 a pound. He's even given her a few free ones.

 

[Keechak]

Simple, My dogs can have their nylabones 24/7 I can safely leave a nylabone in the crate while I'm gone. I can't do that with real bones. And honestly little tiny rice sized pieces of plastic that might be consumed are much better than the other things the dogs could be trying to ingest out of boredom.

 

[PunkyPug]

Simple, My dogs can have their nylabones 24/7 I can safely leave a nylabone in the crate while I'm gone. I can't do that with real bones. And honestly little tiny rice sized pieces of plastic that might be consumed are much better than the other things the dogs could be trying to ingest out of boredom.

You're dogs aren't supposed to eat plastic. So what then makes nylabones any safer than any other piece of plastic!?

 

[Keechak]

You're dogs aren't supposed to eat plastic. So what then makes nylabones any safer than any other piece of plastic!?

My dogs aren't supposed to eat blankets either and those are MUCH more dangerous to ingest. If I leave the puppy in her crate with a blanket and a nylabone, she chews on the nylabone. If I leave her in the crate without the nylabone she chews on the blanket.

You keep on talking about "the risk of eating plastic" Can you tell me exactly what this risk is? Sure it has ZERO nutritional value and in very large quantities can cause obstructions but there is really nothing horrible about ingesting a little plastic now and then especially when I know for a fact that the pieces are TINY. This is why when a toddler eats Barbie's shoe the doctor just laughs and says check the poop. They are not given to the dog for a food as you are suggesting, they are given as a way to keep the mind and body occupied for a while.

I am NOT going to give my dogs a real bone to chew on when I'm not there to supervise sorry not gunna happen!

 

[Willowy]

Besides, they don't digest the plastic. So it shouldn't do any harm.

 

[mashlee08]

Take it from someone who has assisted and seen enemas under anaesthetic on dogs with blockages, the cause of the blockage most the time has been bones with the odd bit of rope or blanket. But I have never seen Tiny bits of plastic cause a blockage, if it was a bigger bit then maybe. If it does no harm then to me, there's nothing wrong with it. If you don't like them then simply don't use them.

 

[Mommy_to_HaileyMay]

Maybe I'm a complete fool, but I never thought that the dog was supposed to eat the nylabone. I thought that they were flavored plastic with ridges meant to clean teeth and prevent boredom chewing. Sure, my pup has made the edges of her nylabone rough but she hasn't truly eaten it and I don't anticipate her doing so.

 

[kafkabeetle]

Oh for crying out loud. Whether it sounds natural to you or not, my dog likes to chew on plastic. Don't ask me why. If she doesn't have a nylabone available she will start chewing on pens she finds around the house. She seems to use it as a way to release nervous energy, because the most common time for her to chew on it is when we have company or some other stressful event is occurring. She has a few antlers but she's not a big fan of them, though she does chew on them occasionally. I'm not about to take away a very safe toy that she takes great comfort in just because of someone's paranoia about chewing on plastic. If she were swallowing chunks of it you might have a point, but with the way she chews it's probably safer for her to chew unsupervised than an actual raw bone.

The horror!!

Oh, and unless you're on some primal type diet yourself, that excludes grains, I almost guarantee that you *do* eat most of the ingredients in those edible nylabones on a daily basis. Not that I recommend feeding them, but then that's precisely because I don't subscribe to the belief that my dog should only eat what I would eat. Wheat and rice might be ok for me, but they aren't something I'm going to purposefully feed my dog if I have a choice.

 

[Miss Bugs]

my dogs eat though edable nylabones like they are nothing and break off the plastic ones in large sharp chunks that have cut my feet, so I cant say I am a big fan. I got the puppies some "long lasting edable" nylabone chews a few months ago as chewies to distract them in the car, those "long lasting" chews were entirly gone in less then 10 minutes. the bag of carrots I replaced them with is cheaper and healthier lol

 

[mashlee08]

Maybe I'm a complete fool, but I never thought that the dog was supposed to eat the nylabone. I thought that they were flavored plastic with ridges meant to clean teeth and prevent boredom chewing. Sure, my pup has made the edges of her nylabone rough but she hasn't truly eaten it and I don't anticipate her doing so.

You are so right by the way!! I think we are talking about what would happen if dogs actually swallowed the plastic. But yeah, the point is just to chew on it, not actually eat it like you said my dog like kafkabeetles, loves to chew plastic. So flavoured plastic to her is a bonus!!

 

[LoMD13]

I love nylabones-- they and Kongs are the only thing I feel OK about leaving Lola with unsupervised. If she wants to chew on plastic, more power to her.

 

[Keechak]

my dog have also chewed up pens, frisbees, and milk jugs, something about plastic and it's texture must really appeal to them.

 

[Rescued]

My dogs aren't supposed to eat blankets either and those are MUCH more dangerous to ingest. If I leave the puppy in her crate with a blanket and a nylabone, she chews on the nylabone. If I leave her in the crate without the nylabone she chews on the blanket.

You keep on talking about "the risk of eating plastic" Can you tell me exactly what this risk is? Sure it has ZERO nutritional value and in very large quantities can cause obstructions but there is really nothing horrible about ingesting a little plastic now and then especially when I know for a fact that the pieces are TINY. This is why when a toddler eats Barbie's shoe the doctor just laughs and says check the poop. They are not given to the dog for a food as you are suggesting, they are given as a way to keep the mind and body occupied for a while.

I am NOT going to give my dogs a real bone to chew on when I'm not there to supervise sorry not gunna happen!

this x1000. I simply do not feel comfortable leaving my dogs crated with real bones when unsupervised. When I see a nylabone crack in half and my dog trying to swallow a pointy shard whole, then I'll rethink this approach, but it hasnt happened yet.

And cotton is a plant, and "natural," but I guarantee you that leaving a dog crated and unsupervised with a rope toy is 1000x more dangerous than leaving a dog crated with a *gasp* unnatural plastic bone.