RawHide Chews are they dangerous?

[GG-CG-AG]

I used to give my girls rawhides on some occasions when they could be closely supervised. Until a couple of weeks ago...

I was on a long-distance business phone call. I was at home and cleanign house as well.. Since Baylee has the tendency to want to follow me around everywhere I go, it is hard to clean the house because she is always right underneath my feet. So I gave her and Abby a rawhide bone and they went to their respective corners which made it easy for me to clean. I was standing in the living room, talking to the client, when I noticed Baylee making this HORRIBLE choking sound and acting like she wanted to throw-up. I immediatly noticed that Baylee's bone was gone. I dropeed the phoen and dropped to my knees, pried open her mouth and stuck my fingers down her throat. I will never forget what I pulled out. In her mouth was a hard piece of rawhide that she was obviously trying to swallow but couldn't b/c it was still hard. Attached to it was about 7 inches of 'noodle-like' rawhide. This had been hanging down her throat! :( Needless to say, I was not very happy and I will never give them another rawhide again.....ever.

 

[leenasmom]

Originally posted by GG-CG-AG
In her mouth was a hard piece of rawhide that she was obviously trying to swallow but couldn't b/c it was still hard. Attached to it was about 7 inches of 'noodle-like' rawhide. This had been hanging down her throat! :(

I had a similar situation with Leena, when she was about 4 months old. Everytime I see those pig ears, and raw hides in the store, I get sick to my tummy.

 

[GG-CG-AG]

Scary, isn't it Jessica?? I can't believe that they still keep them on shelves.... I'm sure dogs are bound to have been choked to death by them sometime!

Mine will never have tham again...that's for sure. They can be mad at me and pout all they want. Suppose I'd been in the other room??? :( Scary..scary...scary!

 

[Zsara]

Thanks for the information!

I bought a large compressed raw hide bone that seems to be lasting a long time....But I think I will limit all the above....

 

[JULIEGINA]

We used to give our old boxer Dolly these chews all the time, one day she swallowed one hole and thankfully it came through, after that we used to watch her eat them very carefully and as soon as she started to try and swallow it we would quickly take it off her and wait for it to go hard, but she used to look at us thinking we where mean. With Gina we don't let her have them at all, yes they are dangerous and they should be made to have a warning on them.

 

[Zsara]

I had bought one of those large bags of Chews

Now I am picking the medium sized triangular ones up and placing them in the trash as I find them around the house. (gotta do it without Blade seeing where I put them ) The compressed one I bought is a large bone and he can hardly make a dent in it. So as I said if I continue to buy chews I'm going to stick with the ones that are compressed!

 

[Johnm]

We don't give our dogs rawhide bones. I've read too many articles about how bad they can be. I buy the big soup bones at the grocers and then boil them to kill any bacteria. It's so funny watching Jake flick his tongue inside them to get at the marrow. I make sure I buy bones that are thick so he can't break them and also are wide enough to get his tongue into. He'll chew for hours on it.

 

[ChestersMommy]

hmm

I wish I would have not read this thread. I just went out tonight and bought Chester 2 rawhide bones and really really big one that he could chew on forever. He never chews on these unsupervised because I do not put them in his kennel with him and no matter what he is doin he always has to be right on top of me. I also bought him 4 pig ears. He loves this stuff, and doesnt seem to have a problem chewing on it and swallowing it. I think after these bones and pig ears are gone though, it will be the last. I have enough fear of him getting run over outside, or getting into a fight with this dog that this guy walks by and cannot control. Chester mostly has squeaky toys and sometimes gets a stuffed animal. He has not had rawhide or pig ears for awhile now.

 

[boxerpeople]

We used to give Minnie the smaller rawhide chips like you're describing. Minnie did what every other boxer does - chew them to a soft pulp and then swallow it whole. Luckily she never choked or had a blockage, but we stopped giving them to her because we couldn't keep her from swallowing them whole.

This past Christmas a friend gave Minnie a big rawhide bone as a gift. Since we were able to supervise her while she chewed it we let her have it. We were very surprisedd when we observed that with the bigger bone (the kind withthe big knots at each end) Minnie had no choice but to chew off smaller pieces. She seemed to enjoy the bigger rawhide alot more too. Since then Minnie has had two more big rawhide bones and has not once tried to swallow any large pieces. The only problem we've had is Minnie reinjuring a fractured toenail while she was holding/tugging on the rawhide bone.

Might not work for your boxer, but if your pooch really loves chewing rawhides you might want to give the larger bones a try. Nylabones are also a good option...just make sure you get actual Nylabones and not Gummabones and be sure to get the "Souper" size. You boxer will probably easily crush an undersized Nylabone or any size Gummabone.

 

[sarar]

alternatives

I do give the babies rawhide bones, but only the really large ones that don't fit fully into their mouths. Then, I throw them away often; I don't think that they have ever chewed one of the really large ones enough to attempt to swallow it. I think that their jaws get tired.

My babies really like it when I take their Kong and fill it with peanut butter lovicon and then freeze it. They chew, and lick, and play until the toy is empty and clean.

They just went to the vet last week, and she said that their teeth looked great and that no one even needed a cleaning!