Rawhide treats - do they pose a serious danger to your dog?

We are all trying to give really healthy treats to our dogs - ones that will keep them entertained but also not high calories.....

Rawhide treats seems to be a great option, however, it seems that opinion is divided on this innocent looking potential killers.

Rawhide chews come in lots of shapes, sizes and colors. Rawhides are made from the inner layer of an animal's skin. Rawhide is a slaughterhouse industry byproduct. These dog treats are usually made from horses' and cows' skin. Layers of hide are folded, pressed and formed into the dog's chew toys. The rawhide can be grounded, compressed and formed. The rawhide that is formed from a single layer of skin is easier for dogs to chew. Before the hides are processed they are basted with liver, chicken or beef flavoring making it more palatable for the dog.

Dogs do seem to enjoy chewing them, it is what they would have done in the wild and it seems to be a great for teething puppies desperate to chew on something and it is preferable to the chair leg!

There however some hidden dangers. Cattle or horses' skin have to go through processing before it can be displayed in pet supply store shelves. The greatest danger with raw hide is that it can present a choking hazard. A dog owner has to be careful in providing the pet with rawhides especially if no one can supervise the playing pet. The dog's slobber will make the rawhide soft and gooey until the dog can tear off sections from the bone. Small bits can be ingested without creating blockage. However, this will not always be the case. Large chunks that are swallowed can result to choking. A dog that is left alone will be in serious danger as first aid will not be given. Surgery may be necessary to remove the blockage.

So, is rawhide good or bad for the dog? The answer is actually yes and no! More than the wallet, a dog owner's priority will be the safety of the pet. The hazards of providing the pet with this chew toy can be minimized by getting expensive but good quality rawhides. It would also help if the dog is supervised while playing.

I tend to use the rawhide bones that are filled with something edible, but it does not uncurl into a massive single piece of rawhide that the dog can't break up into smaller bits and just swallows and swallows until it is all gone. One of my older foster dogs (Sheba) was eating the bone one, which seem to be the safest, and she still manage to choke on it - we gave her water to drink and she was then able to heave it back up but it was a real fright.

I find that it depends on the dog as to how and when I will give it rawhide. Phoebe, my own Patterdale Terrier, loves rawhide of all shapes and sizes, but she eats it sensibly and will really take her time chewing, so can be trusted to go off and enjoy her chew unsupervised. The staffies and staffie crosses I don't trust with certain rawhides, like the twisted variety or the knotted, as they are so greedy they will down it without chewing it properly, and they're the ones I have coughing and retching to get a piece back up. It's always the last couple of inches that pose the most danger of being swallowed in one, so I never give a rawhide when I'm not there to supervise them eating it. On the other hand, you can get so neurotic about what to give your dog, that common sense has to prevail.

Oh I do agree Ria that we could all become very anal about things - but I think if any of us experiences something good or bad then it is worth sharing on here. I also think the smaller dogs do tend to have far less trouble with rawhide and you can always remove that last ectoplasmic last 4 inches lol. I also have to remember that Sheba has a large adam's apple and this might have got in the way as she ate the piece or rawhide that she managed to chew off.

We can't give these to Nico any more. We've found that they make him extremely hyperactive and aggressive/bullyish, everything becomes a fight and he'll mouth/bite clothes and behave completely out of character, and then the next day he'll be extremely low, unresponsive - almost depressed.



Has anyone else experienced this?

We had exactly this with Alfie last night, a rawhide bone filled with marrow, we let them have them for an hour each night after their walk as it seems to relax them...

Well last night alfie came to me with it just hanging from his open mouth ( I thouhgt it had hooked onto one of his teeth, but as I tried to release it I found about four inches came straight from his throat, exactly as you described..... luckily he wasnt choking but it has made us think!! Bully sticks are often preferable but not so easy to get hold of... although they can be purchased online.... they are supposed to be gentler on the stomach than rawhide too....

It is really scary isn't it. Please can you put a link to the website that sells the alternatives that you mentioned.