[emmasmom]

Hey RED...SO glad to hear Belle is doing much better! Wow...what a scary thing for you...I can't imagine! Anyway, you asked about rawhides, and I have been wondering the same thing. Emma loves rawhide chews...but I'm wondering if I give her too many of them...are they safe for her...etc. Can anyone comment on this??

 

[Betsy Iole]

Here's a recent discussion of rawhides with some links.

[ April 06, 2004, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: Betsy Iole ]

 

[Lilibetty71]

I looked and looked for a safe alternative to rawhides. The only things I could find where Bully Sticks. Any thoughts on those? I think they are dried, braided tendons. I gave one to Lily and it lasted just as long as a rawhide and got mushy instead of getting brittle and breaking off into pieces. I would love to hear if you guys think they are safe.

 

[Red]

After this whole nightmare we're going through with Belle, I'd beg of any Basset owner not to chance it with their hound. No, we cannot 100% positively say that it was the rawhide that caused this, but it was the only thing out of the ordinary that she had. Am I being unfair to the rawhide chewy industry? Maybe, but the health and life of our Belle far outweighs any guilt I could possibly feel for not giving her one again. Looking back, I compare giving her a chewy out of that big bag of Hartz rawhides to playing Russian Roulette.

From now on, she'll still get her dog biscuits and we'll look into other chewy toys for her.

 

[Marcia]

A gross FYI - bully sticks are smoked steer penises. I kid you not.

 

[biscuit]

Red, I aree with you. I stopped giving rawhides a long time ago.

My reasons for stopping were different than yours - they caused a bit too much territoriality than I'm comfortable with amongst the doggies! Then, I remember hearing they weren't necessarily safe, which immediately led me to stop giving the pups anything like that.

Besides, I quickly learned the pups liked biscuits --- and broccoli and carrots --- just as much as rawhides. Not to mention, the carrots are good gnaw material.

I'm glad your little Princess is doing better, BTW, Red. HGE scares the dickens out of me and I've never even had to deal with it. Here's hoping for a speedy and complete recovery.

 

[Lilibetty71]

Marcia...that IS gross!