Many people buy the chews that cover whole stands in the aisles of their local pet shop in the belief that they are good, wholesome, and safe.
Sorry, but they may be none of those things!
You’d think that rawhide would come from the meat industry, but in fact it’s a by-product of the leather Industry - it’s technically an industrial waste product.
And far from foody substances being used in the manufacture of rawhide chews, lead, arsenic, mercury, chromium salts, quaternary ammonia, formaldehyde, and other toxic chemicals have been detected in rawhide, along with the occasional addition of e coli and salmonella. Not to mention the glue used to hold them in shape.
Though there are a very few companies making chews without this shocking list of ingredients, most of the rawhide chews sold come from countries where, shall we just say, the health of your pet is not their top priority.
What can go wrong?
While the toxins and bacteria listed above are not things we want our dogs or ourselves to be contaminated with, the chief danger is obstruction or choking. Some chews even carry this warning:
“Choking or blockages. If your dog swallows large pieces of rawhide, the rawhide can get stuck in the oesophagus or other parts of the digestive tract. Sometimes, abdominal surgery is needed to remove them from the stomach or intestines. If it isn’t resolved, a blockage can lead to death.”
Sure you want to give your dog that chew?
Yes, they can be useful to amuse a young puppy. Unless your pup is a new designer breed Velociraptor cross, they’ll mostly only mouth and soften the chew. As soon as they are able to swallow any of it, it should be removed and you should no longer give them to your pup, as they’ve now moved into the blockage danger category above.
Healthy alternatives
There will be downsides and possible dangers to anything in life.
Some folk like to give antlers - though for some dogs with iffy teeth these may be too hard and cause tooth damage.
Some people with strong stomachs and a poor sense of smell like to give pigs’ ears. Just keep in mind that the ear is often full of needle holes from all those hormones and what-have-you that are injected into factory-farmed pigs on a daily basis.
And some - with an even poorer sense of smell! - give hooves. Hoof slices were always popular with my dogs when I was trimming the goats’ and sheep’s hooves. But I wouldn’t be mad about them having a whole hoof, breathing horrible smells into the house, then bringing it up on the carpet later.
What do I give my dogs to chew?
I give mine raw meaty bones. Hugely popular, safe, unpolluted, untreated, truly natural, satisfying. The major benefits are teeth cleaning, physical exertion (ripping a bone apart is hard work!), mental absorption for an hour or so at a time, and high nutritional value.
Avoid marrowbones and weightbearing leg bones. The strength of these bones can result in tooth damage, so I’m told. But forty years of feeding bones to my own mix of large, medium and small dogs has never resulted in this. In fact the whiteness of my dogs’ teeth has often been remarked upon, and they die at a good old age (mid to late teens) with all their teeth intact.
You’ll find that your dog will vomit up any bits of bone or indigestible tendons a day or so later. This is a natural clearing out of junk from the stomach and does not mean anything is amiss. Too much information? Just forewarning you so you don’t panic! Dogs and cats have a simple digestive system: it either goes down or it comes up again.
Government food protection
We’re used to being protected by government legislation. But this legislation does not necessarily extend to our pets. It’s up to us to be aware of what’s in what we give our dogs to eat, to chew, or to play with.
Caveat emptor! Buyer beware!
While it’s easy enough to simply exclude these commercial chews from your home, understanding canine nutrition is a whole nother ball-game! And it’s another place where dreadful “foods” are promoted - even by vets! - which we should not give house-room to.
Check out this ingredients list on a popular, vet-prescribed, expensive, dog food from Royal Canin:
Rice, Vegetable Protein Isolate, Wheat, Animal Fats, Maize Gluten, Husked Oats, Maize, Hydrolysed Animal Proteins, Minerals, Soya Oil, Beet Pulp, Fish Oil, Flax Seeds, Fructo-Oligo-Saccharides, Mono and Diglycerides (Emulsifiers), Borage Oil, Marigold Extract, Antioxidants.
Yes, there is a teaspoonful of meat in there, not named or quantified, listed at no.8. The whole product is nutritionally rated in allaboutdogfood.co.uk - the site run by a canine nutritionist - at 22%.
22%! Vet-recommended! Currently £5 per kg!
Commercially-produced raw and cooked foods, on the other hand, show exactly what meat is involved (e.g. beef kidney, duck breast) and how much (often as high as 90%).
You can see that if this is news to you, you have your work cut out!
Don’t take anybody’s word for the quality of what you feed your precious dog. Do the work. Bone up on the knowledge ;-). You’re the one who will be paying the vet’s bills when you run into trouble with these awful “foods”.
But I don’t want to feed raw …
Here’s an article which goes into more detail about how best to feed your dog
It looks at what will suit you and your dog best. I’m not on a crusade about how you choose to feed - but I do want to make you aware that it’s not all unicorns and roses in the commercial petfood and dogchew world!