Uneaten Rawhide Chews

[sanford]

I believe that there are more advantages than risks in giving my dog small rawhide chews and I supervise him when he has one. He gets all excited and happy with a new chew so I love giving them to him.

The problem is, he'll gnaw away and soften 1/4 - 1/3 of the chew and then abandon it forever. Sometimes I'll leave the chew lying around for a few weeks to see if he'll go back to it. He doesn't. Other times I'll remove the chew and give it back a few weeks later, but he never wants the same chew again. I try all kinds of other brands and flavors, but the result is always the same; he starts it eagerly, but abandons it fairly quickly. I'm thinking that maybe his "chew of choice" probably doesn't exist. I end up discarding a lot of perfectly good rawhide, not to mention the expense!

My question is, do other dogs do this? Is this the way other dogs use their rawhide chews, or does it vary? I thought rawhide chews were usually munched on until they almost disappeared. Perhaps this means that my dog is simply not a "chewer".

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Scully'sMom]

My first Cairn would eat just the ends off the larger rawhide bones and leave the middle lying all over the house. Scully LOVES the small ones and has one while her dad and I have our morning coffee. Now if I give her the larger ones, she will chew on it for days on end and also will leave a portion of it. The smaller ones are much better IMHO because they're not getting wasted.

[Milopup]

Well I went to Petsmart (read my other post) to try to find chews, but there were so many to choose from. Any recommendations for good, safer, chews for our pups?

[Eliz222]

Raw hide chewies scare me to death, especially since my DH had to pull one out of Finch's throat about a year ago! I wouldn't give them any....but....my two love them! We keep them up high and bring them down when we can sit in front of them and watch them carefully. We even shut the doors to other rooms so they can't go "hide" the bones! I buy the big bones, and they seem to enjoy chewing on these. When they tear a small piece off.....it goes in the trash right away....small pieces can be dangerous. They would prefer to chew the whole thing off, but this keeps me sane!

[Darcy's Folks]

I have so many responses to this post.

I am SOLD on buying bully sticks. Granted, there is an expense to them and a smell. However, they are the best because they don't fall apart and you don't have to worry so much on them choking on the shavings that can come off of rawhides. We still do rawhide sticks, but we make extra certain we are supervising Darcy. She is able to crunch off a whole bunch of stuff she could choke on.

Darcy is a Diva... no kidding. If she could request a dressing room with green m&m's she would be on cloud 9. She is the same way... gets excited over a brand new rawhide or bully stick and then not so interested after a few chew sessions. We always take up her chews so that it's viewed as a "treat" in her eyes and not something she can always access.

I have always wondered if putting a small smathering of peanut butter on her sticks that she no longer shows interest in would get her to become interested again. I will definitely try that next time around.

I have an odd feeling that the reason they leave after a while is because the "scent" of it has worn off from their chewing. And/or because there isn't enough for them to hold onto and chew.

[Kramersmom]

About rawhides, my Missy when a puppy loved the pretzel shaped one's. I would give her one and it would be chewed and gulped in no time, well at age 6 damage was done with her colitis so no more rawhides after that. Now, with Kramer he loves the round one's, I buy the large size for a Rottweiller LOL so no way he can swallow that , he only gets them when we are home, he too likes to get it soft then he switches sides. Once it gets soft, he loses interest and he has never ever chewed off a pieace too eat. If there chewing it, and not eating parts of it, I think that is much better. I don't think rawhide is good for a dogs tummys after time, but again some dogs can eat them and never have a problem. My Missy did from the rawhide, it actually gave her ulcerations in her intestines. Not to scare anyone, just keep close watch on how much they consume.

[Guest mrskti]

My girls love the rawhide chewies, but after the other day, NO MORE!!! I was cleaning Ellie's crate from one end to the other, which is where the mess came from. She got really sick in the night. Until I find something else I will stick to the Kong. That was icky!!!!

[kayharley]

On the subject of chews....I found something that is right up the alley with the Kongs but harder for them to get the treat out....the Squirrel Dude by Busy Buddies. http://www.sitstay.com/cgi-bin/sdisp.cgi/TYP83.lg.jpg

It has little prongs inside that keeps the goodie from falling out too easily.

[Milopup]

with Kongs or the Squirrel Dudes, what do you do with the mess that the crumby biscuits leave? do y'all just vacuum everyday?

[Gracie's Mom]

We give our 7 month old Cairns (Gracie and Spiker) rawhide sticks and bones but only under supervision! I am scared to death they will choke on a piece of them so only when we can keep an eye on the little guys. I noticed that I can give them both an identical rawhide chew and in less than ten minutes they will be fussing over only one of the hides and leave the other one untouched. It's like they both want the same one and will try to steal it from each other no matter what. I just can't figure it out but it happens every single time.

[kayharley]

Milopup...

My 3 cainine vacuum cleaners take care of every little crumb.

[Eliz222]

Gracie's mom, mine do this too.....it seems only one chewy is being chewed on at one time, while the other just sits there! The grass is always greener on the other side!

Milopup....no crumbs here either....every crumb is licked up...not a chance anything is left!