Chews?

[Jessica H]

I only give my dogs CET dental chews and i fill kongs and freeze them but I would love to give them something else once in a while. I do not give bones or rawhide and I am pretty picky about this type of stuff. I know they should get something to chew on for entertainment and for their jaws...but I don't know what to give. I saw on Merrick's website a lot of different types of treats, ears, tendons, hooves etc. I am wondering what everyone gives their dogs. I will not give rawhide or Nylabones. I am looking for something that is digestible and not bad for them. I want something that will take them a while to chew too

Any ideas would be great. I am sure they will LOVE you for life...

[chrissysb]

We give Cody Bully Sticks. I believe a lot of other people on the forum use these too as I had never heard of them until frequenting the forum. It takes him a good hour or two to get through it and HE LOVES IT!

Here are some Bully Sticks from Natural Pet Store

[Jessica H]

I am going to order those tonight. What size do you get?

[Scruffys Mom]

I give mine the dental chews and sterilized cow bones with a little peanut butter. I have given the bully sticks, but mine chewed them and ate them very quickly and then threw up so I did that once. I will not give hooves or rawhides.

[Jessica H]

Which dental chews? Does it take them a while to chew them?

[Scruffys Mom]

I get them at my vets office. VET DENTAHEX. I have never looked on line for them, but you may want to try. Sparky is a chewer, so he goes through one in about one hour. Scruffy babysits hers for hours. I would never let them have it while I am not with them, so the routine is they get it on the bed with me while we atch TV. Mine also love the Kong prickly dinosaurs. Sparky has all ready eaten the head and tail off one of them. The one thing I am terribly proud of is that neither of my dogs have ever destroyed or chewed up any of our personal property. We have been very careful to make sure they always have something safe to chew on. Hope they do not make liars out of me now!

[Scruffys Mom]

Holy Cow, I am so glad you made me think about on line items, They are $6.99 a bag on line and my vet charged me $15.00. http://medi-vetrx.com/VET-Dentahex-Oral-Ca.../B000ML4IUU.htm

[Jessica H]

That is a really good price, I usually give them the CET chews which are dental chews, I also get them from the vet, they are the same thing it looks like. But that is a great price. I was trying to switch it up a bit for them, they go through those chews quick. I am going to start getting the same ones you get for that price! I am going to try to find a store that sells the Merrick bully sticks...

[Mollyrocker]

I give my girls a frozen marrow bone once a week. I buy them in the meat section of the supermarket. keeps them busy for hours.

[Jessica H]

Someone else I work with said they get marrow bones from the meat department, it kind of sucks yucky to me. Do i just go in and ask for them? Is the bone ok for them?

[pkcrossley]

i used to give the CET chews but i don't now. they have the same problem as rawhides, bully sticks, etc --they eventually get very soft and go down the gullet, often prematurely. i don't want that stuff in my dogs stomach and gut.

i feel pretty comfortable about greenies. they are hard enough and big enough (if you get the right size) to be safe, and they do the job intended (helping exercise the jaws, clean the teeth, work on plaque, etc). otherwise, a proper size kong is very good (not the smallest size, as a competent cairn will destroy it in an hour --you need the one that is at least four inches long).

[Scruffys Mom]

PK

If I look for Greenies, is that what the label will say. I always thought they were soft and were extremely controversial a few years ago. Am I thinking of the right chew? I understand your sentiments about the dental chews, that is why I watch them closely and once they are small, I take them away. I am sure I have missed a few....

[Jessica H]

I have read and heard horrible things about greenies, even if they have "redesigned" them I will still not give them to them. There was a problem with them not digesting and forming blockages.

I love the dental chews, I also take them away when they get small enough but they are edible and digestible so if I miss a few I don't worry about it.

I think with this chew thing I am looking for something that will be a real treat for them, not an everyday thing obviously. I think they may get bored with the chews...

[Mollyrocker]

I buy the marrow bones "soup bones" in the meat department. Hannaford and Stop and Shop usually have them. They are fresh when I buy them.

Most of the time I will scoop out some of the marrow and then throw them in the freezer in a zippy bag.

I give them frozen and in the back yard because they can get messy.

If you are first starting out with the bones, you'll want to limit their time with them to an hour and then pop them back in the freezer until next time. They are very rich. That is why I scoop out the excess marrow first to limit the amount ingested.

Some of the pet food supply stores that carry raw have buffalo bones in a big bag for the dogs, but I don't know that there is one local.

I like marrow bones over the stuff like rawhides and dental chews because I worry about blockages with those things.

[jimnconnie]

Our breeder suggested getting "knuckle bones" at the meat market and having the butcher saw them into quarters. She then puts them in the oven @ 350 degrees for 1 hour to kill any bacteria that might be on them. I also trimmed off all of the meat and fat I could before I cooked it. I think you could probably accomplish the same thing by boiling the bones for a long period. The knuckle is a pretty large bone so there aren't any thin parts that might break off and be ingested. The tricky part is getting it away from the dogs once you give it to them! I had to offer another treat to get them to let me have it. A large piece of bone like this should help keep the teeth clean, plus it will keep them occupied for quite a while, and they last for several chew-sessions. I know some people don't give their dogs real bones, but I think once in a while it would be O.K.

[Mollyrocker]

the problem with cooking the bones is that it dramatically increases the bones likeliness to chip and splinter.

I stick with frozen raw. never had a problem with the girls getting sick. If you saw the gross things they eat(dead mice, frogs, scat of all varieties....), frozen bones are sanitary in comparison.

[Jessica H]

What about pig ears? Those seem to be popular.

I went and got them a bunch of stuff at this great pet food store I found. One of the bones was WAY to hard, Scooter was careful when picking it up and putting it down. I got them each a smoked bone with marrow in it and they LOVE it!

[Scruffys Mom]

OK,

I bought 2 Greenie's and did not like them. Both my dogs had them devoured within 15 minutes. I also bought the CET chews. They are not as durable as the VET Dentahex. I will also ask my butcher for some marrow bones.

[Puddlesmama]

I have been giving my dogs raw bones straight from the butcher. It keeps them preoccupied and gives Puddles something to hide in her "work area"

They have a confined area where they eat them outside on a deck. After they clean them up real good I allow them to bury them at will. Its alot of fun to watch Puddles dig a hole so deep all you see is her butt hanging out. The better the bone the deeper the hole.

[pkcrossley]

hm. okay, i liked the greenies because they are hard and big enough that my dog can't get them stuck in his craw. but if they aren't good either, we can stick with kong. the mid-sized ones seem indestructible, and i can find suitable treats to stick in them (don't like the ones the kong company supplies, however.

[Tracy A.]

I give bully sticks, I go with 7" ones... anything larger and they have issues with not being able to hold it between their paws for chewing.

I've tried pig ears, but they didn't like them- However I have purchased 'pig tails' and they loves these- Not sure what the difference is..

As for cooked bones, I did it once and after about 5 mins Mettwurst had splintered some bone off and that was the end of that.

Greenies- tried them once when they were puppies... a free greenie was in a package of puppy nylabones and mett stated to choke on it after it globbed up in his mouth... Thank God I was looking right at him at the time. He was a wee thing at 10 weeks old when this happeened.

As for Nylabones, the boys will throw them up... the little shavings don't agree with them.... so that stopped as a chew item pretty quickly.

So I stick with natural digestable items.

[Jessica H]

I gave them pig ears last night, they LOVED them but they did not last long. I am going to try the bully sticks soon. I also picked a few Merrick pork hide bones while I was there, they looked interesting and entertaining. I think the main issue I have with all this stuff is what they are actually made of, grosses me out but its good for them so I will deal with it, lol.

[kjwarnold]

Bully sticks for Packy; he loves them! I buy the big long ones (about 3 ft. long) and DH saws them into smaller pieces -- it's less expensive that way. We tried Greenies but Packy ate them very quickly and he almost always threw up green mush after. No more Greenies for us.

[aubreyea]

Ours love the pigs ears!

We get bully sticks when we get a chance but so far the pigs ears last the longest around here.

[sheila and Misty]

misty gets beef basted cheweez altho rawhide doesnt seem to come apart they have to really work at it(will leave marks from the basting but cleans up easily, marroww bones right from our meat dept but I cook them first-she works on them a long time if she leaves it for a couple daus I trade her for a new one=she rarely eats much of the bone itself it really keeps her teeth clean.,also cheweeze sticks Jurassic bones that crumble into tiny peices no slivers and can be eaten untill gone GET a BIG one lasts long. and of course bullys-or Mistys not crazy about the but Jumbones worked when she was younger and of course the congs.buy most except the jumbones are some type of raw hide the sticks are compressed tiny peices but last a little while I always take her things away in a trade when I think its small enough to choke on.