Bully stick, antlers, raw hides?
Submitted by amos1 on June 11, 2012 - 5:45pmHey everybody, I am looking to get some more chews for my litte guy(7 1/2 months) and so far I have purchased him a bully stick and small natural raw hide. Both times hey chewed on them contently untill about half way gone and then proceeds to swallow the rest nearly choking to death!! I am to scared to buy hime these again. What am I doing wrong... do i need to get a larger size? Are antlers ok(are his teeth strong enough for these). Mainly I am concerned with keeping his clean and strong.
Thanks so much..
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amos1
I started giving my boys deer and elk antlers...
when they were 3-4 months old. Take my word for it, your pup will love them!!! And they last a VERY long time!!!!
Kim, Remy Le Beau, Lord Sebastian, and Sir Oliver
we give
We give Tucker deer antlers and he loves them. We get the larger ones and then take them away when they're really worn down. I was told not to give any rawhide to him in case he took a piece off and choked. Deer antlers aren't cheap but imo, they're worth the money. Good luck.
Katie & Tucker a.k.a "Porkchop"
No Rawhide
and I don't really like Bully sticks either. If you give bullysticks you have to cut off the mushy part before they try to swallow them.
I like the antlers. Mine get beef, bison or venison bones (ie joint or marrow bones) to chew on. I have also gotten the Yak chews which I like, but they make a terrible mess and they have salt in them so they drink a lot of wtaer, which is also messy. So no Yak chews unless they are outside.
Mine also love to knaw on their nylabones and I get a variety of those...but not the edible ones.
We do the antlers also...
Just make sure they are big enough, I always look for the thick ones rather than the ones with branches. The Nylabones for powerful chewers are good too, they come in all sorts of shapes and flavors. Rawhides are so easily swallowed and they don't break down in the stomach.
We got the dogs antlers for
We got the dogs antlers for Christmas presents and were shocked to find that the big dogs had gotten long splinters off of them. They were like sharp needles, so all the antlers got taken away. :( I have never heard of anyone else that had this problem. The dog that did it was a puppy Shiloh Shepherd... very large and strong!
We give
Bruce a large raw beef rib bone once or twice a week. He loves it. Beef ribs r not to expensive and Bruce is teething so I freeze them and then give it to him raw and frozen. It gets messy so I put a towel down and have trained him to eat on it. At my meat store I can get beef ribs at 1.50 a lb. so for 10 bucks he gets a yummy treat and I have enough for a few weeks. And he loves it when they r frozen. I think it feels good on his sore gums. And they r big and when raw don't splinter. Bruce almost choked on raw hide.
I love antlers for Beatrix.
I love antlers for Beatrix. She's a serious chewer, and they're the only things that last. We gave her bully sticks when she was little, but she started going through them too fast for them to be worth it anymore. We get her elk antler -- from what our local pet store lady said, they're sort of the medium hardness of available antler. Deer is softer, and melt in Beatrix's mouth like ice cream. And moose is harder, but I worry that it'd be too hard, with how vigorous she can be, and that she'd chip a tooth or something. Elk has been a nice middle ground -- hard enough to last her a few months, soft enough that she doesn't hurt her teeth.
Good point Veronica
I wonder if it was a moose antler that one of the bullies chipped a tooth on. I read that here and I don't give the antlers but we do give the beef bones and bully sticks occasionally.