All puppies and young dogs love to chew and if they do not have their own items to chew they have no problem finding something to suit their chewing desires. That chewing desire can be a disaster if the dog chooses furniture, doors, kitchen cabinets, etc to fulfill that chewing need. Therefore many dog owners shop for dog treats that will occupy their dog for a long period of time, and there are lots of choices including many shapes and sizes of rawhide!

A rawhide can occupy a dog for many hours, but beware of the hidden dangers of rawhide! A rawhide is actually a raw piece of animal hide that has been chemically scraped, chemically dried and smoked to make dog treats. The majority of rawhide treats are NOT made in USA. If they are not made in USA, there are no regulations for processing of these treats. They may be chemically dried and preserved with arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, antibiotics or insecticides and include salmonella! The animal hide can also be that of another cat or dog!

Even if you are careful and only buy rawhide that is processed in the USA, you should still be aware of other hazards! Your dog can bite off and swallow a chunk of rawhide that is too large for his body to digest! When your dog chews on the rawhide, his saliva rewets the rawhide and it slowly returns to its original size. This can swell up to be FOUR times the size that you purchased! Large pieces can block a dog’s digestive tract and lead to surgery and even death!

Check with your vet for a safe alternative or choose treats like dehydrated sweet potato treats, jerky treats, or a Kong filled with peanut butter or biscuits. It is unfortunate that there are so few regulations for treats for the animals that we love so dearly!

Tags: danger rawhide ches, dog rawhide, dog treat, rawhide ches, rawhide chews

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Dog Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.