# How bad is rawhide, really?



## Blue Chi (Oct 12, 2011)

My dogs love bully sticks but they can go through them so quick! Especially Herc. I'll always have some on hand but I also like to give them rawhide too. I get the organic kind and they like them alot. Thing is, it takes them longer to get through one. Which is great so they go through them slower. Gunner loves to chew so I like to make sure there's a bully stick or rawhide chew laying around for him (except for bully stix don't lay around cuz Herc will go through it in about 30 min). 
I've read that rawhide is harder to digest than the bully stix. Is that really that big of a deal? Is there anything else that's bad about rawhide that I should know about?


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## Charlotte~ (Apr 5, 2011)

D always has rawhide. I didn't know there was anything wrong with it? She loves it, and it keeps her amused for ages.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

I do not use rawhide for my girls. One has a ridiculously sensitive stomach so I would not even try it. 

I am also VERY careful to offer only treats not made in China and an awful lot of rawhide can come from there. Many other countries do not perceive animals how we do so food products are not regulated nor processed in a way that makes me feel good about them.

Here is a brief article although if you search you will find many others:
Rawhide Bones and Treats for Dogs: Risks and Benefits

Have you tried antlers? Deer or Elk? They are naturally shed and there are many companies in the U.S. and Canada that collect them and process them without flavor sprays, chemicals and such. My girls are antler addicts! They also last a long time and you get them sized as you need for each dog.


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## Bianca00 (Nov 20, 2011)

Karen got a link before me, but I don't give rawhide either! I use to thinking everyone's doing fine with then so far until one of my dogs got extremely sick. Diarrhea, anal sac problems, and intestinal infection because rawhide was contaminated. It was made in the USA

A lurking danger to your pets

We see them in all the pet stores, the grocers, the feed stores. Everywhere. So we assume they are safe for our pets. They must be, they are sold everywhere. Right?

Think again.

*Rawhide treats are a danger to your pets, and to your children if swallowed.

Rawhide is just exactly what it says, a raw dried out animal hide. This includes not only the rawhide bones & chews but also pig ears, pig snouts, bull tails, cow ears, lamb ears, choo-hooves, etc.* The vast majority of rawhide pet treats are not made in the United States. But even those marked “Made in the U.S.” are a hazard.

A piece of rawhide purchased as a treat for your pet is a hide, usually bull, cow or horse obtained from slaughter houses, that has been scraped clean of all vestiges of meat, fat and hair. Rawhide, however, can be made from just about any animal. For Native Americans and early Europeans, it was the sheet metal, nails and binding material of the day.* Rawhide was used to repair items such as horse gear and broken gunstocks. It was used in cabin construction as door hinges, windows and truss bindings and Mandan Indians used rawhide in the construction of their boats. As you can see, rawhide is a very strong, durable, heavy-duty item that does not easily break down

Still want to give it to your pets?

How is it made? Rawhide is made for commercial use from bull, cow and horsehides obtained from slaughterhouses as a byproduct of the meat industry.* The flesh side is scraped clean of all remaining meat, membrane, fat, etc. Traditionally this is done by hand, using a drawknife and scraper. Modern day tanneries use a form of a band saw to speed the process up and make a nice clean piece of leather. Commercial manufacturers of rawhide products have machinery to do this.* Once the flesh side is cleaned, the hair must be removed. There are two traditional ways of doing this. One is to “dry scrape” by hand. This is extremely time consuming, not to mention the amount of good ol’ fashioned elbow grease! Commercial makers of rawhide do not use this method.

The other method is to soak the fleshed hide in either an Ash-Lye solution or a Lime solution. The Ash-Lye involves covering or soaking the hide in a mixture of wood ash and water, which creates Lye. The hide soaks for approximately. 3 days in the Lye solution, then as much of the hair as possible is scraped off. The process is repeated until all hair is removed.*

The Lime solution is the quickest and most often utilized by manufacturers. This utilizes ordinary builders powdered (hydrated) Lime. The hide soaks for 1-3 days and the hair is scraped off. This process is highly caustic but the most efficient for mass production.

To remove all traces of the Lime solution and to sanitize the rawhide product, commercial makers then rinse the hides in a bleach solution before creating whatever shape is to be used. The bone and other shapes used to attract you and your pet are created while the hide is still wet.* The “treats” are then either dried or sent for “smoking” to further entice the unsuspecting owner and pet. A processed rawhide can shrink up to half its original size when dried.

If the chemicals used to make these “treats” haven’t convinced you to stop, please consider this:

When rawhide is again wetted, usually when your pet salivates over this chew you have provided, it will slowly regain its original size. When your pet tears off and swallows a piece, that piece then has the potential to swell inside your dog’s stomach. Your dog’s gastric juices WILL NOT break down the rawhide. Once swollen, the piece then has the potential to cause anything from mild to severe gastric upset, to death.

Been giving rawhide treats for years with no problems?

My friend, you have been extremely lucky. But your luck WILL run out one day.

Are you certain that you want to gamble with your beloved friend’s life?

Don’t believe me?

Take the rawhide challenge. Cut varying sizes from different rawhide products and set them in a bowl of water to soak before going to bed. In the morning you will see the sizes that they have grown to. They will vary, but the increase should be noticeable.

What should you give as a chew treat?

The following products are all digestible and safe for your pets.

Budda Chew Products- all digestible chew bones and treats

Muscle Chews- all digestible, contains no hide product.

Bull Pizzle Chews- all natural alternative to rawhide.

Healthy Edibles- all natural health chews, completely digestible and contain no sugars or fillers. Available at Pet Supplies | Dog & Cat Supplies, Pet Meds | DrsFosterSmith.com Pet Products

Raw shank or knuckle bones- these should be given only under your supervision and with some knowledge of RAW or BARF feeding methods.* Contact Jacque Jordan at

214 529 8355 for more info on RAW feeding or visit* www.barfdiet.com* to learn more.

Kong rubber products are great chew toys, which can keep dogs very busy, especially when a little peanut butter and dog biscuits are wedged inside for them to work out.


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## Squirrelflight (Nov 17, 2011)

I dont give mine rawhide anymore. I used to give it to Susu and Ginger. Ginger likes it more than Susu. But when they puppies got a hold of one they all threw up a few times which gave me a scare. After doing a little research I found that rawhide can cause a lot of problems including pancreatis and blockages, etc. So we switched to chew bones made from vegetable. I cant remember the name of the ones I got but can look when home later. Here is a link if you want to look at the problems rawhide can cause.

Millennium Ark: Rawhide Warning


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## pigeonsheep (Nov 8, 2008)

porkhide and beefhide for dexter! once in a blue ill give rawhide it was a gift from someone. he barely chews on them anyway. his fav is porkhide. he loves bullysticks as well and those antlers and elk and deer, he has them all lol...the antlers takes months to chew thru. and yes rawhide is harder to digest....esp if thwyre takin big chunky bites out of it since chis like to swallow their food whole instead of ewin properly


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## Sunnie (Dec 19, 2011)

I lost a non-Chi puppy because of rawhide years ago. Rawhide expands in their stomachs, and she, virtually, exploded from the inside out. very sad.grim. Do not use.

We only use virbac chews. Our dogs teeth are pristine.


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## Reese and Miley (Jun 24, 2010)

Where do you order your bullies from? We use best bully sticks to buy online as theyre cheaper, and they offer really thick ones that we sometimes buy for our lab, I bet he wouldnt be able to get through them as quickly. Try looking at all the chews on there for big dogs.


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## Blue Chi (Oct 12, 2011)

Gosh! That's some freaky info. I forgot about antlers. I need to try that.


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## carrithedeku (Jan 15, 2012)

Milo only likes a certain kind of rawhide I usually watch him when he chews it, but even the little, tiny chunks he was swallowing he would become a tiny bit constipated, I'm not sure if it's how he actually is, or if he has a puppy stomach. Nothing else at all just no poops. I don't plan on giving him it anymore, my mom even never gave rawhide to her dogs (a lab and a pug) because a vet had told her it's possible it could get stuck in their stomachs and require surgery to remove it.


It really depends on your chi and if you can monitor them chewing and doesn't give them any issues then give them rawhide if it pleases them.


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