# Antlers and horns beware



## michele (Jan 12, 2009)

We often warn clients about the dangers of giving antlers or horns to their dogs as chew toys. Not only can they cause a dog's teeth to fracture because they are so hard, but they can cause obstructions. 

He saw a sheltie puppy for vomiting and took this x-ray to find that a deer antler had punctured through the puppy's esophagus and pharynx. Fortunately, the puppy was treated and is fine now. Lucky little guy!


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## joeandruth (Aug 11, 2012)

Warning duly noted. What to replace with? There are Nylabones and various other chewies/crunchies sold in the usual outlets. What to do?


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## KittyD (Apr 2, 2010)

This is all over FB right now as well.


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

Yikes! Was it a big piece? Odie has an antler but really isn't that interested. 


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## BlueJax (Jun 25, 2012)

Good to know. I've always avoided antlers due to the cases of tooth fractures from them. It seems that puppies have more incidents of swallowing big chunks of treats than adult dogs.


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## AngelicMisfit13 (Apr 20, 2015)

=/ I was thinking of getting one for my lil one. She can be a bit of an aggressive chewer, she has gnawed her puppy teething bone pretty good. I wanted something edible but not something that would be gone in a couple days (bought her a huge marrow treat bone, not the real bones...and she was done with that in like 2 days). And it was supposedly a long lasting thing.


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## CuddlesMom (Feb 22, 2014)

Our dogs have lots of antlers :/ :/. I don't know if there really is anything safe to chew. It seems like almost everything you can give your dog can be dangerous. I've even heard of dogs eating large pieces of Nylabone or breaking their teeth on them :/ 
Regular bones can break their teeth, they can get seriously sick on rawhide if you don't watch them, now they can't have antlers, Nylabones either... 

Honestly, I think it depends more on the dog. Cuddles chews on her antler sometimes, but not enough for me to worry about it. Our pit/bulldog mix, however, has broken pieces off of a worn-out antler, so I had to throw it away. Same with a regular bone for our pit mix.

The antlers Cuddles has, in our room away from the other dogs, are barely worn down at all, even though they're the kind with the exposed marrow. I'm not really worried about her swallowing large pieces, and I don't think she'd chew hard enough to break her teeth. 

You take risks with all chews. You need to know your dog and only give them chews while supervised. There's no such thing as a risk-free chew.


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## boubou (May 12, 2015)

I found this thread looking about nylabones
I have the antlers and really, our little Coco cannot even sink her little teeth into them. Not too interested in it. My friend gave us a nylabone We've purchased our fair share of different chews over the years, pigs ears, etc but each chew we buy comes with a warning. Frankly, I am starting to not listen to most of it anymore. What are we supposed to do? 
About the nylabone, there was a recall but can I give it to the dog? safe enough??


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## AngelicMisfit13 (Apr 20, 2015)

Well I just got my puppy a new nylabone chew since she destroyed her initial puppy teething nylabone. Got suggested to buy my chewer a t-rex shaped nylabone...even though its suitable for dogs up to 50 pounds...she may be in that range but its huge and a bit heavy. But she enjoys gnawing on it, I think it will last forever until maybe I get a bigger dog in the future and they decide to chew on it.


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## LittleBeverly2015 (Jan 26, 2015)

We give Nylabones and replace them often. They also each have a Kong appropriate for their age and love them, even if they aren't filled with a treat.


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## Chiluv04 (Dec 19, 2013)

I give my dogs the occasional chew, but not too often as they are very fattening. We like bully sticks for long lasting chews, otherwise they get beef tails.


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## Moonfall (Nov 16, 2012)

I do have an antler but only Kaira can have it. Alli is a power chewer and will hurt herself. Doug I would be more apt to trust with it as well, and if Kaira ever starts power chewing she will not get it any more. She is only a year old so she may start chewing more ferociously (she does chew stuff up if she's bored.)

Nothing is 100% safe. I never give rawhides, EVER. To me the risk is much too high with them. They just aren't safe. I do give bully sticks, sweet potato chews, himalayan chews, and esophagus chews. I've used my common sense and judgement to evaluate what I feel is safe for my babies to have.


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## chiwaamummy<3 (May 23, 2015)

I am always really paranoid when it comes to giving my dog bones, antlers, horns etc. though I do believe in the benefits and dogs happiness, I just won' do it. I know many breeds such as still quite native breeds of dogs inuit, eskimo etc., may probably be fine on those things but because dogs have been so heavily domesticated over the years it really concerns me. If domestication is able to change a dogs complete body type and appearance I don't doubt it may have altered many other facets aswell. This is not to say I do not agree with whole meats, because I do. A chihuahuas teeth are quite blunt and if I gave anything to my chi to chew it would have to be something that would not splinter and be something that could dis integrate in the mouth. I am wary of vets advice when it comes to dog foods though as most 'quality' foods are simply waste products with healthy price tags attached I would not feed to my dog.


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