Raw Hide/marrow Bones?

[christinepi]

I've been feeding my greyhound one frozen marrow bone a day (2") for months now as a treat. He gets no diarrhea from it nor is he gaining weight from the marrow. Could there be a problem down the road with pancreatitis (just read that somewhere without any kind of medical back up) or anything else? Also, what's the deal with raw hide, even if made in the US? Some people seem completely opposed, because it's not food, and others seem to be giving it to their greys w/o problems. I've not given any to my dog (yet), but wanted to hear others'opinions first. Since my dog won't chew on anything else but marrow bones or raw hide (he got his paws on one of the neighbor's dog's raw hide, so he clearly loves it), I want to give him as much opportunity as possible. He has no interest in Nylabones or any other chew toy.

[FountainLady]

To mix up the marrow bones, plug the ends with peanut butter, fill them with kibble and freeze them. You can reuse the bones over and over again by changing out the filling in them.

 

Instead of rawhide, look into pigs ears and bully bones. They all need to be given to a dog to eat under supervision, but pigs ears and bully bones are more digestable, and less apt to cause a blockage inside your dog. A foot long bully bone will keep a dog chewing happily for an hour or more.

Edited August 9, 2010 by FountainLady

[Guest hlpnhounds]

I only give my hounds the long (8 inches or more) rolled rawhide or the braided ones of at least that length. These are very special treats that the dogs get very rarely but are nice to keep an individual dog occupied on a long car ride. So.....after a trip to the vet or after donating blood etc. I know people that give rawhide treats regularly with no problems. Mine are thrown away when then get them down to a size that could be easily swallowed whole.

 

We used to give pig ears here but that was before we had greyhounds....I can't recall the last time I actually purchased pig ears here.

Our once a week turkey necks have taken the place of a lot of the other "treats" for keeping their teeth in good shape.

[Guest Energy11]

Once the marrow is out of our bones, we plug the wholes with peanut butter or sometimes, lo sodium Velveeta cheese.

 

We also give bully sticks, and lots of Sam's Yams veggie rawhide, too.

[DesiRayMom]

I vote no to the rawhides. I work for a vet, & have seen too many kids come in with a big chunk causing a blockage. "But they didn't swallow the whole thing"

the parents always say. But as it turns out, they slobbered & chewed on it until they got a big hunk undone, & that was what got swallowed whole & caused

all the problems. Just my opinion....I avoid rawhide like the plague.

[Hubcitypam]

We get rolled or pressed rawhide here and only under supervision.

 

I avoid nylabones like the plague. The edibles might be OK for some dogs (if you can afford them as they disapper in a minute being made of wheat) but why in the heck do you want to give your dog NYLON? That's worse than the old Science Diet light and dental peanut hulls.

 

if pancreatitis is of any concern I'd avoid pig ears. When I could feed them it was strips or my neighbor cut ears into 1/3rds on his bandsaw. Pork fat can be way worse than beef fat.