Bully Sticks

[Feisty49]

Annie Bella loves bully sticks. It's something I didn't offer her until mid-November (she was adopted in mid-July), when her post-adoption diarrhea was fully gone and she was poopin' nicely for a few weeks. I was giving her one stick about every 5 days and for a couple of weeks, she was fine. The past two bully sticks I've given her, though, have caused intestinal distress within 24 hours. The noises coming from her were loud gurglings and she obviously was not feeling well because she refused treats and meals. She ate some grass but didn't vomit and though her poop was soft, it wasn't anything to worry about. Each time it took about 6 hours for her distress to abate and for her to want to eat.

 

Do any of yours have issues with bully sticks?

[OwnedBySummer]

Summer loves those but I only buy ones which are dehydrated in this country, from "product" produced in this country. Made in the US would be fine, too, I'm sure. But I am afraid of the pet store ones -- the whole made-in-China thing freaks me out.

[XTRAWLD]

There are a couple of different varieties of bully sticks. I've purchased the very solid type, you couldn't break this over your knee if you tried. I've also bought the thin almost hyde like type. I find the solid type provided more of a chewing action to clean teeth than the other type that just chews and down the hatch it is swallowed. I wonder if that's why there are tummy problems, because the thing as a whole was ingested. The solid type lasts my boys a few hours, the hyde like stuff, 20 mins max.

[Charla]

I get mine fro BestBullySticks.com and have never had a problem, they have some that are from USA product and some from Argentina.

[Feisty49]

I also got mine from Best Bully Sticks and are so hard I can't break them. They also stink to high heaven.

[Riverhound]

Joe gets stinky farts with bully sticks, but I give him one sometimes. They make him tired, which helps my sanity!

[gryhnd_adoptee]

I also got mine from Best Bully Sticks and are so hard I can't break them. They also stink to high heaven.

 

Get the odor free ones...they are much better! The difference is they are dried longer to eliminate more of the smell. They still have a smell, but will not stink up a room like the original ones will.

[RileysLegacy]

Legs will get an upset tummy if I let him eat too much at a time. I usually take it away after about 30 mins (I freeze them so they last longer), and don't give them to him more than once a week or so.

 

PLEASE be careful, though. A friend of mine lost her iggy a few months back b/c he swallowed too big of a piece of bully stick and it made a hole in his esophagus. He had emergency surgery but he did not make it. This is not some crazy old wives tale, this was a dog my boys played with often. I still give bully sticks to Legs b/c it is one of the only chews he likes, but I watch him like a hawk and take it away when it gets short enough to swallow.

[Busderpuddle]

I also bought some from Best Bully sticks, a couple for Ruby and one for my SS gift. The one I gave Ruby made her tummy upset and she didn't eat the next meal offered. She LOVED it though but I don't think I will give her the other one. They were Made In America though so I felt like they were safe.

[Guest Greytluv]

I get mine from N/A. They love them but they do get gas from them.

[Feisty49]

Legs will get an upset tummy if I let him eat too much at a time. I usually take it away after about 30 mins (I freeze them so they last longer), and don't give them to him more than once a week or so.

 

PLEASE be careful, though. A friend of mine lost her iggy a few months back b/c he swallowed too big of a piece of bully stick and it made a hole in his esophagus. He had emergency surgery but he did not make it. This is not some crazy old wives tale, this was a dog my boys played with often. I still give bully sticks to Legs b/c it is one of the only chews he likes, but I watch him like a hawk and take it away when it gets short enough to swallow.

 

 

I'll probably try one more time, after the holidays and the bathroom contractor is gone and things are settled down, to see if it negatively affects her. I've always been concerned about injury, even from the stick when it's new, because a wrong move could shove it into her throat. (I look at it and see kids and a lollipop on a skinny stick.) Annie Bella doesn't walk around with it in her mouth and usually chews with it on the side, but sometimes it's straight in and I move it so she's chewing on the side again.

[racindog]

I only trust the ones from bestbullysticks.com and none of my hounds have any issues with them. I do believe they really help keep their toofers clean too. I have never noticed an odor and just get the regular 12" jumbo ones--maybe my nose needs to be checked on lol.( I never let them completely finish one as I don't want to take any chance on them trying to swallow too big a piece. When they get down to ~5" I attach a pair of vice grips to the end. When they eat that down to 2" I discard the 2" piece and give them another new one.)

Edited December 15, 2011 by racindog

[Guest PiagetsMom]

I also got mine from Best Bully Sticks and are so hard I can't break them. They also stink to high heaven.

 

I get mine from there as well, and either I'm immune, or I've been lucky, because I don't notice a bad smell with them. This past time I did order the thin/slim 12" sticks, and I think I'll stick with them. They're about a 10 minute chew, and with them being smaller, I haven't noticed any change in poop afterwards. With the thicker bully sticks, they were never finished and I'd freeze them for another chew, but I know you do have to be careful of bacteria.

[greytpups]

I was told by a pet store owner that the ones that smell bad are account of the blood left in them and the ones that don't smell have the blood removed. I have no idea if there's any truth to this, but the store owner is reputable.

[Pepsi2004]

I also got mine from Best Bully Sticks and are so hard I can't break them. They also stink to high heaven.

 

 

I use the solid BestBullySticks.com too. In fact I just fed my two a bully stick each before I came on line - I hear them working at them as I type. These are also no odor - these have been the best I have ever bought. Neither Charlie or the JRT terrorist have tummy troubles from them.

[Guest ethan]

We also use the bully sticks from BestBullysticks.com. Gordy can chew much faster than Ethan so I buy both the jumbo and regular so they'll finish kind of together. This is about the only treat we use.

[duncan41]

I buy from Best Bully Sticks, too. Have 1 very aggressive chewer who can go through a 12" jumbo in about 20 minutes, one senior chewer who unfortunately is missing teeth in strategic places so she gets the 6" thin sticks and one wimpy chewer who gets the 6" regular sticks that I take away from her when she starts tossing the whole thing around in her mouth.

 

I noticed soft stools when we first started giving them Bully Sticks, but I backed off to giving them only once a week and all is well.

[Feisty49]

I tried one more time with a Bully Stick. I hadn't given one to Annie Bella since the 13th. I very carefully made sure she had nothing unusual to eat Friday or Saturday and yesterday morning, I gave her a 6" Bully Stick. When it was down to about 2", I took it away from her. In the middle of last night, she started pacing and had gurgling intestines. I took her out for a P&P but she wanted to eat green stuff, of which there is none because it's been so cold (in the teens) here. She finally went P#2, but didn't want breakfast until 10 o'clock, 4 hours later than she's usually fed.

 

Apparently her sensitive gastro system (there were issues in finding just the right food to feed her in the beginning of her adoption in July) extends to not tolerating Bully Sticks. She would be sad if she understood.