rawhide chews for dogs

[hobsonbear]

is it safe to give rawhide chews (in various shapes and forms, mainly the long rolled-up ones and the bone-shaped ones) to dogs? they are never left unsupervised with them.

h

[woofgang]

I have always given them to my dogs. Make sure that they are the right size as a big dog can choke on one made for a smaller dog, don't give too many as they can affect digestion and, as you rightly say, don't leave the dog alone with one. I had one dog who, as a pup couldn't digest the raw hide which passed through as a lump or  a long piece (sorry folks, are you reading this over breakfast) It didn't harm him but passing the chew made him uncomfortable, so we gave him the ones made of ground uyp compressed rawhide instead. As an adult, this wasn't a problem

[cassimer]

As you and woofgang say, supervision is the key. But also when the chew is broken down into small bits which could get stuck, we take them away to be safe. Obviously this all related to the size of your dog, so for us with golden retrievers the bits are quite big. So long as we replace them with a favourite toy there doesnt seem to be a problem!

[dedpan]

I only know not to give them to english bull terriers. it kills them! :)