Pets at Home have put up announcement in all their shops in Derby saying that from next year they will no longer be selling Antlers & cooked bones, following the advice of the vets that are base in their shops as they are seeing high amount of dogs that teeth have been damage by them. The notice goes on saying that anyone that have bought the Antlers or cooked bones over the pass month for their dogs can bring them back & exchange them for a kong or something similar & anyone concern about their dogs can have a free dental check up with the vets base inside their shops on Sunday between 10am to 2pm.
When you say cooked bones, do you mean the smoked bones that are vacuum packed? I bought smallish one for Pereg once, who first chewed off all the bits of meat [very little] and fat [a bit more], then attacked the bone itself, stating at the end. Had enough after a while and then spend most of the rest of the day at her water boel which I had to keep re-filling. The bone must have been exceedingly salty. She left the rest of it so I binned it, and never bought another one. Antlers are not, as far as I know, available here. I could buy them online from the UK but they are heavy for the size, expensive, and the postage is prohibitive. I am glad of that now as although Tikva has the typical strong jaws and teeth of a Doxie and can chomble through a frozen chicken wing with no problem, I am not prepared to risk anything happening to her pearlies which has happened to too many dogs.
Well done PaH. I am pleased to hear this, so many dogs have broken their teeth recently. I think that the problem with my breed, and many others that were bred to hunt, is that they have very strong jaws, coupled with that single-minded character which refuses to be beaten by a mere bone. I still think gnawing is the natural and best way to keep dogs teeth polished, so my pair are now restricted to cabbage stem, cows hooves and cotton rope, as neither of them like rubber, and rawhide has a different set of problems. I have heard that there are some supposedly safe chewable wood blocks. I have never allowed mine to chew wood, for internal reasons, so does anyone have any experience of these. What kind of wood is it, and is it safe if swallowed?
Sorry, whats the prevailing issues with rawhide? Everest likes a rawhide, but only once its been in the garden for a few days getting a bit soggy.
@ Malka, if it was making her thirsty sounds like it could have been a ‘Ham Bone’ I don't give mine bones every day but every other day I give lamb rib/breast bones from the butcher they still have some meat on them which the dogs love chewing at, they can be a bit greasy but I just put an old sheet down and they stay on that.
Two main problems. One is to do with the way the hides are processed to remove the hair and bleach them clean enough to appeal to the Western pet market. Exactly which animal species are used is another source of doubt here. The second problem is the softening that you have noticed when the chew becomes wet. This has lead to some dogs swallowing the chew whole, which can cause a blockage.
Most uncooked bones are said to be safe, especially rib bones. Very messy for house dogs though, and having to keep them separate while they chomp - a full time job. Also, there are so few butchers these days, especially when you are a veggie and don't buy any meat there! Chicken wings are easy to find, but Ed thinks they are for rolling on.
TBH I did not check, just noticing that it was labelled as a smoked bone. I changed Pereg to raw feeding after having read Tarimoor's post on Dogsey http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=137215&highlight=raw feeding and once little Tikva was weaned she went onto raw, although to start with it was just finely chopped raw meat and vegetables, but it was not long before she could managed chicken wings and necks, although not whole ones. Now she has either a frozen chicken wing, chicken neck or whole [head, fins and tail still on, and ungutted] large sardine at ~10am - all bought fresh from my poulterer and packed individually by me. She has her evening meal of meat and vegetables [plus supplements and vitamins] at ~8pm. Pereg used to have her meals the other way round, with the meat and vegetables etc at whatever time she asked - and her bone meal - usually a chicken carcass in the evening. Tikva seems to prefer regular times and her bone meal first. She does have a chew once she has come in from her morning p&p and has read all her "mail" in the front yard, but it is not a rawhide one and is imported from Italy. I know that anything imported, be it for human or animal consumption, has to pass very strict testing by the Ministry of Health for human products or the Ministry of Agriculture for animal products. So I am quite happy with the chews I get for Tikki. The smoked bones, whatever they were, are no longer sold at the huge store at the Pension - which is mainly a wholesaler but they do sell ears - no hooves though.
I can remember a product that was described as 'smoked bones'. It was a sterilised natural marrowbone which had been dipped in a reddish brown flavoured coating. They were available either as hollow bone, or filled with a dried meat paste.
Thank you Tina. The one I got for Pereg looked like that but was individually vacuum packed, not in a packet like that, with a label at the top saying Smoked Bone. It was a few years ago and I cannot remember if it said anything else. But it was definitely called a smoked and not roasted bone.
Carole - it was definitely not a chunk of a marrow bone, more like a knuckle, and from what I can remember it was not hollow nor did it have anything stuffed in it. The chew that Tikva has in the morning is like a long thin cigarette - definitely not rawhide as it does not take her long to chew it up.
