Though it’s too big to swallow, they try anyway.” Even if a pup properly chews their food before swallowing, accidents can happen. “Bones and rawhides to a dog that chews them well pose little threat, but dogs that want to quickly ingest their treats are the ones most likely to get things stuck in their throat. “The most common thing that causes actual choking in dogs are dog treats like rawhides that can be swallowed,” says Dr. So, if a dog tries to swallow a chunk of rawhide that is too big, the piece may end up stuck in the esophagus, causing them to choke. Dogs can choke on rawhideĪnother risk associated with rawhides is biting off more than they can chew. At best, rawhides can cause a minor stomach ache and, at worst, cause a life-threatening obstruction in the gut. Instead, the rawhide swells within a dog’s stomach making it difficult to pass. Those tough non-digestible pieces are swallowed whole and do not break down. While a dog can happily chow down on a rawhide, softening it, they ultimately only break it down into smaller chunks. James Barr, assistant professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “Most commonly, they swallow things that are too big to pass and end up stuck in the esophagus, stomach, or intestines,” says Dr. Rawhide chews are consumable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are digestible. Rawhides are not digestibleīeing a byproduct of the leather industry, traditional rawhides are chemically engineered to make them tough and durable, but those same qualities make them hazardous to a dog’s health.

Sudden scratching? Finicky food eater? Loose poop? Whatever pet health question is on your mind, our veterinary pros are here to help. The FDA’s veterinary branch, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, only checks into pet food additives after numerous complaints about a particular chemical.

But tracking the effects of chemical exposure is nearly impossible when it’s a matter of slow, low-dose poisoning. In the case of bubble-gum flavoring alone, the Material Safety Data Sheet revealed a toxic confection containing the carcinogen FD&C Red 40, along with preservatives like sodium benzoate. The more dogs lick, chew and swallow the material, the greater their exposure to any contaminants it contains. However, in creating treats pups will chomp for hours, companies also produced potentially more toxic products. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of patents for flavored rawhide hitting the market, from bubble gum to hickory. And that’s not all, other poisonous residues that may show up in rawhide include lead, arsenic, mercury and formaldehyde. They may even be coated with titanium oxide to make them appear whiter. In the post-tannery stage, hides are washed and whitened using a solution of hydrogen peroxide to get rid of the rotten stench. Superfund sites.Īlong the way, various chemicals are used to slow down the rate of decay of the animal skin. A standard practice is to procure rawhide in the “split lime state” as byproducts from leather tanneries, facilities that top the list of U.S. Removing the hair from hides often involves a highly toxic recipe: sodium sulfide liming. The top grain is generally tanned and made into leather products, while the inner portion, in its “raw” state, goes to the dogs. Producing rawhide begins with splitting an animal hide, usually from cattle. While chews made from rawhide, bone, or other animal parts are consumable and are therefore considered “food” under FDA law, as long as the label contains no reference to nutritional value (such as “high protein”), the agency advises that manufacturers “may not have to follow the AAFCO pet food regulations.” If rawhide manufacturers were held to the same standards as drug makers, they’d be forced to add an equally long list of warnings to their labels: Rawhides may cause stomach torsion, choking, vomiting, diarrhea, and salmonella poisoning. But the closer you look at how rawhides are produced and the risks associated with them, the more you may want to wean your pup off this dubious byproduct. Your dog would like to convince you that rawhide is primal therapy for their carnivorous soul. It’s the equivalent of that marshmallow-filled cereal made with real oats that kids howl for all the way down the breakfast aisle. Promoted as an “all-natural” treat, rawhides keep dogs entertained, perhaps even more so when in its many basted, twisted, even brightly colored mutations. Among the piles of dog toys, the knuckle and femur bones, one pet store mainstay is the bins where the rawhide is cached. If you have a pup that loves to chew, you’ve probably combed the pet aisles looking for enticing substitutes for your laptop cord and chair leg.

Raw hides for dogs