Safety of Dog Food Treats and Best Chews To Give Your Dog

Published:  01/07/2016

Supervise your pet while they are chewing their treats to help prevent accidental choking.

Dogs love treats. Some can be harmful to their health or even deadly. Here are some tips on how to select those that are the safest for our beloved pets.

Dental Preventative Chews 

Look for the VOHC seal. The Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC) is an independent veterinary dental group that tests claims producers make about their dental preventative products. After review, if a product is proven to help slow plaque and calculus formation, it's given the VOHC seal.

Bones and Antlers

Bones, marrow bones and antlers can cause severe fractures of the teeth, especially of the upper molars. The broken tooth is painful and can lead to abscessing of the tooth root.

Never give your dog leftover chicken bones. They can become lodged in the esophagus and hinder breathing functions.

Bones are easily broken and splinter easily, hence do not disintegrate well in a dog's digestive track. This means your pet may have to pass them through his stool. Undigested bones can lead to a serious impaction and/or constipation requiring a trip to the veterinarian. Bones can also be a choking hazard and can cause possible intestinal bleeding. If a bone splinter breaks off; it can pierce the intestinal wall and pass through the abdominal cavity causing hemorrhaging of the intestinal wall and an infection of the lining of the abdominal cavity.

Rawhide Chews

Rawhides can be a potentially dangerous treat. Some rawhides are made with chemicals that cause cancer. Therefore make sure you buy ones made in the USA and are UNBLEACHED. Rawhides that originate outside of the United States may be preserved with arsenic-based chemicals that can be ingested by your pet. Use caution when shopping for rawhide chews and make certain any rawhide you purchase has been processed in the United States where this preservative is prohibited.

Good quality rawhide should only get gooey and gum up when chewed, rather than chip off. If they chip, the chips can get lodged in the little dip in a dog's esophagus and they can choke on that.

Some dogs may be allergic to rawhide chews.

If you do decide to give your dog a rawhide, you want to make sure the rawhides you purchase are the appropriate size for your pet. A smaller breed dog requires a smaller sized treat and a larger breed dog should start with a chew appropriate for its size.

Its also a good idea, if you want to give your dog rawhide, to purchase compressed rawhide. Compressed rawhide is better than regular rawhide because it is made from layers of beefhide and formed under extreme pressure. This creates a very dense dog bone.

Supervise your pet while he is consuming rawhides to help prevent accidental choking.

Bully sticks / Pizzle Sticks

Bully Sticks are 100% bull penises. Not a tendon and not processed meat strips, bully sticks are dried, lightly smoked or natural flavor.

Greenies

Greenies are advertised as a chew treat to help keep your dog's teeth clean. You need to be aware that"greenies" can cause serious health issues in your pet. At the 2005 AmericanCollege of Veterinary Internal Medicine meeting, there was discussion among internal medicine specialists about Greenies causing esophageal obstructions that were difficult to fix. Complications reported include small intestinal obstructions; stricture, ulceration and puncture. Greenies are also associated with tooth fractures in dogs. Young puppies or dogs that quickly eat their food should not be given this treat since consuming the item quickly may cause large chunks to lodge in the throat.

Pig and Cow ears

When giving pig or cow ears it's best to give natural or basted - NOT SMOKED. That puts a cancer causing coating on it. Unbleached/natural lambs ears are a better choice.

Pig ears may contain salmonella which can be harmful to you, the pet owner. So, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly if you are handling pig ears.

Hooves

Never give cow hooves! They splinter and sharp pieces have killed many dogs.

They are so hard they can actually break a dog's teeth. My dog got a slab fracture on a molar and had to have the tooth removed. And there have been recalls of some cow hooves for potential salmonella contamination.

Better Alternatives

There are lots of healthy and delicious dog pet store treats readily available for pet owners. Be sure to look at the ingredients when you purchase any dog bones or treats to be sure they are chemical-free. Avoid all treats made in China. Many are contaminated with chemicals, antibiotics or bacteria.

Natural or basted pig ears and American made bully sticks are good choices.

Cornstarch bones are made from cornstarch and are safe for your dog to eat, provided that he or she does not have food allergies. Just don't give your dog too many.

Better than Ears are imitation pig ears that are low-fat and highly digestible. They are made from healthy products such as soy flour and wheat bran. there is a Better than Ears Hip and Joint formula that I recommend.

Nylabones are made from nylon and get chewed into tiny pieces.  When the Nylabone is chewed into a stump, throw it away and buy a new one to prevent choking hazard.

This highly rated Easy Grip Durable Dog Chew Toy for Aggressive Chewer is easy to grip so dogs can hold it steady for easy chewing.

Benebones are also a good alternative. There are many shapes but the shape here is the one my dog seems to prefer as he can hold one end with his paw and the other end conveniently can be chewed. This 4-Pack Dog Chew Toys for Aggressive Chewer gets great reviews. 

Kong Toys are a good choice. There is the small Kong for small dogs and other Stuffable Hard Rubber Toys like this Kong Classic. Fill them with frozen meat, cheese, applesauce and/or peanut butter for a long lasting SAFE TREAT!

This isn't a chew toy for your dog but I wanted to include it here as a recommendation from a friend whose hard-to-please Bordie Collie absolutely love it. Heavy Duty Dog Ball Toy for Aggressive Play

There are other safe alternatives to pet store treats like apples, canned pumpkin, cooked green beans or peas, a bite of rice cake, cooked egg white and plain popcorn. Dogs love frozen carrots. Scrub and peel a carrot, then freeze. These naturally clean teeth.

If you are so inclined, you can bake your own healthy dog cookies. There are many recipes on the internet. Just make sure they don't contain a lot of fat or sugar.