# No Rawhide chews



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

This letter on the Yahoo group "VizslaWalk" was between two Vizsla friends I know here in the SF Bay area.



> Hi Carol,
> Colleen's dog (Heidi) died last night due to a rawhide caught in her esophagus. She was in surgery and they removed it but she did not recover.
> I stopped giving Zoe rawhides after my vet told me she had done too many emergency operations removing them. (She told me to give Zoe the bully sticks instead because they crumble rather than become long shreds like the rawhide.) Heidi's rawhide was one that was tied in a knot but Heidi had chewed it until it was soft and became untied and then she swallowed it.
> Colleen was devastated because she had to make the decision to take Heidi off the ventilator. Too sad. But at least Heidi was older and had had a good life.


 - Janet

RBD


----------



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

And this from another Vizsla friend.



> Hi All,
> 
> It's a really hard way to learn a lesson, please listen to those who have dealt with this and just say no. No rawhide in this house, ever. I have personally saved two Vizslas from choking on rawhide chews in the past 10 years, the shape is of no matter once they get slimy and pliable.
> 
> ...


Aimee, Sawyer and Emerson


----------



## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Thanks for posting - people need to be aware of the dangers. Looks like I need to do another blog post... :


----------



## NeverGiveUpRAC (Aug 27, 2012)

Oh my gosh!! I had no idea! I will not buy rawhides again! This is so sad and it must be so scary and crushing! Ugh, I can't imagine having to go through that! My hearts go out to any of the dogs and owners that experienced this...oh my!

Thanks for posting.


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Once, I did buy Willie a box of the smaller flat ones called "Cheweez". They're like rawhide strips. Anyway, he wolfed the first one down, and then in about 45 minutes he threw it back up. I said to myself, "Well, that's enough of that!" He proved to me that they were not a good choice, at least not for him.  Can't be too careful.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Ive often wondered why they are still on the market.


----------



## pippa31 (Aug 2, 2011)

Same. Pippa has never had rawhide and I intend to keep it that way. Better safe than sorry and I am just not willing to take the risk...


----------



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

> Ive often wondered why they are still on the market.


I am sure they are cheap to make and pet stores and department stores make a bunch of money on them. They last forever, so there is no worry of them "going bad."

I was not aware of the danger myself. Never thought about it until yesterday when I read those posts.

I just never used rawhide chews with my dogs as they have absolutely no value.

RBD


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

RBD,

Thank you for posting this thread it could save a lot of lives. I have never fed my dogs these awful chews - always thought they were revolting.

However, I am going to be calling my sister in Australia tomorrow and telling her as she is always feeding them to her two dogs .

Thank you


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Mine never get them either and what do you think dozers first Xmas gift was from his "uncle"? I giant one. That I let him chew for about 5 min. Then it went I'm cupboard for a year. Then I threw it out. My friend has her dog choke on one and didn't realize it until the dog was blue in her while mouth. Luckily she was able to pull it out and dog was fine. Then a few years ago her brother gave one to his mastiff. The dog walked off with it an chewed unattended. A few hours later the dog was "acting weird". So the owner was up all night in and out of the house wondering what was wrong. Eventually the mastiff vomited up the giant rawhide chew bone WHOLE. Thats right. She had swallows it whole. Imagine that blockage. Again, luckily it came up and dog was fine. Needless to say no more rawhide in that family either.


----------



## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

We went to Costa Rica and had a house sitter watch the puppy. When we got back, Miles started puking in the middle of the night and a big chunk of rawhide came out. While we don't give Miles rawhide, we now know to make sure to tell his sitters and family members not to give it to him either!


----------



## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

redbirddog said:


> > Ive often wondered why they are still on the market.
> 
> 
> I am sure they are cheap to make and pet stores and department stores make a bunch of money on them. They last forever, so there is no worry of them "going bad."


They are very cheap to produce - I found this online yesterday while doing some research on rawhide:

_"How is it made? Rawhide is made for commercial use from bull, cow and horsehides obtained from slaughterhouses as a byproduct of the meat industry. The flesh side is scraped clean of all remaining meat, membrane, fat, etc. Traditionally this is done by hand, using a drawknife and scraper. Modern day tanneries use a form of a band saw to speed the process up and make a nice clean piece of leather. Commercial manufacturers of rawhide products have machinery to do this. Once the flesh side is cleaned, the hair must be removed. There are two traditional ways of doing this. One is to “dry scrape” by hand. This is extremely time consuming, not to mention the amount of good ol’ fashioned elbow grease! Commercial makers of rawhide do not use this method.

The other method is to soak the fleshed hide in either an Ash-Lye solution or a Lime solution. The Ash-Lye involves covering or soaking the hide in a mixture of wood ash and water, which creates Lye. The hide soaks for approximately. 3 days in the Lye solution, then as much of the hair as possible is scraped off. The process is repeated until all hair is removed.

The Lime solution is the quickest and most often utilized by manufacturers. This utilizes ordinary builders powdered (hydrated) Lime. The hide soaks for 1-3 days and the hair is scraped off. This process is highly caustic but the most efficient for mass production. To remove all traces of the Lime solution and to sanitize the rawhide product, commercial makers then rinse the hides in a bleach solution before creating whatever shape is to be used. The bone and other shapes used to attract you and your pet are created while the hide is still wet. The “treats” are then either dried or sent for “smoking” to further entice the unsuspecting owner and pet."_ - http://www.daneangelnetwork.org/rawhide.htm

Do you really want your pet chewing on that???


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

We have never given Elza any rawhide chews thanks to my partner who knew about what will happen to it when the dogs keep chewing it. Obviously we won't give it to her ever!

Scary stories that's for sure! Thanks for sharing and opening people's eyes about them!


----------



## Maxx (Dec 17, 2011)

Thank you for posting, my husband was insistant on making sure the kids or myself did not give Maxx rawhides. I really didn't understand his reasoning until he explained to me what could happen. I figured he was just being fussy but apparently not. Again thank you for sharing and keeping us informed.


----------



## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

There was an issue with these pet Christmas cards made from rawhide as some were coming from china etc, and they were made from dog skins.Obviously I have stopped purchasing these things, all the pet stores in York sell them at the festive time.


----------

