Tasty Tuesday: Cow Ear

I may have mentioned, I don't give Elka rawhide anymore.

The chemicals used strip the hide are suspect, the stuff itself is not exactly digestible, there's a risk for blockage, they're treated with irradiation and that weirds me out...the list goes on. Additionally, there's rumors about that Wal-Mart's Exerhide rawhides have caused seizures and things in dogs.

Occasionally, though, I still get Elka a cow ear. It looks remarkably like rawhide, and I should probably look more into the process that goes into them as well, but the one I bought seems to have been made in the US, which is good.

Also, there's so much going on. Let's see: Happy Valentine's Day!  Also, congratulations to GCH CH Protocol's Veni Vedi Vici for her Best in Breed at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show this morning! Otherwise known as Fifi, this Doberman also (I'm told) has her SchI, and will trial in that further after she retires from the show world.  Looking at the Breed entry list for 2012, many of these Dobermans, in addition to being conformation Champions, have some Rally and Obedience titles as well.  It's nice to see some of those titles "front and back" on working dogs! 

Here's hoping that Fifi brings  home the Working Group win, and then on to compete for Best in Show later today!

Something to Chew On

Did you know that rawhide isn't good for dogs?  That, in fact, in many cases rawhide can be bad for dogs?

For example, the Exer-Hide brand that Wal Mart (and other places, I'm sure) sells has caused death, fevers, seizures, and other unpleasant things for dogs, and has for years.  The claim is largely anecdotal, and "undetermined" on Snopes.com, but enough anecdotes from dog owners is enough for me.

Rawhide can also be treated with things like formaldehyde, harbor things like Salmonella, and is more or less undigestible to a dog.  If your dog eats a lot of it or swallows big enough pieces, it can cause an intestinal blockage, which involves surgery to fix.  If the surgery isn't done within a certain window of time, the affected tissue dies, and the dog will not survive.

So, now that I've done my bit of fear-mongering, here's the question:  What should I give my dog to chew?