Pet Lovers

[GingerPeach]

If you have a dog who is choosy about which bully sticks he or she will chew on, and you find you have a lot that he or she does not want to chew, here's something to try that works with my dog (and maybe will with yours).

Just heat the bully stick in a dish of water for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  Be sure to rinse it afterward in cool water so it's no longer hot.

It becomes more smelly but that's what dogs like.  That way I don't have a lot of extra bully sticks that I have to give to neighbors' dogs.  The good sticks are not inexpensive!

[Kachina624]

I assume you're speaking of the rawhide sticks?  I prefer not to give those to my dogs as they have on occasion given them bloody diarrhea.  I also worry about salmonella.

i go to a butcher shop periodically and get big knuckle of leg bones.  I have large dogs.  I give them the bones raw so they don't splinter.  Once they clean them off they're allowed to bring them in the house.  They will chew on these things for weeks.

i rarely give my dogs treats unless we're training.  They are all older, youngest is 10 and none are overweight.

[Bird mama]

If you are talking about rawhides, I met a veterinary GI doctor when my Max had kidney stones who said they were hard on the digestive system. Man, that vet really hated something called greenies. Mind you, my first dog spottie had the occasional rawhide and it didn't kill him. Still I look at them differently now. One time I bought Max an ear. Might have been a pigs ear. Max looked at it and backed away from it and I was so relieved because I was mildly disgusted. Lol

[HappyDaze]

no rawhides and bully sticks are NOT the same thing! Bully sticks are often recommended by vets to replace rawhides, which no vet I've ever talked to like at all. They say they see so many dogs in due to issues with rawhides.

Bully sticks are made out of a bull's private parts. It is more easily digested than rawhides and don't have the dangers of rawhides.

OP, I tried bully sticks once and my dog loved it but then had the runs even though he only had a small piece. Vet said they are very high in protein and some dogs don't tolerate them very well. Plus once I realized what they were, I wasn't sad at all about never buying them again.

[GingerPeach]

Thank you, @HappyDaze
No, @birdmama and @Kachina624, I am not speaking of rawhide at all.

If you know dogs, you know they are completely different, as HappyDaze explained.

That is why I titled the post "bully sticks" and not "rawhide."  Why would you think I meant something else when I clearly named it as what I meant?  There wasn't even one tiny bit of acknowledgment that I knew what I was talking about.  How odd.

I would never give any dog any rawhide, thank you very much.  

Maybe this is overkill, but it's tiring to have to keep explaining oneself when one believes that one has been very clear already.  Especially when the proper word and description has been  used.  This is not the first time this has happened on these forums.  It is very frustrating to be so misunderstood.

My dog only gets the small ones - and only one per day, if that much.  She does not get free access to them.  She does not get free access to any food, for that matter.  Only to water, of course.

[Caitlinh429]

@HappyDaze wrote:

Bully sticks are made out of a bull's private parts. It is more easily digested than rawhides and don't have the dangers of rawhides.

 Plus once I realized what they were, I wasn't sad at all about never buying them again.

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rotfl. gross huh?

nice tip OP. my dog doesn't like toys (i know he's weird, not even tennis balls) so I give him bully sticks every now & then, in leiu of the raw food mixed with his dry food at night (calorie saving). He often has trouble starting it off so this is a nice idea! thank you!

[GingerPeach]

I had a friend who said that she liked the idea that ALL the parts are used.  (And she is a vegetarian, so it was something to hear that admission at all.)

[feline groovy]

It's smart to ease  your dog into  bully sticks.

Yep, they're actually bull dongs (as in livestock)

Nylabones also work well, and they're safer than rawhides that can splinter in the dog's GI systems

[GingerPeach]

I hope no one is giving their dogs rawhide.

[betteb]

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@GingerPeach wrote:

Maybe this is overkill, but it's tiring to have to keep explaining oneself when one believes that one has been very clear already.  Especially when the proper word and description has been  used.  This is not the first time this has happened on these forums.  It is very frustrating to be so misunderstood.

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