Small update on Bandit with a random question *Update*

[CrissAngelLover12345]

The spot where the growth was removed is now fully healed! biggrin Now something is wrong with his left ear... When I first noticed it, I thought it might be ear mites... It's gotten worse and it now smells horrible, so I now think it's an ear infection... gonk I'm gonna take him into the vet on my next day off to find out exactly what it is and get it taken care of... I'll probably also weigh him sometime soon, most likely on my next day off as well to see how much weight he has lost.

I'll post updates about his ear once I know what the problem with his ear is, and about his weight once I weigh him.

For my question:

I have been doing research about safe alternatives for rawhides. My family has been using rawhide chew toys and treats for the entire lives of our dogs. I have found that rawhides are not safe (not digestible; expand; can cause blockages; can contain arsenic, insecticides, antibiotics, and lead, and the way they are made is unsafe (soaked in lye and then once the fur is removed, then soaked in bleach to remove the lye, then shaped and dehydrated). Through research, I have found that a good portion of chew toys aren't safe. The only things I have found so far that are safe are 100% cotton rope toys and bully sticks. I have also found that cow ears are also safer than rawhide. Are there any other safe alternatives out there?  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

maybe pig ears and cow hoofs? I know the strings can plug them up,so careful with the rope toys,my moms friend had to have a 2k surgery on her dog to get him unblocked Dx  

[xXGabriella-ShadowfireXx]

Meat bones are good too. Like Cow knees, cow hoofs, ect. Its what a animal health freak told me to get for my dog and my dog has a sensitive tummy.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

I read that cow hooves are not safe because they break the teeth of the dog and they splinter/break off in sharp pieces, causing possible punctures to the digestive tract.

I have read that the meat bones other than cow hooves are safe as well (forgot to mention it lol). The only thing is, for three dogs, they get expensive pretty quick... >.<
'
Pig ears are really fatty and aren't good to give them on a regular basis as a result, as they can cause pancreatitis. As far as the different kinds of animal ears available for dogs, cow ears and lamb ears seem to be the safest.

I'll keep that in mind with the rope toys. There are so many toys that are out there for dogs that can cause blockages... The rope ones, the rawhide ones, greenies, and probably many more... It's hard to know for sure exactly which ones are safe.... gonk  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

If they are use to and like rawhide, bully sticks are similar so they might go for those. There's also jerky strips, pig ears, hooves. My personal favorite are antlers, naturally shed of course, Cowboy has had his for months now they are amazing. Beef knucle bones, salmon skin bones, stuffed kongs. Plus just about anything raw.

Merrick has a pretty extensive collection of chews I would give their website a look. But personally I like to just get a raw meaty bone at the supermarket. It's a lot less expensive than the raw bones we sell at my store since their marketed for dog lovers who are aware of the nutritional value, whereas the ones at the store are more like left overs after the choice cuts of meat.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

They are used to and like rawhide, We were considering going with bully sticks, though we're also looking into other things as well, so the more info I have, the better. I'll also look into antlers, I didn't even know those were options. For some reason, I didn't even think about kongs, though I'm kind of worried about Country, he has really strong jaws and would likely shred them, and we're afraid he might swallow the pieces.

The only thing about raw is, they're inside dogs and raw would be a little hard to clean from the carpets...

I'll look at Merrick's website. biggrin

Hopefully dad won't give us a hard time about switching their chew toys, considering the way he is about the dog's care... gonk  

[Azusanga]

When I give any of my animals a raw food, I lock them in the laundry room with me since it's tile flooring. Do you have a tiled room you can do that in? You can put them on a leash to keep them from roaming while they have it. Otherwise, most types of raws that haven't had all of the meat chewed off aren't really carpet safe at all, and are best given as toys after the meat's been torn off.

Just felt like saying that I have Mocho on my lap, and is head is bobbing every time I type with my left hand cause that's where he's resting his head <3 love this little champ.  

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

Bully sticks are great.

Salmon Skin bones/sticks are good too, but they can create a bit of a mess flaking while dog chews on it.

Elk antlers

Sheeps ears are a good small chew (more of a milk-bone replacement than a rawhide one, though).

Dry/hard Beef Jerky.


For toys, I like Tuffies for soft ones, and the West Paw toys have caught my eye before as far as rubber/chew toys go.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

We don't have many rooms with tile flooring. sad we also don't have anything to tie them to that's strong enough for them. My parents are lazy and would rather not sit/stand there with them while they chew on a raw bone. With them having issues with each other with chew toys, I'm not gonna stand there holding all three leashes and hope they don't get too close to each other for issues to start.

I bought a small bully stick and a cow ear to see if Bandit would like them. He sniffed the cow ear and the bully stick and decided to chew on the bully stick. He's loving it. He's chewing on it as I type. So far, besides the breif time he spent sniffing the cow ear, he's otherwise ignored it.

We might also pick up some cow tongue, cut it into strips and dehydrate it to make more safe and healthy chew toys for them (I read we can do that too). biggrin

My mom is intent on using up the rest of the bag of the rawhide chews she just bought. gonk At least I have her word that she will put Bandit in his crate while Country and Jonny are chewing on them and will pull up what ever Country and Jonny don't chew on before allowing Bandit to come out of his crate, as I do not want Bandit to have rawhide at all. At least she has decided that she will not buy any more bags of the rawhide chew toys any more.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

He chewed the whole bully stick! He loved it! He has chewed the cow ear a little bit. I'd say it's about 1/4 of the way chewed.

Bandit's ear infection has gotten worse... I don't think it will wait until my next day off (which is Friday). This evening, shortly after I made the first post, I noticed his ear (the one with the infection) was wet. I dried it off and out gently and the fluid was brown and there was a little bit of blood... He's also shaking his head a lot... He's in a cone to keep him from scratching his ear... >.< I'm gonna try to get his vet appointment for ASAP to get it looked at... I would rather wait until Friday if it would be ok, considering Friday is my payday and my next day off, but I'm not sure if it can wait. Do you guys think I would be able to wait until Friday?

Edit: I remembered after I posted this that Bandit was without his cone for a while during the time he was chewing on the bully stick. He might have scratched at his ear and caused it to bleed. I have also put a smaller cone on him since I didn't have to worry about him scratching at his surgical spot with it being fully healed (he has long legs, and I knew he could still scratch it) so he would be able to eat, drink, and get around easier. I saw him figure out a way to get his leg inside the cone and scratch the interior of his ear. I'm suspecting that this is the source of his bleeding. I'm gonna put the bigger cone back on him and see if that helps...  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Bandit's vet appointment was today. It was an ear infection. The vet gave me some stuff to clean his ears out with and some medication for his ear. He also lost another 2 pounds! blaugh

I took him into Petco after the appointment, and he was loving this one old guy. He just ran right up to him and requested to be petted. Every time the guy stopped petting him, Bandit either stared at him or nuzzled him until the guy started petting him again. lol I was there for the canned food for Charcoal, and I also bought him a big bully stick. I was also looking at other treats. They had some grainless treats! They had freeze dried chicken ones (only ingredient is chicken breast), freeze dried ocean whitefish (only ingredient is ocean whitefish), and a package that contained freeze dried green beans, freeze dried beef liver, and some other freeze dried veggie (don't remember exactly what it was lol). There were other grainless treats there, but I'm leaning towards the freeze dried ones. I was even looking at smoothies for dogs (They had only good ingredients in them!) I'm thinking about possibly picking up a box of the smoothies and putting them in the freezer to give to Bandit on a hot day to help him cool off after a walk.  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Bandit's ear infection is clearing up quite nicely. biggrin

I bought him some more cow ears and a Frisbee! I hope he'll play Frisbee! If he does, I might try to teach him some Frisbee tricks! He seemed excited to see it, so it looks good so far. biggrin

My mom also got the dogs bully strips (cow ears and bully sticks combined. biggrin ) Country and Bandit love them, Jonny wouldn't take it (He doesn't chew much anymore...)