safety 101 by Sean Drummond
Chewsing a Chew:
Giving Dogs Safe Ways to Exercise Their Chompers It’s not news to dog parents that dogs like to chew. What dog owners may not know is that chewing on the right objects can keep their dogs’ teeth and gums healthy. According to the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC), the veterinary version of the American Dental Association, chewing reduces plaque and tartar on a dog’s teeth, which is why most veterinarians recommend feeding dry kibble instead of canned dog food. In addition to dry food, chew treats can be a great way to eliminate doggie boredom, while at the same time giving your dog’s teeth a good brushing. But with the wide variety of chews on the market and the recent safety recalls—chicken jerky treats from China linked to kidney disease and pigs’ ears from Illinois tainted with salmonella—it’s hard to know what kinds of chew treats are safe to give dogs. And then there’s the continuing debate over rawhide—such a controversial little bovine by-product. Chews can be hard or soft, edible or inedible, even vegetarian. Deciding on a chew can be like playing a game of Operation. There are tracheas, aortas, tendons, and hooves, all of which are castoffs from the beef processing industry. Bully sticks are popular 38 Volume 3 • Issue 2
T The Triangle Dog
if you can get over the fact that you’re giving your dog bull genitalia. Pigs’ ears are high in fat and don’t offer much benefit to your dog’s teeth. Deer antlers round out the list of chews made from animal parts. Then there are the compressed and formed chews made of grain and poultry protein. Dogs with grain or other food allergies need to steer clear of these. Corn starch chews even offer dogs a vegetarian option. There are also inedible chews on the market; two of the most popular are Nylabones, which are made of polymers, and the Kong, which is made of rubber. Because of the debatable status of rawhide (whether it’s safe and edible, or unsafe and inedible), it deserves its own discussion. Rawhide comes in two forms—compressed or rolled. Compressed hide is ground up into small pieces, pressed into a mold, and held together with a binding agent. Rolled hide is simply dried and rolled into those familiar bone shapes with the knots on each end. Rawhide itself is the un-tanned, inner layer of skin from the hide of cows or, occasionally, horses. The hide is dehaired using lye or lime, washed in hydrogen peroxide, stretched, dried, formed into the shape of the final product, and finally heated to cure it.