Tooth decay vs Fractured teeth and Dog Chews-

In my search to find out how to prevent Toby OR Meeka from loosing anymore teeth I came across this article written by a vet. (obviously his rough draft!) This is a VERY interesting and eye-opening article and thought I'd share it!

http://www.bestfriendsvet.com/pdffiles/SlabFxWa.pdf

Obviously that will have to be copied and pasted - but it is worth while!! Check it out!

It's a "WOW" moment because how many of us KNOW this??? It makes me mad that these are even sold at our pet stores if they are so unsafe. You'd think someone would be other there protecting our pets but stopping the sales of dangerous 'chews'!

Here is some other information I found from a blog by Dr. Sherry Weaver:

"Rawhides have the advantage of being tasty and relatively inexpensive. Most dogs love them. The disadvantage of rawhide is that it can be quickly chewed into small chunks, and dogs have been known to swallow pieces too large and get blocked up. These blockages are extremely rare, especially with single-ply rawhide, but you should watch your dog play with the rawhide and take it away if he is breaking off large chunks to swallow. When the rawhides wear down to a swallow-able sized piece, they should be thrown away. If your dog is a slower chewer and makes a rawhide last for a day or two, then it can be appropriate. When you do buy rawhide, try to get it from a reputable manufacturer, although the recent pet food crisis has made us all aware that even that is not enough to guarantee a lack of harmful chemicals."

"I have recently been seeing “bully bones” in the pet stores. This piece of cow anatomy is relatively new to the pet market, but it seems very safe. It can be chewed up relatively quickly, but appears to be pretty digestible. The only disadvantage I have found is that they can be a little expensive and often don’t last very long. But, so far, this is one of the safest chew products that I have found."

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Anyway, We will NEVER again have the option of Toby having his teeth cleaned again so, this information is very valuable to US. Maybe you will think so too.