Cow Hooves

Ok, forget it....

I found a website saying that large dogs can splinter them, and the swallowed pieces can cause big problems. I took it away and it's in the trash!

OOPS!    I bought Gibby one several months ago...not knowing that. He needs to chew chew chew...but he was just a few months old....so we gave it to him for a while at a time and picked it up in between......after a few times we threw it out. Now that his mouth is so big....I wouldn't but it.....I need a bigger thing for him to chew on.

I give my dogs cow feet which I get at a Hispanic market.  They are a meat item.  My dogs get them frozen and they keep even my power chewers busy for an hour or more. 

 Bugsy actually consumed a cow hoove like the one you bought Black Labbie in minutes when he was about a year old - his poop was like gelatin the next day and I didn't like the smell of it when he was chewing it - bleck!

Anyway on advice from Brookcove I know give him raw frozen pig's leg - I can only find pieces of cow feet at my market, but I can get split pig's feet but it is really the lower part of their leg.  He loves it and it does give him something to chew which both he and I like!

kpwlee

 and I didn't like the smell of it when he was chewing it - bleck!

Oh yah, that's one of the first things I noticed when he started chewing it...yuck! I don't know why, but I don't remember that with my first Lab!

Thanks for the cow and pig feet suggestions, just not sure I can handle that!

BlackLabbie

Thanks for the cow and pig feet suggestions, just not sure I can handle that!

DH teases me all the time because I used to barely be able to touch raw meat and now I'm giving B body parts - you can do it if you find them.  I give them to him frozen and they don't smell and they don't seem so 'real'.  He has a towel that is his dedicated 'bones' towel and he never leaves it.  We did have to train him a bit but now he knows if he wants his bones he has to stay on the towel.

Mind you B is a significant chewer so it doesn't hang around 

 Well, I never give hooves, but I've been known to toss the hound a bully stick once in a while;-)  Don't ask...

I've always been told that cow hooves were one of the most dangerous chew items pet stores sold, right up there with those smoked bones- they treat them with something toxic to preserve them, they are hard and can break teeth, and they come apart into intestine-tearing sharp hard fragments. Difficult to digest because of the toxic preservative treatment. Now if you can get fresh horse hoof trimmings from your farrier that is a nice safe treat for dogs.

mudpuppy

I've always been told that cow hooves were one of the most dangerous chew items pet stores sold

I never knew they were dangerous, as my first Lab got them every once in awhile without problems. But now I know! Thanks!

I have given them to my dogs in the past, but my dogs are smaller and have never been able to break them...the stench though, blech, and stepping on them in the middle of the night is extremely painful. It isn't something I would normally buy, but like you, one of my boys had an interest in it at petsmart...he actually plucked it from the bin as we were walking by and carried it, so I got one for each. Probably won't get them again....too bad though, they really seemed to like them.