Nylabones

[Fundog]

A year ago I took a chance and purchased a couple of Nylabones for the girls-- they were on sale, and included an instant coupon, so they were a super good price. Well, the girls really don't care for them at all. They are not flavored, so they are rather boring. They've nibbled on them a bit, but that's about it. Rawhides are expensive, especially at the rate Annie goes through them. I've tried "marinating" the Nylabones in a plastic bag with liver, cheese, and garlic. I've tried dunking them in broth. The girls will lick the flavor off, and then discard them.

So the big question of the day is..... Does anyone know of an effective way to flavor the Nylabones? If I could somehow inject some flavor into them, then the girls would like them. Annie really, really, really craves having something to chew on, but it must have some flavor. She isn't content to chew on plain cardboard or plastic. Chewies are like cigars for her, but she insists on imported Cuban.

[Suzette]

Piper loves bully sticks - those are her chewies of choice. But she does have a couple plain nylabones too and like your girls, they're not her favorites. One thing that got her a bit more interested in them was when I plopped the nylabones (hers are the small ones) into her container of dried liver treats and left them there for a few days. The flavor sort of infused itself onto the nylabone and that piqued her interest for several days.

But after a while, she lost interest again. I guess I could have put them back into the dried liver container again, but frankly by then she was so in love with the bully sticks I didn't bother. Anyway, something like that might be worth a try.

[WufWuf]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I have a question... (No ideas about Nylabones sorry )

So bully sticks, I hear good stuff about them and Honey is a very fussy chewer. It's difficult to find anything hard that she feels is worth the effort (I think that's whats going on anyway as she'll chew chicken bone but not rawhide).

The thing is as far as I know I've never seen them in any shops in Dublin so can't really work out how hard they are, I'm going to order some on zooplus when I order her first bag of TOTW but are they only for dogs who love to chew or would fussy girl feel they were worth her time and energy?
She likes dried chicken stomach and dried turkey heart but will only lick at very lightly filled kongs/bones (like soft cheese or peanut butter smeared just around the inside) anything too compacted and it's a no go.

Thanks and I hope someone has some nylabone help for you:D

[Suzette]

Sorry to hijack your thread but I have a question... (No ideas about Nylabones sorry )

So bully sticks, I hear good stuff about them and Honey is a very fussy chewer. It's difficult to find anything hard that she feels is worth the effort (I think that's whats going on anyway as she'll chew chicken bone but not rawhide).

The thing is as far as I know I've never seen them in any shops in Dublin so can't really work out how hard they are, I'm going to order some on zooplus when I order her first bag of TOTW but are they only for dogs who love to chew or would fussy girl feel they were worth her time and energy?
She likes dried chicken stomach and dried turkey heart but will only lick at very lightly filled kongs/bones (like soft cheese or peanut butter smeared just around the inside) anything too compacted and it's a no go.

Thanks and I hope someone has some nylabone help for you:D

I order my bully sticks from this site: http://www.allpetnaturals.com/

They're actually called Buffalo Sticks on that site - all natural, no preservatives. The ones I have bought at local pet stores smelled terrible once chewed a bit and became very slimy for some reason. The Buffalo Sticks from All Pet Naturals have very little odor and Piper adores chewing on them. They last and last, but then, she's a five month old corgi, so . . . Piper's a bit choosy too about what she will and won't gnaw on, and these have been a huge hit with her.

[Logansmum]

When Logan was a pup he had to see a specialist dentist, and she doesnt like the use of nylabones (or ordinary bones) as they can damage teeth and gums. For a dog that likes to chew, she reccommends kongs.

[Sarah83]

Rupert will happily chew on a Nylabone but he chews chunks off them I don't care how edible they're supposed to be I don't want him swallowing them! Same with Kongs, he quickly chews chunks off them if I'm not careful and they don't make any claim to be safe if eaten. I used to buy him large rawhides but he was sick once while eating one, I picked it up to put it away and it was all brown and crystallized in the middle We'd bought 2 so sawed the other one in half, it was the same. Haven't bought rawhides since.

Rupert gets large bones, the so called wreckreational bones. Yes there's a risk of broken teeth but there are risks everywhere in life and he gets so much enjoyment from them. They're literally the only thing we've found that he can lie down and have a real good chew on. Anything else is either completely unsafe or doesn't last 5 minutes.

[Fundog]

Annie doesn't chew on her Kong unless it has something insides she is trying to get loose--- and even then, she uses a combination of chewing/squeezing, and throwing. If it doesn't have food in it, she's not the least bit interested.

With the Nylabones, when she has chewed it, it is more of a shaving motion type chewing, so she is not taking chunks off, and the Nylabone has special ridges in it that are supposed to help clean the teeth-- hence the "shaving motion" is quite effective. But unfortunately, the lack of flavor does not appeal to her, or to Dottie. So far the only chews that make her happy are the rawhides (we buy the chips, as our vet said they are safer than the bone shaped ones). The rawhide chips are like taffy for them, and are devoured in just a couple of minutes.

Oh, and Sarah--- one thing that matters about the quality of rawhides is where they are made. You definitely want to avoid those that are made in third world countries--- and they might even advertise that they were made with American beef cattle, but that only means the animal's hide was exported out of the country, and then additives and chemicals were used to treat the hide and make the chews. It is essential to only buy rawhides that are actually made in the U.S. (for U.S. residents). The same caveat may apply to those in Europe--- I don't know; it may depend upon the processes your country uses to manufacture these products. So far, we have never had any problems with buying rawhides that are certified to be made in the United States.

The girls do love real bones the best of all, but those are hard to come by, since Mr. Fundog covets those for our own meals and recipes--- and of course, once cooked, they are no longer safe for the dogs. He still has a hard time getting his mind around giving something to dogs that he himself would like to eat. He considers giving perfectly good bones or people food to the dogs as "wasting it." But that's what a childhood of poverty does to people.

I'm just trying to come up with a less expensive alternative to the rawhide chips.

[Sarah83]

None of the rawhide chews I've found say where they're made so I just don't buy them. I remember reading after it happened that I shouldn't buy ones made in places like China but without a label saying where they're made I have no idea which are made in the UK. Rupe prefers bones anyway

Not sure what to suggest about Mr. Fundog. Have to say I told my ex where to go when he got on at me about "wasting" a 99p turkey leg on the dog and buying bones from the butcher for him but his was due to jealousy of the dog getting anything from me. If childhood poverty is the issue would pointing out that the bons are cheaper and longer lasting than other chews help and getting extra for the dogs as well as some for yourselves? Course that's not much use if you struggle to get hold of bones in the first place though.

[bendog]

My dogs like frozen carrots and raw broccoli stalks to chew on too.

I used to feed raw hide but my dog devours them in half a day and they quite often made him sick after or went all slimy and yuck so I stopped but never really found much of an alternative except for frozen carrots.

Bully sticks sound good I might give those a try.

Our local shop also sells ham bones in vacuum packs but I was never sure about giving them to my dog because they look huge and he's only a smallish terrier. Plus I'm wary of buying anything from large stores anyway if I don't know how safe it is or where its come from.

Does anyone give their dogs Pigs Ears or Snouts or do they have the same issues as rawhide?

[Nettle]

Keep away from the ham bones - they will be salty if real ham bones, and in any case are too big and may damage teeth.

Does anyone give their dogs Pigs Ears or Snouts or do they have the same issues as rawhide

Fine if raw straight from the burcher but not if they are treated with preservative and from the pet shop. If raw, they MUST be frozen for a month as pigs may carry nasty parasites.

[Sarah83]

Rupert got a ham bone once. He drank sooooooo much water that night and ended up having an accident in the house. This was one of the vacuum packed ones too, probably the same sort if you're in the UK, I've seen them on sale in loads of shops.

[Noobs]

I like allpetnaturals.com. I bought a fleece harness there and got great service. Their products look great.

Sorry Fundog I have no suggestions for your Nylabone problem. If they're not interested in them then you may just be better off cutting your losses and finding an alternative.

[runlikethewind]

You're back Noobs!!

[Noobs]

Hi there, don't have as much time as I used to but easing back in.

[wvvdiup1]

Unfortunately, none of the dogs I've had and Karma didn't like them. Sorry Fundog, I wish I could be of more help to you on this, but hopefully someone has some idea of what we could do to make nylabones interesting for dogs.