Bringing home a new puppy is an exciting time. There are a lot of things to change about your home and more which will change in your routine in the next days and weeks.
Getting your home organized for your puppy is important, as is having the right food, toys, and chews for your puppy to enjoy. By avoiding potentially risky types of bones and selecting safe chews for puppies, owners can feel confident they are providing their pup with a great start on life.
What Makes Safe Chews?
Most first-time puppy owners make the assumption all items sold in pet stores, or those sold in pet areas of the large department stores, are safe alternatives for a weaned puppy.
However, some of the most common rawhide toys sold are not considered safe chews for puppies by vets, breeders, and leading researchers. Rawhide is a by-product of tanning leather and is of no nutritional value.
However, this is just one of the problems of rawhide. It is also a product which gets slimy and swells with exposure to the puppy’s saliva, which means it can cause choking risks if larger chunks are swallowed. Additionally, even the long or short stringy strands of rawhide can form a blockage in the intestines, resulting in extreme discomfort and sometimes even life-threatening conditions.
The healthy and safe chews for puppies are non rawhide. They still contain tasty ingredients, such as baked chicken and pork fat, but they do not contain beef rawhide.
These safe chews can be consumed by the puppy and will have 99.9% digestibility in the body in 24 hours, meaning no concerns about blockages. Of course, it is still important to give just one chew a day and to always supervise your pup when he or she is enjoying the treat.
