[QUOTE=wendy;6741982]
We often freak out unnecessarily when we see our dogs gulping down huge chunks of food, but that’s how dogs naturally eat- they swallow large chunks of meat/bone, and then it gets digested. It’s normal for them to swallow huge chunks of food. As long it’s digestible, it will either dissolve in the stomach, or if it doesn’t dissolve, the dog will puke it up later. Usually you only get problems if the dog happens to swallow something that isn’t digestible. One of my dogs once swallowed an entire rabbit, fur, head, and all, and digested it just fine.
So the IMPORTANT thing is not that the dog swallows it, but that what the dog is swallowing is a digestible substance.
Nylabones aren’t safe at all- they aren’t digestible, and the company makes them so they don’t show up on x-rays so when your dog swallows a chunk of them and the gut is blocked by the chunk of plastic your vet won’t be able to see it.
AND NEVER EVER give your dog a smoked or boiled or cooked bone- the heating process renders the bone indigestible and brittle. Those smoked bones they sell in pet stores are dog-killers. They are brittle, thus the dog can break off pieces, which then get swallowed and can’t be digested because they are cooked.
Sometimes you’ll see cow hooves for sale- these don’t appear to be very digestible either, so perhaps best avoided. Rawhide is not very digestible so it’s best avoided.
Antlers are just bone- uncooked bone, thus digestible. Bully sticks, tendons, and tripe chews are digestible. Any uncooked raw bone should be digestible, but the sturdy weight-bearing leg bones of say cows are often so hard that the dog’s teeth might break- the softer joint ends (the knuckles) are safer than the hard shaft (marrow bones and the like). Frozen raw turkey necks make excellent chews for the smaller dogs- fully digestible, and take some chewing.
If you want the dog to spend time chewing rather than swallow it, get something bigger than the dog’s head so there’s no way it’s going down whole.[/QUOTE]
Things are only digestable if they make it to the stomach. For example, a highly digestable knucklebone that is stuck in the esophagus is not going to digest.
People are so worried about bones etc. making it through the intestines - uncooked bones are still a potential hazard. This christmas we had FOUR dogs with esophogeal foreign bodies, knucklebones, some sort of other soft raw bone and a christmas decoration. One was euthanized becasue the bone was in so long the esophagus became necrotic around the bone and perforated. It happens. Its not common, but it does so please be careful of what you choose to offer your dog.
