thanks, everyone, they are now a thing of the past (they were the 3 pack ones with the blue, brown and clear just like described in an earlier post).
i lost this thread, it moved a little bit after I posted, thank goodness I found the notification in my email or I wouldn't have read all of this. do posts get sorted frequently? i had no idea where it went. i posted it in general discussion.
thanks again everyone for the information, all of it, and ew I googled the bully sticks to find out what they were and I was much happier not knowing!!!
i am so thankful everyday that I found this forum. thank you so much for the info