The joy of Bully Sticks!!

[susan lynn]

What is the difference in compressed rawhide sticks and bully sticks?

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by susan lynn

What is the difference in compressed rawhide sticks and bully sticks?

Rawhide is not 100% digestible there are little pieces that can break off and cause an intestinal obstruction, obviously, this is more threatening to smaller breed dogs than larger breed dogs, who have larger intestines. Bully sticks on the other hand are 100% digestible, every part dissolves, and is digested. Both can cause a throat obstruction if too big of a chunk is swallowed, so that why I recommend the harder sticks, which discourage large chunks being swallowed. I have read about a new processing for rawhide where pieces are ground very fine and then reshapped, and this is said to be safe, but I still haven't seen this type in the stores, and I'm not sure if the product ever went to market, because it would be difficult to remain competitive with all the cheaper brands. If I had a bigger dog this problem with rawhides would not concern me.

[susan lynn]

Nancy, Thank you so much. I just realized what I gave them was rawhide. I was told they were bully sticks. So far they haven't caused any problems but I know they can. I have a large package I will give to a friend. I will go and find bully sticks. I want the best for Tessie and Hobbes and don't want to give them anything that can harm them. Susan

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by susan lynn

Nancy, Thank you so much. I just realized what I gave them was rawhide. I was told they were bully sticks. So far they haven't caused any problems but I know they can. I have a large package I will give to a friend. I will go and find bully sticks. I want the best for Tessie and Hobbes and don't want to give them anything that can harm them. Susan

I gave Joey rawhides in the past before I knew about this, you're probably going to be safe 99 percent of the time, but it's just one of those things that I don't want to risk. If you do use them, keep track of pooping, and any constipation with vomiting should be checked out ASAP because this can mean an intestinal obstruction. So if they are still pooping a couple of days after ingesting the rawhide, you can assume everything ok. My guess is that for dogs over 20 pounds, there is rarely a problem.