Are any of you concern with rawhide chews?

[Jacqueline]

At the pet store today, I saw a sign about washing hands when handling the rawhide chews.  That's the first I have ever heard of there being a problem with them.  Taffy loves them, and I have been letting her have them, with supervision....don't want her choking on anything.

I've always let my dogs have the chews, and never heard of problems from them.  I understand this is because they are 'raw'.  From reading the board, it sure looks like Taffy isn't the only one chowing down on them.  Is there a real problems with them, or is this one of those things where they are covering all bases?

I certainly don't want to hurt her.

[Charlie]

I hadn't seen or heard of any warnings about rawhides although I have about cow hooves due to the fact that ecoli could be present on them. 

[Leslie]

Rawhide products do potentially carry salmonella. They are, after all, an animal by-product.  You should wash your hands after handling them.  Doggies seem to have a pretty strong constitution when it comes to this little bug, so I wouldn't worry about them getting sick by them.  In fact, I have never heard of a dog having "food-poisoning" ie an infection caused by salmonella, shigella, listeria, etc. (Which is not the same as eating a poisonous food.)  E-Coli, giardia, and leptosporisis are more of a concern to your pets, but they grow in feces or urine.

Salmonella is also found in all birds and raw egg products, pet turtles, fish of all kinds and many other critters.  Humans are more susceptible to this germs than the host animals.  It pays to wash your hands!  I wash up to 20 times a day when I work at the doctor's office or at the behavioral health facility.  I have hand cleaner in my purse.  It's handy to clean up after I have met someones doggie while I am out. 

Choking is the hazard I am most concerned about, and take the little pieces away from my kids.  Loki especially has a hard time with the thicker ones getting stuck on her back teeth.

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Humans are more susceptible to this germs than the host animals.  It pays to wash your hands!

I guess that means I should stop carrying Hallie's bully stick around in my mouth and playing tug of war with her???

[Charlie]

Interesting what you said about ecoli being found in feces.  That was the warning put out about the cow hooves due to where cows step and the hooves not being cleaned very thoroughly during their making process.

[Leslie]

Interesting what you said about e-coli being found in feces.  That was the warning put out about the cow hooves due to where cows step and the hooves not being cleaned very thoroughly during their making process.

E.Coil is a very robust germ and will survive many hours on hands, feet, and even cold, hard surfaces. I suspect it is the primary cause of most food poisoning because of this.  If you are to walk through poo, it is suggested that you wash your shoes off with a hose rather than brushing or scraping them.  And then wash YOUR HANDS.  I don't even touch doorknobs in public restaurants.

[oceangirls]

I sometimes give the CET chews, which are a rawhide that is treated with chlorhexidine (helps to prevent tartar buildup on teeth).  I am guessing these may be a little more "sterilized" than some commercial rawhides and there is some antibacterial effect of the chlorhexidine.  I also worry more about the choking, so I don't give them unsupervised (although the CETs are marketed as being able to break down in a manner that is safer than other rawhide products).  I buy the extra-large size for my 10lb and 15lb dogs.  Dachshunds are legendary with their chewing abilities. 

[lotsadox]

I had never thought about washing my hands after giving chewies.  I guess it does make sense though.  I also feed the C.E.T chews that my vet has in the large size.  If I buy the small ones they last about 10 minutes and then everybody's looking for something else to do.    I guess I need to add washing my hands after handling chewies to the long list I now have of when I need to wash my hands!

[CA_Trixie]

Just about everything is dangerous, Trixie gets C.E.T. Chews and under close supervision only.  Check out the following.

http://www.doglogic.com/rawhide.htm
http://www.jeanesholistics.com/id66.html

[Tashas Mom]

I guess that means I should stop carrying Hallie's bully stick around in my mouth and playing tug of war with her???

I hope you're joking...you DO know what bully sticks are made of?!?

I wash my hands after giving Tasha chews.  Always.  We have flossies, bully sticks, fish skin chews, some really gross dried tripe chews, texas taffy (which I have no idea what part of the animal it might be but it makes a gross crunch when eaten).  Give treat, wash hands.  Always best to be safe!

[dackel]

Wow how odd.. I've never heard of that. I guess I'll be more careful handling pup treats from now on. I don't usually give him anything other than rawhide, milk bones, or greenies tho. That other stuff grosses me out too much even though Hansy likes them.

[Tashas Mom]

That other stuff grosses me out too much even though Hansy likes them.

Before I got Tasha I'd look at all of those animal parts in the pet store and go, ewww, I'd never feed my dog that.  But when I saw how much she enjoyed them, I overcame most of my squeamishness.  Though the dried tripe treats still make me a bit queasy. 

[Jacqueline]

I've picked up a selection of rawhide chews in sticks and bones....but pigs ears, hooves.....gee, let's just not go there, lol.  I watch Taffy closely, and anything left in small pieces disappears, and they are always so wonderfully soggy .....  but she loves them.  She made us all search for 15 minutes yesterday to find the new one she somehow misplaced.  Hey...I thought she was supposed to be the hunter.  :thinik:

I just don't see me gathering up half eaten soggy pig parts.  Yuck

[oceangirls]

She made us all search for 15 minutes yesterday to find the new one she somehow misplaced.  Hey...I thought she was supposed to be the hunter.  :thinik:

Missing rawhide?  Turn off all the lights and walk through the dark house at 3AM in your bare feet.  If there is a gooey, soggy rawhide anywhere in the house, I guarantee you will step squarely on it.

[lotsadox]

Missing rawhide?  Turn off all the lights and walk through the dark house at 3AM in your bare feet.  If there is a gooey, soggy rawhide anywhere in the house, I guarantee you will step squarely on it.

  Isn't that the truth!  That's also the way I find pee spots and loose rib bones. 

[becca]

That's also the way I find pee spots

Im with you on that one!! I don't give my puppers rawhides. I worry so much about them fightint over them, or chewing til their gums bleed. Just make mommy too nervous!

[Izzyinatizzy]

I give nylabones to chew on, and pigs ears as an occasional treat.  I never have to worry about picking up soggy pieces of pig, because my bunch doesn't even leave any crumbs!  It takes lily about 5 minutes to eat a pigs ear, and I have to put Bruno in the bedroom by himselve to eat his, because Izzy will take his away ( it is too funny to see the 12lb. dachsie running away with the 100 lb GD mix's treat!)  while Bruno looks at her with his most pitiful look.  It only takes Izzy about 15 minutes to devour hers.  I had never thought about washing my hands after handling rawhide though.  No one in my house gets rawhide because it upsets Lily's tummy.

-Ali

[Dackelrich]

...E. Coli is a very robust germ and will survive many hours on hands, feet, and even cold, hard surfaces. I suspect it is the primary cause of most food poisoning because of this.  If you are to walk through poo, it is suggested that you wash your shoes off with a hose rather than brushing or scraping them.  And then wash YOUR HANDS...

Just a little bit of clarification here, taking into consideration much of the general information that I've found within this thread.  I worked as a chemist in an industrial slaughterhouse from 1998-2002.  One of my primary tasks involved testing hamburger for E.Coli that was destined for restaurants throughout the Pacific Northwest and parts of California.  E.Coli is found in cattle manure and comes in contact with beef as a regular part of the slaughtering process; short of producing a surgical environment at the consumers' expense, it's unavoidable.  Everyone at one time or another has purchased a steak with E.Coli bacteria on it--browning it the slightest bit will kill the germ.  The problem is that when cuts of meat are ground into hamburger, the meat must be brought to a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria hiding within the ground meat and fat.

As a side-note, ALWAYS WASH CUTS OF MEAT (not hamburger, of course) with warm water, gently rubbing the meat with your hands to wash away some of the slick coating that is there.  This is especially important when purchasing "bargain cuts" that have nearly expired.  We don't think of it this way, but meat is slowly decaying animal matter--the slippery stuff that you feel is bacteria literally feeding on it.  Is all of this bacteria deadly?  Certainly not!! But it is a good way to wash away both safe and unsafe bacteria that you'd just as soon not ingest. 

Sheep, swine, dogs, cats, and other animals (including people) do not produce E. Coli bacteria unless they are sickened carriers of the disease.  Were this not the case, there would likely be a worldwide pandemic, E.Coli being as widespread in developing countries as cholera and typhus.

Certainly, it is extremely important that one wash their hands after coming in contact with fecal matter.  Although restroom door handles do not concern me very much, it is an excellent idea never to "pat down" used paper towels within a public restroom.  One dirty needle hidden within can give you the AIDS virus. 

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

Gack. Thank heavens I'm a vegetarian...if I wasn't, I would be now! 

Rotfl! Tasha's Mom...yes I do know what bully sticks are. But anything for my Hallie! LOL. (OK...except catching e coli...that has put a stop to me playing mouth tug with a bully stick with her, now I just hold it.) 

[April]

E. coli is a natural and healthy part of our gut (yes even humans).  There are different strains of it though and all of them are not the same.  Also if the good strain that is normally found in the human colon gets somewhere else, it can cause infection even if it is from you.  This is one of the reasons it is so important to wash your hands with soap after using the restroom.  You can introduce healthy bacteria from the colon into your upper GI and it can cause a problem there even though it wouldn't in the normal location - the colon.  (that's how the bacteria got its name coli = colon)
The illnesses we generally hear about in the media caused by E. coli are from the pathogenic strains of the bacteria.  These are not normally found in the human body.  They can be killed by thoroughly cooking any ground meat and heating the surface of a cut of meat adequately.  So while I wouldn't suggest a rare hamburger, a rare steak would be just fine.  The inside of the meat is sterile. 
Bacteria can be our friends (so sayeth the microbiologist! lol), but we have to be careful about the harmful bacteria out there! 

[Jacqueline]

Actually, we start giving Taffy only the compressed variety of rawhide bones, and only the ones we get at Petco.  There are no leftover pieces - no small pointed shards.  Still cold and gooey if you pick them up...yuck.

I am personally willing to risk a few bacteria for a nice really rare yummy steak. :thumb:

[April]

"I am personally willing to risk a few bacteria for a nice really rare yummy steak. "

The one and only thing my doctor wouldn't budge on when I was pregnant was me eating steaks any less cooked than medium well although he wanted me to eat only well done steaks.  My response after discussing the fact that the inside of the meat is sterile and him not changing his mind was to just not eat any steak after that point.  (I only had to do that because David heard the conversation and was a pill about it.)  I like my steaks med. rare and wasn't about to eat shoe leather simply because someone wouldn't read the literature! lol  This of course was mentioned about halfway through my pregnancy and I'd eaten several steaks at med.rare without problems so I don't know.