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Antler Chews for Dogs - Warning

CharlieTriBoy

Active member
Hello,

I have an 8-month old Tri-colored Cavalier named Charlie. He loves to chew so I have to make sure I have plenty of chew things for him. I tried bully sticks a few months ago and they gave him diarrhea and took about a month for his system to get back on track (did take him to the vet right away), so I'm a little paranoid about giving those to him, and have found all sorts of different things for him to chew on. I had given him a deer antler that I bought from a pet supply place and he likes those for awhile and then loses interest. Then I purchased another antler but it was an antler that was cut in half lengthwise so dogs can dig out the marrow from inside the antler. Well, Charlie loved that until he started breaking small pieces off from it and one of the pieces was a very, very sharp pointy piece, about 1-1/2 inches long that I was glad that I noticed right away. I will never buy one of those antler chews again and wanted to warn others how dangerous these can be.
 
I totally agree with you.

I always hand pick antlers and hooves so I can avoid getting one with thin pieces that will break off easily. I'm super picky about them for the same reason. My experience is most of the store bought ones in my area (that cost me $17 a piece!) are okay, but when I tried to save some money by ordering off an Etsy vendor I ended up throwing the antlers away after I got worried about the thin ends. I know Lucky would have broken those off and probably swallowed them.
 
I've used antlers for over a year and haven't had problems with pieces breaking off. Maybe Lani is right that there are different levels of quality. I always supervise them though and don't leave them alone with it.

One thing about bully sticks, is your pup eating the whole thing at once? Because that could definitely be causing the diarrhea. I usually let them chew on it for 20-30 minutes and then take it away for another day because we've experienced that problem before.
 
I've used antlers for over a year and haven't had problems with pieces breaking off. Maybe Lani is right that there are different levels of quality. I always supervise them though and don't leave them alone with it.

One thing about bully sticks, is your pup eating the whole thing at once? Because that could definitely be causing the diarrhea. I usually let them chew on it for 20-30 minutes and then take it away for another day because we've experienced that problem before.


I've never had a problem with any antlers before either, they've always been a whole, tough, small antler, but this one that I purchased was an antler that was cut lengthwise in half so the dogs could chew all that marrow out from inside the bone and that's what was breaking off into sharp pieces. It wasn't cheap either, it was $16.00 and a pretty good size too. I should take it back to the store and show them what happens with something like that. Maybe they'll stop buying them and stick with the whole antlers.
 
I totally agree with you.

I always hand pick antlers and hooves so I can avoid getting one with thin pieces that will break off easily. I'm super picky about them for the same reason. My experience is most of the store bought ones in my area (that cost me $17 a piece!) are okay, but when I tried to save some money by ordering off an Etsy vendor I ended up throwing the antlers away after I got worried about the thin ends. I know Lucky would have broken those off and probably swallowed them.




I thought I was the only one who went to the store and had to touch all the antlers before I bought them. That is why I won't order off Etsy. Fletcher is a pretty strong chewer.
 
Mine use the split ones too. I found they're uninterested in the whole ones. but as I said have never experienced a problem with pieces breaking off but will make sure to keep a close eye on them.

Melissa and Lani - how can you tell what is a good one by touching? I'd like to know what to look for in the future.
 
mine don't like whole ones either (zero interest).

You just need to make sure that the hard bony outside of the antler around the marrow is not too thin … the thicker the better. The dogs will still love digging out the marrow. I've never had an issue with the ones I've bought in stores. The expensive ones also tend to sand down this hard part so it is smooth on the edges. The Etsy vendor didn't do that either.
 
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