This is how Danielle Devereux, whose German Shepherd Sammy is a ravenous consumer of snacks, describes her treat-buying strategy. Sammy prefers his rawhide toys soaked in warm chicken broth first. “As you can guess, he’s a little bit spoiled.”

In Devereux’s remarks, I hear echoes of my own long search for the right dog chew toys. From the time my Shepherd was a wee pup, we combed the pet aisles looking for enticing substitutes for couch and chair leg. She quickly sniffed out her favorite section among the knuckle and femur bones: the bins where the rawhide is cached.

Promoted as an “all natural” treat, rawhide does keep dogs entertained, perhaps even more so in its many basted, twisted, even brightly colored mutations. It’s the equivalent of that gummy-worm-fortified cereal made with real oats that children howl for all the way down the breakfast aisle. Those looking to improve on the bone are like the clever marketers who expertly tune a child’s whining pitch. Your dog would like to convince you that rawhide is primal therapy for his carnivorous soul!

But if rawhide manufacturers were held to the same standards as drug makers, they’d be forced to add an equally long list of warnings to their labels: May cause stomach torsion, choking, vomiting, diarrhea, salmonella poisoning and exposure to various chemical residues.

The closer you look at the rawhide gravy train—its tentacles in China, typically, at one point or another—the more you may want to wean your dog off this dubious by-product.

The Dose Makes the Poison
“The most potent compounds for stimulating the taste buds in dogs, and presumably wolves, are amino acids that taste sweet to humans”—so goes the discussion of canid diet in Wolves, edited by David Mech and Luigi Boitani. Judging by an explosion of patents for flavored rawhide, which include “tastes” such as bubble-gum and hickory, chew-chefs have apparently done their research. However, in creating treats dogs will chomp for hours, they’ve also produced potentially more toxic products. The more dogs lick, chew and swallow the material, the greater their exposure to any contaminants it contains.

In the case of bubble-gum flavoring alone, the Material Safety Data Sheet reveals a toxic confection containing the carcinogen FD&C Red 40, along with preservatives like sodium benzoate. But tracking the effects of chemical exposure is nearly impossible when it’s a matter of slow, low-dose poisoning. The FDA’s veterinary branch, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, checks into pet food additives only after numerous complaints about a particular chemical.

While chews made from rawhide, bone or other animal parts are consumable, and are therefore considered “food” under FDA law, as long as the label contains no reference to nutritional value (such as “high protein”), the agency advises that manufacturers “may not have to follow the AAFCO pet food regulations.”

Producing rawhide begins with the splitting of an animal hide, usually from cattle. The top grain is generally tanned and made into leather products, while the inner portion, in its “raw” state, goes to the dogs. Removing the hair from hides often involves a highly toxic recipe: sodium sulphide liming. A standard practice is to procure rawhide in the “split lime state” as by-products from tanneries, facilities that top the list of U.S. Superfund sites. In the post-tannery stage, hides are washed and whitened using a solution of hydrogen peroxide. And that’s just one step.

Back to the Factory (Farm)
There’s no knowing where it’s been, and where it begins is also unsettling. Rawhide is a by-product of the CAFO—or concentrated animal feeding operation, the bucolic term for today’s industrial farm.

“Nasty, brutish and short” is how Ken Midkiff, author of The Meat You Eat, describes the life of the animals who give up their hides. He’s no expert on rawhide, but Midkiff says he knows far more than he cares to about CAFOs, where thousands of “sentient beings,” crammed together inside huge metal buildings, “never see the light of day until the truck comes to pick them up for slaughter.”

“There’s also a major problem with various drugs,” he adds, citing a CAFO cocktail of antibiotics, arsenicals and hormones used to boost production.“While the claim is made that these don’t remain in the meat of hogs or beef, that claim has not been tested by any federal agency.”

Pattie Boden, owner of The Animal Connection in Charlottesville, Va., where organic toy enthusiasts shop, doesn’t carry rawhide. Instead, she stocks free-range chews, bully sticks, and organic raw bones, from shins to lamb necks. Her purchasing-protocol (and philosophy) is one owners might apply in their own search for healthful treats.

“I’m not going to be the most financially successful pet store,” Boden says, “but I feel confident in the products I select, and I can sleep at night.”

Please keep in mind for the upcoming holiday season–

Holiday Pet Safety For Your Australian Labradoodle

By KAREN B. LONDON, Ph.D.
London Zoo
Monday, December 07, 2009

Safety during the holidays is an issue for everyone: Drinking and driving is as dumb this time of year as at any other, candles on trees pose an extreme fire risk and old fruitcake is a bad idea according to four out of five dentists who want their patients to have pain-free teeth over the holidays.

Safety issues also abound for animals during the holiday season. Amid the beauty of the festivities reside many perils for our pets.

Fire is a risk for pets, especially rambunctious young or even older athletic ones. Whether the candles in your house are kindled for eight days, serve as a reminder of the light that appeared in the east, or simply provide ambiance, open flames require constant tending. Put all candles out of reach of pets and make sure neither the flames nor the pets are unattended.

If your decorations involve electricity rather than fire, be aware that power cords can look like chew toys to many animals. Keep them taped down or out of reach to lessen the chance of burns or shocks. Keeping holiday lights unplugged when you are not home is another way to help protect your pets.

Many holiday plants are poisonous to pets. Among the most dangerous are mistletoe and holly, especially the berries of these plants. Ivy and poinsettia are also dangerous to pets, but their toxicity levels are lower. Even the seemingly angelic lily is poisonous. Poisoning risks are not limited to plants. Chocolate can be deadly for both dogs and cats. Theobromine, the toxic chemical that causes the damage, occurs in especially high levels in baking chocolate — 8 to 10 times the level of milk chocolate. Consuming chocolate makes many cats and dogs vomit or get diarrhea, while still others react with convulsions and seizures. Grapes and raisins can lead to kidney failure in dogs and are therefore potentially fatal to them. Cats are thought to be susceptible to this toxicity as well, but fruit-loving cats are rare. To be safe, keep grapes and raisins away from your pets as diligently as you keep chocolate away from them. If you even suspect that your pet has ingested any of these items, contact your veterinarian immediately to find out what to do.

Food doesn’t have to be ingested to cause harm to your pets. For example, hot turkey and ham drippings smell so enticing that many animals leap onto the counter to get them, and in doing so, tip the pans and get scalded. Many holiday items, including food, pose choking hazards for dogs and cats. Among the most common threats are candy canes and other sweets, ornaments, small toys and turkey bones, which splinter easily. Both ribbons tied around pets’ necks and tinsel can strangle pets, and though this may be rare, it does happen to some dogs and cats every year.

Avoiding the potential hazards of the holidays allows the celebrations throughout the season to remain joyous for all the species in your home.

Karen B. London, Ph.D., is a certified applied animal behaviorist, certified pet dog trainer and author who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of serious behavioral problems, including aggression, in the domestic dog.

http://azdailysun.com/articles/2009/12/07/news/local/pet_column/20091207_pet%20c_208835.txt