Antlers are a hit!

[jdbyogi]

I finally picked up some antlers at the feed store today and they have been going strong on them for over 20 minutes. For Lauren, unless it has raw meat/ marrow/ blood on it, she loses interest in chewing in 5 seconds, so this it huge The best part, they haven't made a dent at all!

I did end up getting splits for a first try, hoping to keep Lauren motivated to keep chewing. If these last, I may try the whole ones next time.

Question- do you ever need to take them away? Will the antler itself fracture or split, or just wear down? Also, my neighbor says she got some at full ones (and bully sticks) at the flea market. I'm a little skeeved out by that (or buying any foodstuffs for people or pets at flea markets), but they were a great price. bad idea?

[yuityfroghurt]

I took them away when they were worn down to the point where I thought they were a choking hazard.

Mine love them also! I'm surprised at what a hit they were.

[jdbyogi]

Do you just leave them out all the time, or put them out for play time and put them away? It's been 2.5 hours, and while they have taken some short breaks, they are still gnawing on them.

I usually take bully sticks away after 30 minutes or so, but that's largely because they will eat the whole thing in one sitting and those things are expensive!

[Seesaw]

I've never tried these antlers but I did get some of those sterilized cow leg bones that are hollow inside. We put peanut butter inside. The boys loved them... but a little too much. Two of them hurt their mouths/teeth attacking these things. I washed the peanut butter residues out and now they don't care about them. Bah.

Are antlers really hard like these leg bones?

[jdbyogi]

The antlers are really hard on the outside, but since I got "splits" they are cut in half and the dogs can eat the marrow (I guess it's marrow) inside. To me, it looks like particle board or something inside, but it's still really hard. They were mostly gnawing the slightly softer marrow. Clearly the outside is edible, as they sell them whole in addition to being split open. I don't know if they are as a hard as leg bones. Aren't the leg bones (or weight bearing bones) incredible hard?

I have given them marrow bones before (with marrow, blood, connective tissue or something) and they LOVE them but have little to no interest once they are cleaned out.

I did end up taking them away after a few hours tonight because it looked like it was a little hard on their teeth- one of them looked a little red, like maybe their gums were bleeding a tiny bit.

[calico]

Kai is still on her first antler. We've taken it away on occassion, but that's mostly to renew her interest and to cull the number of toys she scatters around the house. This antler has just worn down, but it's a full antler, not a split.

As for the flea market antler, I think it's fine as long as you wash it. I don't know that I would buy bully sticks from there, but then again, I'm picky about her edibles.

[yuityfroghurt]

I do leave them out all the time for them and they're good about moving on to other toys for awhile and coming back to them. I think if they were constantly chewing on them and wouldn't leave them alone I might take them away for awhile.