Dog Chews and Kong Stuffers :D

[downwithapathy]

Non-dog people: this is a Kong.



It's hollow inside so we can stuff it with food or treats. The idea is that stuffed inside a Kong, the treat will last longer and keep your dog occupied for a while. It has some potential as a vegan rawhide alternative, and it's USA-made. Zoe really likes hers.

I think it was abbicus who said her dog is vegan+rawhide. Rawhide's a weakness for us too. As apartment dwellers, there's no option of letting Zoe out when we're busy and she's feeling restless. In spacehippy's words, rawhide is the difference between Zoe being a good girl and Zoe being a bad girl.

One thing I've learned is that if we are to provide rawhide for our dog, we should always go with American rawhide. Most rawhide is imported and processed in scarier more dangerous ways than the domestic rawhide. I get mine at the co-op, but I'm trying to quit altogether.

SO, I'll make this multipurpose!

1. What are some good vegan Kong stuffers?

I like to take a banana and break it in half. One half makes a GREAT and not super-quick treat in Zoe's Kong. The other half goes in my mouth. Sometimes I freeze Zoe's half, which helps it to last longer. I've frozen a peanut butter/banana combination in the Kong before. It seemed weird and slightly inconvenient, but it lasted a while and Zoe seemed to like it. I've also considered getting jars of baby food to pour into the Kong and freeze. That way a great variety of fruits and vegetables become Kongable.

The Kong company makes a variety of branded treats designed to stuff inside a Kong toy. Only one qualifies as vegetarian (unless you consider rennet vegetarian).

KONG Stuff'N Peanut Butter Snacks

Ingredients: Whole Wheat Flour, Oat Flour, Peanut Flour, Canola Oil, Molasses, Maltodextrin, Natural Carmel Color, Vanilla, Tumeric, Eggs, Salt, Milk, Natural Peanut Flavor


2. Rawhide Alternatives:

We've really tried to find an alternative to rawhide for Zoe. If we had a yard or another dog, we might be able to get away with them. Unfortunately, Zoe finishes them too quickly and then goes off to whimper at the cat or ask outside even though she just came in, etc.

Our favorites are whole carrots and sweet potato chews. We use Sam's Yams.

We've also tried the cornstarch-based Booda Bones and and those vegan dental treats by Nylabone. ...and a nylon Nylabone (also USA-made). They all go over well and may meet some of your needs, but they don't last long enough for us. We also end up with huge quantities of brightly colored poop.

A vegetarian (but seriously nonvegan) alternative I've found is the Himalayan Dog Chew. It's a super-hard cheese from Nepal. It's a little pricey, but it lasts a little longer than a rawhide for us.

Another option is to find shed antlers in the woods (or freecycle or see if my relatives know any generous hunters).

Here's a related thread. Sorry this was so long.

[veganshawn]

We put dog biscuits in the bottom and then stuff it full of peanut butter, the dogs love it. It was the one toy that my former pit bull mix couldn't destroy.

[KaliMama]

Does anyone use Buster Cubes or anything similar? They've been recommended to me, but I am wary of spending money on toys that will either be quickly destroyed or ignored. Shiva is a serious toy lover, but there are...issues.

He is not crazy about his Kong. He'll empty it when there are treats in it, but he does so pretty quickly, and that's it. He doesn't chew on the Kong or play with it. Nylabones, dental bones, etc. last only a few minutes, which is disheartening at several dollars a pop. I picked up a large dental-type bone for $8 at the pet store one day, and it didn't make it halfway home. A peanut butter jar with some PB in the bottom keeps him occupied much longer.

He loves stuffed animals. He removes the eyes and sometimes the stuffing from the head through the eye holes, but otherwise leaves them intact. In general, he really enjoys taking things apart. Tennis balls (both human and dog types) - he peels off the felt covering, and then chews the ball into pieces. The felt covering from a tennis ball looks remarkably like a panty liner, and they come in many fun colors to shock and confuse you when you find one on your bed, floor etc. Rubbery type chew toys get quickly dismembered. Rope toys get separated into their individual strands. He doesn't eat any of it. Not the plastic dinosaur heads that he bites off, not the stuffing from his teddy bears. He just dismantles everything. His Kong is the most expensive toy he has, and it was such an anticlimax that I just switched to carefully selected toys from the thrift store. He has a purple plastic TeleTubby with no remaining arms, legs or head that is still one of his favorite toys. We call it the TeleTorso. He has a metal Matchbox fighter jet that he likes to carry around and poke us with.

That's my spectacularly unhelpful input on the subject of Shiva the Destroyer and chew toys.

Now that I've made him sound like the hound from hell, I have to add that he doesn't destroy anything that wasn't actually given to him. Well, except our underwear.

Given his penchant for taking things apart, I suspect that he may find a Buster Cube engaging. Maybe it would help Zoe be good also. I'd love to hear from anyone who's used one.

[downwithapathy]

Ha! Zoe has torn up a couple of the more cheaply made stuffed toys given to her, but is generally not a destroyer. I've looked at the Buster Cube, but only after buying other food dispensing toys. I figure why add to our collection.

Right now we have...
Original Kong
Hi-Q (my personal favorite )
Everlasting Fun Ball (good)
Squirrel Dude (suggested by the behaviorist because Kongs are too easy--Neither Zoe nor I can easily get anything out of this toy except for the specially made "Buddy Berries"... which aren't vegan but smell delicious)
Tug-A-Jug (Zoe likes it as a toy, but it isn't terribly intuitive for a dog brain)
Twist-n-Treat (another favorite for my less destructive dog)

I like to mix it up. These toys do keep Zoe occupied for a few minutes, but if I want them to occupy her long enough to get my bizness done, I'll end up with one seriously obese little doggy.

I feed one of her meals every day in one or more food dispensing toys. If I'm a stuffy, miserable sicko (like today), I'll just fill up the Kong a few times. If I'm feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed, I may use 3 different toys (whatever equals a half cup of food). Some days I just stuff the Hi-Q to capacity (about a half cup itself). I the Hi-Q a lot (but it's a little flimsier than a Kong). Does Shiva have the black or red Kong?

[KaliMama]

I'm about to leave the house, so this will be short and sweet. Shiva has a red Kong. I'm going to check out the Hi-Q and others that you mentioned while I'm out. Thanks, Sonja!

[downwithapathy]

Originally Posted by KrishnaMama

I'm about to leave the house, so this will be short and sweet. Shiva has a red Kong. I'm going to check out the Hi-Q and others that you mentioned while I'm out. Thanks, Sonja!

Cool. To anyone who may read this: I recommend any of the toys on my above list except for the Squirrel Dude and Tug-A-Jug. They seem almost too hard... teasers. The squirrel dude is like the original Kong except with a smaller hole rubber spikes blocking the food from coming out. The spikes are about an inch inside the hole, so the dog cannot manipulate the spikes to get to the food. It just doesn't seem fair to give to someone without fingers. The Tug-A-Jug is better, especially if you feel like being interactive and have a dog who's into tug wars. Zoe's pretty hit or miss with the tugging thing, so it probably isn't the best toy for her.

As for the Everlasting Treat Ball, I really like it for my 22 lb mutt. For a bigger dog like Shiva, you might prefer the more robust Stuff-A-Ball made by Kong... or the Buddy cube, which may well be the best choice for Shiva the Destroyer.

[herbi]

So far all the dogs I've been close to have been pretty low-intensity disassemblers. Daisy loves her Twist-n-Treat (aka her spaceship), and she has some fire-hydrant shaped Kong-esque rubber toys (I think they're technically called "Zoinks"?) that she loves enough to carry around and chew on even with no treats in them. She also likes to take apart knotted ropes, and remove squeakers from things. Plush toys are of no interest to her if there's no squeaker, and if there is, all she wants to do is get the squeaker out, which doesn't take long. Oh, and she enjoys shredding cardboard tubes (the inside of toilet paper etc).

Jean Donaldson describes how she feeds her power-dissectors in one of her books. She wraps their food in a rag tied with multiple knots and layers, then stuffs that into an empty lidded plastic food container (like an old butter hummus tub), then wraps that in another knotted layered cloth, then hides it somewhere out of plain sight. This burns off some of her dogs' food-finding and thing-chewing-up energy. I suppose if the dog in question just chews a hole straight through all the layers of everything, you'd end up needing a looot of cloths and tubs, but if you've got a careful untier and takeraparter, the same setup might last for a while?

[Dugan]

I've never had a dog who would touch a Kong, but I know that others use them with great success. They come in a variety of sizes and toughnesses - I've never heard yet of any dog with powerful enough jaws to damage one of the black ones.

Buster Cubes are great. You can use the dog's dry kibbles in them, so you can use it to feed a meal. It took Dugan a couple of hours to empty the Buster of 2-3 cups of kibble. The openings are adjustable too, to control the flow rate of kibbles. I haven't met a dog so big that they could actually chew on it nor any dog too small to tip it around the room. Dugan's about 130 and his jaw must be at least 5 inches long, if not more (too lazy to go measure), plus he's a hard chewer), and even he can't get his mouth around it. I used to know a Cavalier that could roll it around. The company promotes them as unbreakable and unchewable - I'd believe that.

There's a lot of other stuffable and food dispensing toys out there these days. Check any of the major pet supply companies on line and you'll be sure to find some.

I like Donaldson's cloth idea but would be careful with it. I wouldn't include plastic for most dogs. I'd worry about them chewing and swallowing, possibly choking on bits of it. I'd be careful of the cloth too... not a good way to use old clothes since you wouldn't want to teach your dog to chew on clothes. If I were to do this, I'd just go ahead and invest in a Buster Cube.

Rawhides - Sonja, your points about these, along with all other treats made of animal parts (hoofies, pig ears, bully sticks (aka penises), etc), are very real. The ones made in other countries are not supposed to be as safe as those produced here. Like any edible treat, these should be used with supervision to reduce the risk of choking.

Yams - I'm rethinking these. Good treats, the dogs like them, but for the big guys, even the large slices don't last very long. Also, they seem to be mostly indigistible since I find poops loaded with orange pieces over the several days (as long as 8 days later!)

I know this won't go over well here, but for many years we used raw chicken wings as food/pacifiers. Raw chicken wing bones pose no danger because the bones are small enough to digest easily. I never once saw any bone in the poop when I fed these. I'd give Blizzard (a 95 pound Pyr) a mostly frozen one, it would take him about an hour to finish it off. Never, ever give cooked bones. They're brittle and can splinter into sharp shards cutting your dogs mouth and insides if she or he swallows them.

Large marrow bones and ice are also a no-no, according to a canine dental specialist I once visited. Both can break teeth and damage enamel.

I have a vague memory of the cornstarch boodas being implicated in some health issues, must be several years ago now.

The edible Nylabones are pretty good, but don't last very long. I consider them more of a snack than a chew. (hee... I hadn't realized they have a Tyrannosaur shape!)

I've only recently learned that destructive chewers are tough! I've had a long string of dogs that played nicely with plush squeaky toys. Boo - - if he can fit it in his mouth, it is chewed and gone.

[KaliMama]

So many ideas! Thanks for starting this thread, Sonja. I didn't make it to the pet store today*, so I'm just looking at these toys online. I'll probably get a Buster Cube. (thanks for the link, Dugan)

About ice: I regularly give Shiva "popsicles," but I make them with yogurt, so they are not nearly as hard as ice. He has yogurt-fennel popsicles twice a day, and they cut down on the farts considerably.

I'm going to try herbi's (Jean Donaldson's) trick. Shiva will be without me for the first significant amount of time on Monday when I start my internship, and I'm hoping that he won't drive deadlyhead/Mr. KM crazy. I'll put his morning kibble in a couple of those and see how it goes. He loves knots. All toys are puzzles to him, to be taken apart rather than put together. And he doesn't confuse "his" and "not his" even with very similar things, so I'm not concerned about using cloth. He has a number of chew toys that are simply rags tied in knots (we froze them when he was teething.) And my dog slippers, which are basically stuffed animals, he covets but does not steal. Although, come to think of it, one of them is missing an eye...

*I did make it to the thrift store, and Shiva got four new stuffed animals - a bear, a pony, a puppy and a Tasmanian Devil. It's hard not to spoil him when the stuffed animals are only 99 cents.

[herbi]

Originally Posted by Dugan

I like Donaldson's cloth idea but would be careful with it. I wouldn't include plastic for most dogs. I'd worry about them chewing and swallowing, possibly choking on bits of it.

Good point, Dugan! Definitely don't try this if you see any possibility of a foreign-object-ectomy in your future... Some dogs are very very good at knowing what's edible and what's just to be torn up and spit out, though. I've known some I'd absolutely trust not to ingest the non-food parts of the puzzle (and others I wouldn't dare to give such a thing!). I'd definitely try a few easy versions, supervised, before working up to complex unsupervised ones.

[Dugan]

Yes, it was water ice that the specialist was concerned with. Yogurt & fennel, you say? I'll have to see if that helps with Boo's noxious farting.

What would Shiva think of these puzzle type dog toys? Dugan likes the IQube. More puzzles here!

[downwithapathy]

Originally Posted by Dugan

What would Shiva think of these puzzle type dog toys? Dugan likes the IQube. More puzzles here!

Oooo. Zoe has a Hide-A-Bee! It's the first toy I ever got her. I took it to help occupy her during the car ride home. She also has the Bag O' Balls. They're pretty good toys. Zoe has a special love for the balls from the Bag O' Balls, so it seems to be a worthwhile choice for anyone whose dogs are into dainty little squeaky toys. Now she has an abundant supply of what she loves best. She's blown out the squeakers in several.

About the Hide-A-Bee: I took one to C.D. several visits "home" ago. He used it as a puzzle toy for about the first week and then he took a special liking to the hive. He carries the hive around constantly, sleeps with it, everything. He knows the word "beehive." "Go get your beehive." I can't even describe it. He really REALLY likes that toy. Cocoa, my aunt's chocolate lab takes it every time she comes over, and it's the one toy C.D. seems distressed to share. I got Cocoa one for Christmas and now her "sister" dogs (another lab and a Saluki mix) are both enamored. Hide-A-Bee is a favorite among dogs in my family. Zoe's the exception (possibly because she's a bit smaller and likes her dainty little squeaky balls). She will play with the Hide-A-Bee, but I'm pretty sure she'd give it a big ol' average C (as opposed to C.D.'s A+).

As for the dismantle instinct, our behaviorist suggested the Booda Rip 'Ems on a whim (Zoe hadn't shown any destructive tendencies). They're basically little animals (or a ball, apparently) held together by velcro. The dogs rip them apart. Zoe loved it! Unfortunately, Booda products are often crap (so I'm not surprised that Dugan's heard bad things about the Booda Bones) and she tore the stuffing out of the head and torso. I wonder if there are any more robust toys along the same lines. The closest I've seen are the Kyjen Pull-A-Parts.

[gladcow]

I this thread SO MUCH.

when I get back later today I'ma gonna post sumthin.

[downwithapathy]

I just bought some baby food. As a nonparent, that felt strange! It had occured to me before that with a little food processor action and perhaps a bit of water, lots of things can go into a Kong. I could get a spare Kong and always have a Kongsicle on hand. Now I'm considering freezing a jar of baby food (lid off). Hmmmm. For what it's worth, I really can't imagine Zoe breaking one of these jars and I'd certainly supervise. Applesauce seems like another good Kongsicle ingredient.

Now ya'all have me intrigued about the Buster Cube. It's pretty expensive, but if it'll hold a full Zoe meal, it might be a worthwhile investment (once I've recovered from my months of unemployment).

[downwithapathy]

Somebody likes frozen baby food.