If you've read my blog in the past, you may know that Kody once broke a tooth on a bully stick. Since then, I've replaced bully sticks with small rawhide strips. But after this week, I'm not giving Kody any chew toys, with one possible exception.
The problem with Kody is that he's an intense chewer, too intense. When he gets a chew he starts working on it and won't stop. But that's not all, he gets better and better at chewing them faster. In the case of the rawhide chews he finally learned he could just chew off gigantic pieces and swallow them.
This morning, he got one stuck in his throat. He started making the scariest noises. He coughed that piece up again, but then re-swallowed it. Just a few minutes ago, he threw up his lunch and in it was a big piece of rawhide. He did the same thing last night. That's why this is the end of chew toys.
It's so unfortunate, because he loves them so much. I hope I can find some good alternatives to chew toys that give him at least some chewing satisfaction. I mentioned there might be one exception which is that if I can find a chew toy that turns to mush in a bowl of water in a half hour, I might give that to Kody.
The truth is, I'm probably very lucky that Kody threw up those pieces of rawhide. Since he hasn't yet fully passed any food I'm not in the clear yet, either. But we'll just stop the chews altogether and hope things go well. He seems pretty happy, so I he's not clogged up.
Poor Kody…….how about plain old dog biscuits that do dissolve??
Today I got some “big dog” biscuits to see how he would like them. They take a bit more chewing for Kody to get through, so at least it’s something. Also, since it’s food he tends to chew them fully rather than gulping down the pieces. I got healthy ones, but I need to check the calories to know how they will fit into his diet.