Any dog chew toy recipes?

[Xtina]

Hi all,
Today when I got home, I noticed that my dog, Marla, has almost totally stripped her tail of fur. It looks pretty disgusting! Aside from the personal ick factor, I know that if she keeps this up she's going to pull open the skin and start a nasty series of injuries and infections. It looks like it's a really new habit. I didn't notice this yesterday, and I think she may have done all the work today.

I also know that she's doing it out of anxiety and boredom. I work during the day and she stays in her crate. She's been good about it until basically just now. I knew she was a relatively anxious dog, but I didn't know she had started taking out her anxiety on her body. So, I need some solutions. I just took a major pay cut at work because of the economy so I'm pretty much broke. I was wondering if anyone here has ever experimented with making homemade chew treats? I have a kong toy that I can use, but I have been curious about doing this for a while now. I think if I used a combination of bitter apple spray on any spots that she's wearing on, increasing how much exercise she gets, and giving her more to do in her crate during the day, it might solve the problem before it gets worse.

I've also been curious about the possibility of baking my own dog kibble, but instead of making it into kibbles, making it into a log that the dog would have to gnaw on for a while to keep her busy. Any ideas or recipes?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

The first thing to do would be to take her to the vet. Different things can be causing this, not just bordum. She could have food allergies, or fleas, mange, etc.

You can fill the kong with some peanut butter, and some treats, and then freeze it. It will provide hours of entertainment. My dog had 2 kongs, and lots them both, I looked all over the house and cant find them, lol. But they are great toys.

 

[Xtina]

Oh jeez, i didn't even think of allergies. And I did just change her food. Oh boy.

 

[bwebb7]

another tell-"tail" sign of allergies is swollen red feet or toes.
The best $100 you can spend on your dog is allergy testing panel.
Maybe get an excersize pen to hook to the crate so she can have a "play" yard with some toys too.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
Thats the same with my cat. She had a patch of hair missing on her leg that she would lick and lick. So I changed her food, it got alot better, tried a different food, and then it was all red again.

 

[Xtina]

Last night Marla wanted to be let out at six a.m. She pooped and then started dragging her butt because something was stuck. Not to be too graphic, but I discovered a bunch of her hair coming out of her body. She had definitely eaten it all yesterday, which makes me feel like a less neglectful mother. Thank goodness this has not been going on for a month and I just didn't notice it!

So I called my friend who is a vet tech. She said she saw this same thing on a dog that picked up fleas. So I just checked Marla with a flea comb and didn't find any evidence, but I did find a lot of itchy spots that made her legs twitch. I guess maybe she didn't eat her tail out of boredom, and she really does have something going on.

Sigh. I don't really have the money right now for an allergy workup. I guess I can give her a dose of flea medicine just in case it is that, but I'm afraid it's food. Does anyone know which food ingredients cause the most allergy problems in dogs? Maybe the solution is to start homemaking her food. Unless there's no way to do that cheaper than buying expensive specialty kibble. I had been feeding her Solid Gold but now I switched her to Canidae because the Solid Gold was giving her gas. Ugh. I did not want a grain-intolerant dog! But I love her and I will figure this out.

 

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

My grandmas dog started loosing hair on its back, by it tail.. Took him to the vet.. And the dog was allergic to Flea Poo.. Not the fleas, but the poo.. And the dog barley had any fleas on him.. He has flea medication on him. But ended up picking up a few fleas from a visiting person/or dog..

 

[NancyDz]

My dog had the gas problem , I switched her to "Call of the Wild" grain free and put salmon oil on her food. She hasnt had a problem since and the salmon oil has made even her wire hair soft. I would try a grain free food, there are a lot more to chose from now and dogs don't really need grain anyway.


I've not seen recipes for chew toys... only treats. I make some for my dogs but they arent ones that last very long ( 1 gulp and they are gone!

) I try to stay away from rawhide but I do get them the calf/pig hoofs at the feed store, they last a long time and my dogs will chew on them for hours at a time some nights. They are only $1 each at my feed store.


Good luck!

Nancy

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

My dog is on taste of the wild. It is a great grain free food.

 

[NancyDz]

Oops yea I meant "Taste of the Wild" hehehee