Bones & Chews

Could you please tell me what you recommend as far as chews and bones are concerned. I'm not sure what is best for a 3 year old Maltese. There seems to be a discrepancy on rawhide and they only seem to promote the nylabone products in the Maltese books that I have. Biscuit needs to chew more and I have not found a biscuit (cookie as we have to call it since her name is biscuit) that she is really crazy about. I don't want to give her anything that will harm her, so your help would be greatly appreciat ed. We have several nylabone products that are flavor-enhanced but she can take or leave them and doesn't stick at chewing very long. Thank you.
Claire in Oceanside--Biscuit's Mom

• We give our Maltese Iams Biscuits(small). Excellent for their teeth. They all go crazy over them, except for one. She's just not a biscuit eater I guess?? We tried a couple of different kinds for her and she's just not interested. As far as rawhide, we don't give any of ours these products. A few years ago one of ours got a piece of it lodged in its throat and we thought we were going to lose him! He couldn't breathe. Rawhide gets real gummy after its chewed for a long time and gets almost like a big wad of chewing gum. I would advise against any rawhide product for your Maltese even though they really seem to like them. We haven't had much luck with those nylabones either. They must not be tasty or something?? They just usually end up under the couch.
  Jay

• What do you think about the gormet cookies and ribs that are being sold now wanted to try them, but was not sure.

• My Tessie just adores carrots. She eats them for treats and begs for them when I'm not paying attention to her. She eats them raw, like bones.

• I keep a huge supply of Nylabone's Chick n' Cheez Chooz at home. They are edible Nylabones made of chicken and cheese. You can bake them so they turn into a cookie, but I leave them hard like a Nylabone. My Maltese loves them, and usually picks them up a couple of times per day. I buy mine in bulk from R.C. Steele catalog.
  Barbara

• I lost a maltese 2 years ago to intestinal blockage so I am really paranoid about giving my new 2 maltese anything that is remotely suspect. Last weekend I discovered a new product--Carrot bones! Nylabone makes them from carrots, cheese protein, and gelatin. My two dogs went nuts for them. I tossed out the cow hooves and pig ears! My little girl--EmmiLou--8 months old--was very happy to have the Carrot bone. For "cookies" I give the dogs small peanut butter bones as a bedtime snack, but for chewing I will use the carrot bones from now on. Good luck.
  Barbara

• Thanks, Barbara! As Jay also said, I have never had much luck with nylabones either, and I've never allowed my dogs to have rawhide. I got one of those chicken and cheese nylabones today and gave it to my baby, Jazz, to try. He's hardly put it down for the past several hours! I haven't been able to find any of the carrot nylabones Barbara Pace mentions?
  Marsha

• After reading your comments I went to petsmart and found some. I was getting kinda worried that my NiNi wasn't "excersizing" his teeth enough. I wouldn't ever buy him rawhide after reading some of the stories on this page but since I've gotten the bone, he chews on it like once a day. however I did microwave it for 30 seconds to turn it into a cookie. He wouldn't touch it other- wise. Thanks for the info. This is a marvelous page for maltese owners.
  Linda/NiNi

• I give Lucy Iam's Puppy Biscuits (we call them "cookies" and her name isn't Bisuit!) for treats. Also, my vet stocks some chews...I'm not sure they are rawhide, but they are treated with something that is supposed to keep the tartar off the teeth. Lucy seems to like them, and since she isn't much into having her teeth brushed, my vet said these would be helpful. I have been looking for the box so I could give you the name, but I think my son took them for his dog! If you think Biscuit might like them, send me an email and I will reply to it when I get another box of them at the vets early next week to let you know what they are. I do think you would have to get them from your vet, though, because I haven't seen them anywhere else.
  Cathy Brown