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If you have a dog, you’ve definitely seen rawhide chews for sale in pet stores. But you may have also heard that rawhide can be bad or dangerous. With so much conflicting information out there, it can be hard to know what’s true — is rawhide bad for dogs, or is it safe?
Turns out the answer’s a bit complicated.
We spoke to Dr. Rachel Kurzbard, a veterinarian at BluePearl Specialty + Emergency Pet Hospital in California, to find out everything you need to know about rawhide — and how to keep your pup safe.
What is rawhide?
Rawhide is basically dried animal skin that is used to make toys, such as rawhide dog bones.
“Rawhide is the cleaned, untanned, inner portion of an animal hide [that has been] stripped of the outer hair and fat and chemically preserved,” Dr. Kurzbard told The Dodo.
Is rawhide bad for dogs?
They can be. There are definitely some risks associated with giving your dog rawhide, which makes it a bit more dangerous than other dog toys (and there are definitely accounts of some dogs getting hurt). The risks include:
