If you’re like many, you have began searching for Christmas presents for your family. Of course that includes your dog too. What do you get, though?

One of the most common Christmas items purchased for dogs is rawhide. We would like to warn you against this today. If you’re wondering what’s so dangerous about it continue reading. 

How could one of the most ‘prized’ treats for our dog be dangerous? Well, most dog lovers see it as a fun, delicious bone that keeps our dog’s mind busy. That part is true; however, rawhide is essentially leather your dog is chewing on and swallowing. 

How Rawhide is Made

Rawhide usually begins by splitting the cattle hide. The top grain is tanned and made into leather (that’s the part we see ‘genuine leather’ from). The inner portion of this ‘leather hide’ goes to our dogs to be made into rawhide.

That’s not even the worst part yet. Once it’s split, it goes through a ‘bleaching’ process so it doesn’t smell. They don’t want the “bone” to smell rancid, right? Plus, it needs to be whitened. If it doesn’t come white with bleach, harsher chemicals may be used.

Finally, when you buy it from the store in many cases it’s not exactly white. The ones that are kept white are painted in something called titanium oxide. To make them more marketable, there are others which appear to be ‘brown’ or smoked in color. Those are often dyes used to make the rawhide appealing. 

We are now at the last step in the process. The manufacturer wants the shelf life to be as long as possible. When tested, lead, arsenic, chromium salts, mercury, formaldehyde, glues, and other toxins were found. 

Buy No More

If you have purchased these in the past, don’t panic. Instead, be sure not to buy any others and spread the word to other dog lovers!