The antler chew I ordered for Lycus finally came in. I have to say that I am very happy and so is Lycus. He absolutely loves it!! I wasn't too sure how he would feel about it so I got him a 4 inch antler, but now, I'm thinking about getting a larger one. I think it'll be great for him when he's crated during the day as he gets easily bored.

I'll upload pictures in his scrapbook sometime soon. I currently don't have my DSLR camera since I lent it out, and I think the iPhone's shutter speed is a bit too slow.

I'm very happy that this was such a success.

I've been thinking about going the antler route with my girls to see if they like it. They absolutely love when I give them giant beef bones, and they are all big chewers.

Antlers were my saving grace *.* I even have a few special ones I keep stored away and when the pups are being unruly or super energetic on rainy days, I pull out three of the antlers they haven't seen in a while and they all start chewing!

I will just say be VERY careful and watch him with just a 4". I usually throw them away when they get down to 2-4. Once they get down too small, they can very easy to choke on.

I order mine from Montana Antler Chews and Dog Supply. They have some of the best antlers with amazing prices. HIGHLY Suggested!! They also run specials like..ALL the time. Recently, I got a 3 pack of 9" tines for only $40 and some odd cents.

Sheba&Kennedy wrote:

I will just say be VERY careful and watch him with just a 4". I usually throw them away when they get down to 2-4. Once they get down too small, they can very easy to choke on.

I order mine from Montana Antler Chews and Dog Supply. They have some of the best antlers with amazing prices. HIGHLY Suggested!! They also run specials like..ALL the time. Recently, I got a 3 pack of 9" tines for only $40 and some odd cents.

Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to keep an eye on him.

I let Mishka sniff and nibble on a tine I got for him a while back. I'm sure he'll love them but I was waiting for him to get his adult teeth before I actually give it to him. Now that he's lost all his puppy teeth, I'm sure he'll be the happiest. Lol.

Our holistic vet was just telling me how bad these antler chews are. I've never given one, nor ever planned to, but I'm glad she broke it all down for me. We give the marrow bones to chew on and for teeth cleaning, but I was making the mistake of letting the dogs have the bones 24/7 and they've been chipping their teeth on them. Now I know to only give the bones for an hour or so, and only while supervised, then take them away and toss them. It's how Paw Paw broke off his molar requiring $1000 surgery, and now Nara has chipped the points of some molars. We were discussing ways to improve the dental health of my pups, and the antlers randomly came up as the vet was offering alternatives and said to stay away from the antlers. I guess they are equally damaging to the teeth. I would highly recommend clearing the antlers with your vet. $1000 dental surgeries are no fun, for the dog or my wallet.

Just hoping to help, so you can avoid what we had to go through.

I prefer moose antlers - they are soft and cut in half. WE use a variety of chews and have found the best are actually raw beef ribs. They are hollow and filled with marrow. Since they aren't weight bearing the dogs have no issues.

counter wrote:

Our holistic vet was just telling me how bad these antler chews are. I've never given one, nor ever planned to, but I'm glad she broke it all down for me. We give the marrow bones to chew on and for teeth cleaning, but I was making the mistake of letting the dogs have the bones 24/7 and they've been chipping their teeth on them. Now I know to only give the bones for an hour or so, and only while supervised, then take them away and toss them. It's how Paw Paw broke off his molar requiring $1000 surgery, and now Nara has chipped the points of some molars. We were discussing ways to improve the dental health of my pups, and the antlers randomly came up as the vet was offering alternatives and said to stay away from the antlers. I guess they are equally damaging to the teeth. I would highly recommend clearing the antlers with your vet. $1000 dental surgeries are no fun, for the dog or my wallet.

Just hoping to help, so you can avoid what we had to go through.

Thanks for the info! I'll I had no idea. I will definitely start looking into the softer moose antlers that Megan talked about.

Quote :

WE use a variety of chews and have found the best are actually raw beef ribs. They are hollow and filled with marrow. Since they aren't weight bearing the dogs have no issues.

I gave Karli beef ribs last week for dinner one night and she kept part of the bone and has been chewing on it throughout the rest of the week. It became her new favorite chew overnight!!! I haven't tried antlers yet because they all seemed so small and in my mind a chew is something that is gonna take a while. I could see Karli going through one of the small antlers in like ten minutes.

cinnamonbits wrote:

Quote :

WE use a variety of chews and have found the best are actually raw beef ribs. They are hollow and filled with marrow. Since they aren't weight bearing the dogs have no issues.

I gave Karli beef ribs last week for dinner one night and she kept part of the bone and has been chewing on it throughout the rest of the week. It became her new favorite chew overnight!!! I haven't tried antlers yet because they all seemed so small and in my mind a chew is something that is gonna take a while. I could see Karli going through one of the small antlers in like ten minutes.

That's why I usually get the large antlers. As its already been mentioned once they get down to 3-4 inches I throw em away so my pups don't choke on them, I usually order the bigger moose antlers.

I'm going to bring back this thread for a couple questions if that's okay. Kenzi got her first bit of an antler the other day. Some friends of the in-laws own an elk ranch and they gave us a couple tips off a rack they had. Kenzi loved them way more than when I give her rib bones so I thought I might start getting them for her instead of the ribs, but I saw on a different thread that the ones you can get at places like petco and petsmart aren't the way to go and I was wondering why and what were quality places to get them instead? What should I look for in a quality antler? She will be on moose or elk antlers since she has tooth issues already.

I've gotten mine from Montana Antler Chews on Facebook. They are very reasonably priced compared to the ones you will find in the pet stores anyway.

They have a lot of specials too and you just message them with what you would like to order and they will ship out and invoice you. Very nice people to deal with.

Most of the antlers that are available at the pet stores are deer antlers and are way too hard for them to chew on. They're also way more expensive in the store. You're looking at paying $25+ for a 9in tine when you'd pay about $15 for one from a quality place.

Like I was buying some 8" splits for Mishka and they were 16.95 ea or 44.95 for a pack of 3. Which is a really good deal.

I just picked up the largest deer antler my pet store had it was 35 bucks. That was 2 weeks ago, and it is already gone, and yes, Ashleigh the SS one was gone in like 1 week and a half! She is a chewer, and I love that she loves them... It keeps her from destructive chewing, and it doesn't cut into her gums like the Nylabones started doing.

There is also ram horns I noticed... was wondering how those are.

I did notice they were really expensive at petco, hence why I had never bought them for her before. Her first were free. I will give montana antlers a try. Thanks.