Too Many Pigs Ears?

[3Woofs]

Is it ok to give a pig ear everyday for a puppy to chew on or is that too often?

My 8 week old new puppy has dent-a-bones, rawhide bones, stuffed kong, and pigs ears but he is only crazy about the pigs ears and will happily sit there chewing on it for hours. When he sees you coming towards him with one he gets so excited and starts jumping about.

At the moment he demolishes one a day but I just want to make sure this is ok.

[Miranda]

My dogs are adults weighing over 30kgs and they are lucky if they get pigs ears twice a week and even then they only get half an ear each. I certainly wouldn't feed an 8 week old puppy 1 whole pigs ear a day. Even though dogs love them I still class them as junk food although they're certainly preferable to a lot of the crap that's marketed as 'treats' for dogs at the moment.

[Dackel]

Hi,

Everyday is far too much as they are very high in fat, it also should be a reward/treat rather then just to keep him busy. Give him a carrot or apple to have fun with instead even the end of a lambshank would be fine.

Petra and Felix

[Kelpie_Pup]

Yep I think one everyday is too many .. perhaps one, maybe two a week? Also, keep in mind that dentabones are VERY high in calories and fat.. we gave Halle one of those a week only when she was that little.

We used kongs and stuffed them with cooked pieces of chicken, and she also had fresh lamb bones-although we only let her have these when we were there to supervise Something else we did was soak one of those little rope toys in chicken broth (the liquid we cooked her chicken in) and let her chew on that for as long as she was interested.. and then wash it! hehe.

Try keep it as fresh as possible

[3Woofs]

ok thanks.

I've only had him since sunday so luckily he hasn't had too many yet. I'll change it to once a week.

I've been looking into kong filler recipes and might try some of those to get him more interested in it.

Also he takes a whole of 2 minutes to eat a chicken wing so I might try the brisket bone instead and see if it takes him a little longer.

[huski]

My dogs are adults weighing over 30kgs and they are lucky if they get pigs ears twice a week and even then they only get half an ear each. I certainly wouldn't feed an 8 week old puppy 1 whole pigs ear a day. Even though dogs love them I still class them as junk food although they're certainly preferable to a lot of the crap that's marketed as 'treats' for dogs at the moment.

Ditto to Miranda - my dogs rarely if ever get pigs ears, and sometimes I get sheeps ears or pig snouts instead so they are smaller. I think of them as doggy junk food.

ok thanks.

I've only had him since sunday so luckily he hasn't had too many yet. I'll change it to once a week.

I've been looking into kong filler recipes and might try some of those to get him more interested in it.

Also he takes a whole of 2 minutes to eat a chicken wing so I might try the brisket bone instead and see if it takes him a little longer.

Have a look at lamb necks and marrow bones from the butcher too

[GotAnyBlacker]

I would imagine their also quite salty?

[ruthless]

What does he eat for his main meal? Can you not stuff that in the kong? That's what I do every morning. Four of them. What fun!

[3Woofs]

I thought they might be quite salty since he drinks a lot or water after chewing on them which = lots of puddles.

Oh well now I know.

He has mince in the morning, a chicken neck or wing for lunch, and pro plan bickies for dinner.

I was going to introduce veggies anyway so I think I'll pop some carrot in there and pumpkin.

He'll be with the big dogs during the day in a few weeks so won't need to be kept from boredom.

[Trav & Lyn]

I find yoghurt and banana mashed up and frozen inside a kong is good. I tried my pup on pigs ears but he just barked at it as if it were something disgusting and we were bad people for even bringing it near him..."how dare we"

So now its either a lamb flap or frozen chicken neck (this is stuffed inside a kong otherwise he inhales it), or frozen banana. But these aren't every day treats, maybe once or twice a week, and if he gets one he has less for dinner.

If you want to keep him entertained during the day, try stuffing his "dinner" proplan biscuits in an empty coke/water bottle and give that to him for his lunch, it takes them hours to get out every scrap and they are more interested in it than your shoes...:cool: Then give him the necks/wings with veg for dinner.

Also, I was told to avoid the stronger bones (like shanks, legs etc) as its too hard for their teeth and stick to necks and flaps and chicken frames (these are probably too big for your baby yet).

[♪♫LMBC♫♪]

I find yoghurt and banana mashed up and frozen inside a kong is good. I tried my pup on pigs ears but he just barked at it as if it were something disgusting and we were bad people for even bringing it near him..."how dare we"

Ooh now thats a good idea I'm always looking for new kong stuffing ideas

[VJB]

Have a look at the Kong website, there are some great recipe idea's there. Also give a thought to making doggy iceblocks. My dog loves these, and they consist of chicken stock, bits of veges,

boiled chicken, any leftover roast meats, or sausages/ blobs of peanut butter etc. I even make natural yoghurt ones with bits of watermelon in it for her. Some people even make huge iceblocks

in ice cream containers. I've heard that you can even stuff a kong, then freeze it in water or chicken stock and they will spend a while trying to get thru the iceblock to phase 2... the kong.

[Just Midol]

Kongs only last 10 minutes with my sibes (with frozen mince in them.)

I just make ice blocks and use bones.

[Eileen]

My stafford breeder says she limits pork products for staffords as she feels they can induce skin problems in staffords. We still give Dolly pigs ears cos she adores them too, we just really limit them.

[Tiggy]

I don't feed pigs ears. I'd rather give them raw meaty bones to chew on.