Rawhides - Why I Hate Them

The fourth year of vet school consists entirely of clinical rotations.  I tracked mixed animal so my rotations consisted of things such as small animal medicine, small animal surgery, large animal medicine, large animal surgery, radiology, anesthesiology, etc. No matter what you track (small animal, large animal or mixed animal) everyone is required to complete a necropsy rotation.  Which I’m sure to the average person sounds horrible but remember we’re veterinary students and we view it as a chance to learn.  However, I will admit the smell is horrible and no matter how many times you shower or how many times you wash your clothes the smell is still there.  So by the end of the rotation you end up throwing out every piece of clothing that you wore during that 2-week period.  Also, for whatever reason they have you dress all in white which makes absolutely no sense.  Anyway, the most rewarding cases were the ones that you immediately found the cause of the death and you didn’t have to wait for the results of histopathology or any further testing.  During my 2-week necropsy rotation there was one case that I will never forget.  A 4-year female spayed Pomeranian presented for sudden death at home.  According to the owner the dog was acting perfectly normal went outside for a few minutes, came back inside, suddenly collapsed and died.  When performing a necropsy there is a strict protocol you follow so nothing is missed.  I’ll spare you the details of the protocol but by the time I got to dissecting the larynx I had found the cause of the death.  A large round piece of rawhide was lodge in the larynx completely occluding the airway.  The pathologist in charge looked at me and said,  “this is going to be a hard phone call to make”.  I was devastated both for the dog and the owners.

After graduation I went into private practice and at least once a week we remove esophageal foreign bodies, usually rawhides.  Esophageal foreign bodies can be life threatening and need to be treated immediately.  The foreign body can cause severe injury to the lining of the esophagus including perforation, which is life threatening.  Potentially any type of foreign object can become lodged in the esophagus – bones, needles, fishhooks, rawhides, etc.  Clinical signs of esophageal foreign bodies include drooling, gagging, repeated attempts to swallow, pawing at the mouth, not being about to swallow food or water.  Many esophageal foreign bodies are easily seen on x-rays.  Once diagnosed esophageal foreign bodies should be removed immediately typically with a flexible endoscope or forceps.  If surgery is needed the overall prognosis is poor.  Complications associated with esophageal foreign bodies include stricture formation of the esophagus, severe and might I add painful inflammation of the esophagus, laceration of the lining of the esophagus and aspiration pneumonia secondary to regurgitation.

My advice is to completely avoid rawhide chews. There are many other great and safe alternatives.  I personally or I should say my dogs personally love kongs.  I also highly recommend supervising any dog with any type of chew toy.