I have noticed that lots of pet stores that I have visited now sell extremely overpriced antlers from either deer or elk as chew toys. Does anyone here gather or collect their own dropped/shed antlers for their dogs? I have several in my garage that I have either gathered while hunting or got through hunting and was wondering if it would be a good idea to allow my dogs to chew on them.

 

My plan would be to clean them off and then cut off the sharp points first. As well as, cutting them down to an appropriate/manageable size. Any thoughts?

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From my research it appears that antlers make great chew toys....and yes, they are incredibly expensive, particularly to get the really large ones that are the safest for large dogs.  The place I ordered mine from collects them in the wild, and just washes them off, don't see why you couldn't do the same and save a lot of money.  Word of caution:  some dogs can be very possessive of antlers.  My boy guards his, so I have learned to give him his antler while he is crated, then no risk of squabbles with the other dogs.  I also do not take attempt to take the antler away from him when he has it, I call him out of the crate without his antler, then remove it completely until next time.   

Good to know Carrie! Thanks for your input! I heard from my neighbor that he thought her heard the dust particles produced by the antlers were harmful to dogs (I don't know if he meant the naturally collecting dust from the wild or as they are chewed). Has anyone heard anything about that?

Also, how likely are antlers to splinter and break as the dog chews them? I am trying to avoid sharp pointed ends on chew toys.

I bought a small antler yesterday as I wanted to see if Marvel liked it, and he did. He's only 12 weeks so he hasn't got a strong bite yet (well... on my skin he does, but he's got nothing up against antlers etc!), but they seem extremely hard. He's barely managed to do a tiny bit of damage to the color of it at the very end and that's it.

Thanks for the input Julie! Your little pup will grow up extremely quickly! Take lots of pictures and cherish these days!

Hi Jon, from what I have discovered, antlers are probably a better choice than even raw bones (and certainly better than cooked bones.)  They seem to be less likely to splinter, but remove it when it gets small enough to be swallowed or choked on.  I have heard nothing about "dust" and I haven't seen any when my boy chews.  I used to use rawhide chews until I discovered that they are loaded with chemicals !  Bully sticks are better....but they only last a couple of minutes and are crazy expensive. 

I think the antlers are to hard as some bones are. My last dog a Rotti actually broke his teeth on hard bones so I'm not in favor of either. I buy Red Barn Bulli sticks in bulk for about $2 each, but they don't last long.

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