# Chew toys or dog bones for cats?



## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

My new kitty, Jinks, has an intense desire to chew on hard things, especially wood. He's about a year and a half, so I don't think this is a kitten issue. His favorites are those little wooden sticks you find in room diffusers (luckily the fragrance oil had long dried up), the hard plastic sticks of dangly cat toys, wooden dowels, the corner of my cell phone if he's next to me while I'm holding it, etc. Obviously I'd like to redirect his chewing to something less dangerous/expensive! 

The problem is I haven't seen many hard chew toys for cats... it seems like most are soft, for kitties who like to chew catnip mice, socks, etc., and that is not Jinks. Does anyone know of any alternatives that would be similarly satisfying to chewing on wood or hard plastic? Can I give him dog bones (the real animal bone kind, not the bone-shaped treats), or would that be dangerous? I'm assuming if a bone can stand up to a pit bull's jaw without splintering, it could stand up to my 8-pound miniature panther... but I'm not totally sure. I have crunchy dental treats for him already, but I need something I could leave out for him to play with, that he won't actually consume.

Thoughts?? :-?


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

I don't think dog toys or real bones for dogs would be bad for them. They make them extra small for small breeds so I am sure you can find one that is the right size for your little panther. Let me know how it goes. And please post of a picture of Jinxs when you get a chance!


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Jetlaya67 said:


> I don't think dog toys or real bones for dogs would be bad for them. They make them extra small for small breeds so I am sure you can find one that is the right size for your little panther. Let me know how it goes. And please post of a picture of Jinxs when you get a chance!


Here he is!


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## camskyw (Jan 10, 2012)

He is gorgeous - and what a long tail!!!!!!!!
I have bought the little chew sticks for Lucky, but he would rather roll them on the tile floor and chase them!


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

camskyw said:


> He is gorgeous - and what a long tail!!!!!!!!
> I have bought the little chew sticks for Lucky, but he would rather roll them on the tile floor and chase them!


Thanks!! :love2 He does have an incredibly long tail, though I have to say the angle of that photo might exaggerate things a bit, haha.

What chew sticks did you get? Are they for cats?


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

He is absolutely gorgeous! He does look like a panther.


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## Javagal78 (Aug 9, 2013)

I found some rubbery toys made for kittens at the pet store for our chewer. They had it at Petsmart. Maybe try the website


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

My cat chews on dried duck feet and bully sticks... he's a chewer as well, and stole a duck foot, so now he gets one when the dogs do! I buy the Puppy Love brand


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Here he is eating one!


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

I buy chew toys designed for small breed puppies for Muffin. He likes a sort of gummy texture, but it also has to be firm. The only chew toy made for cats that has stood up to him is this one: Buy Petstages - OrkaKat Wiggle Worm Cat Toy - CLEARANCE PRICED at LuckyVitamin.com

I bought it at petsmart and he's had it since he was 6months...he's turning 5 on Sunday.

I tried edible chews (duck jerky, chew sticks, ect), but he wasn't interested. They do get raw meat chunks for meals sometimes and all the cars like that. I buy gizzards or chicken necks every few months and those are definitly chomping material.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks so much for these suggestions! I'm definitely going to head to the store this weekend and look for all this stuff to try. You'd think there would be more cat-specific things out there 

Sara - I don't think your photo came though  I'd love to see your little fluffball going at his treats!!

Becky - can you describe the raw meat you give to your kitties and where you get it? I'd love to do that sometimes in addition to their regular diet, especially if it helps with the chewing. Can you buy packages of chicken necks and such at the store, or do you have to be making a whole chicken and take it out somehow? Do you take the skin off first? Can you freeze a whole bunch and thaw them one by one when you need them? How do you keep your kitties from running off with the chicken and getting salmonella all over your house? Sorry for the many questions! I eat meat but I don't prepare it much myself, so I'm totally a fish out of water with this stuff, haha.


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Munch eats chicken necks and gizzards too. I nuy them at specialty pet stores or I buy packs of necks and backs at the grocery store. The pet store are organic free range though. The gizzards and chicken hearts I buy at the grocery store. I'll try the pic again... I dunno why it didn't work...


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

nope, attachments dont seem to be working... I'll put it on photobucket...hang on


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Ok here's Munch eating a dried duck foot lol I'm holding it just to get a half decent pic


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Oh my god, he is too cute! I love that ferocious mid-bite look he's got going, haha. He and Jinks seem to be of similar body type -- they'd look so cute next to each other, all white and all black!


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Long and lean lol


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Yep, exactly! Alan is included for reference


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol...giraffe I love it! Does yours have giant paws too?


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

in the walgreens pet aisle they have all this dog stuff and hardly anything for cats, so one night a package of those really small rawhide bones was on clearance for a dollar. two of my cats chew on stuff but neither of them gave any of them a second glance or even chased them around so I threw them away.

I think wood is just something they like. mine all chew on any little wood things they can find. I actually had saved extra chopsticks and they loved them. they got pretty chewed up and I haven't been back to the thai restaurant lately but that reminds me lol.

Baci is so weird: if I am eating anything wrapped with that metallic-like plastic (I don't think they wrap food in mylar but that's what it resembles) he will start biting it. he doesn't want what i'm eating, he want to bite the paper! I had a balance bar earlier and he started doing that. the luna wrappers, meh. they have to be shiny.

I would think those duck feet are especially enticing, and pig ears would be too, but i'm a little suspicious of the dog jerky/pig ear treats because something has been in quite a few of them. maybe if you got pig ears that people can eat (yes, there are people who do that. I don't know any of them though lol they would be okay. just nothing from china.


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

The duck feet are perfectly safe and healthy. The brand I buy is made about an hour and a half from my house, and everything they make is from ingredients sourced within Canada.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

DeafDogs&Cat said:


> Lol...giraffe I love it! Does yours have giant paws too?


Definitely way bigger than Alan's! I'm a bad judge, though, because my childhood cat had massive double paws (7 toes in front and 6 in the back). So everything seems tiny compared to his!

Cinderflower - thanks for the advice! Chopsticks is a great idea, but I think he'd actually chew through and start swallowing bits of wood within a half hour or so :\ What do you think is in the dog chews that would be bad for cats? And eeeew, do not want to think about eating pig ears myself


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Munch has a normal number of toes, but his feet and lower legs are very big, for a 10lb cat! He seems to be heavy in frame... but he's alittle too skinny... and I'm paranoid about my pets' weight so that's saying something if I think he's too thin lol


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

DeafDogs&Cat said:


> The duck feet are perfectly safe and healthy. The brand I buy is made about an hour and a half from my house, and everything they make is from ingredients sourced within Canada.


Do you happen to know the name of the brand? If not, what should I look out for that I wouldn't want to be in there, that dogs could eat but not cats? I'm thinking the usual garlic, onion, etc. -- or is there something else?



> Munch has a normal number of toes, but his feet and lower legs are very big, for a 10lb cat! He seems to be heavy in frame... but he's alittle too skinny... and I'm paranoid about my pets' weight so that's saying something if I think he's too thin lol


I know what you mean! Jinks weighs more than Alan but is definitely skinnier, so it's all bone and leg. He could definitely stand to put on a pound or two. How old is Munch? He's beautiful!


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

I posted the link to the site in my first post on this thread. Pigs' ears aren't safe for dogs even, imo. I also only feed raw edible bones, bully sticks and the dried feet. I don't feed my dogs anything that has more than one ingredient for treats or chews. I figure they get enough bad crap in the commercial foods I still have to feed. Look for chews that are dried or dehydrated. Only one ingredient or raw edible bone, like chicken feet, necks or wings. I prefer to stick to ingredients sourced within the country they're made. Look for "product of" vs "made in" cuz then you know they have no ingredients from countries like China. I prefer to buy Canadian products but will also buy American, as long as it says product of on the label.


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Munch is just a year so I think he's still growing. He sure eats like he is! He eats almost double the calories an adult cat needs!


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

So you did! Sorry about that, I even had the link open in another tab already and had completely forgotten to look at it *facepalm* Clearly I should go to bed soon 

You mention dried bones/treats... is that the same as smoked? I see 'smoked' on a lot of the dog bones in my local pet store, but I was worried that might be too close to 'cooked'.



> Munch is just a year so I think he's still growing. He sure eats like he is! He eats almost double the calories an adult cat needs!


Haha, that's so funny. You may have a roly-poly polar bear on your hands yet!


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Smoked bones I wont let my dogs have. They are cooked and are too hard, but that's mostly because they're weight bearing bones. I highly doubt your cat will touch them. Try a small bully stick first, I think.


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## camskyw (Jan 10, 2012)

cheshirecat987 said:


> Thanks!! :love2 He does have an incredibly long tail, though I have to say the angle of that photo might exaggerate things a bit, haha.
> 
> What chew sticks did you get? Are they for cats?


They are "Dingo" Dental sticks for dogs, says has chicken in middle but he plays with it more than chewing on. just a new toy to him - something else that finds the black hole under the couch! Haha


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

i bet i could find duck feet here if i went to a market that specializes in Chinese food supplies.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

camskyw said:


> They are "Dingo" Dental sticks for dogs, says has chicken in middle but he plays with it more than chewing on. just a new toy to him - something else that finds the black hole under the couch! Haha


Awesome, I'll check those out. Jinks will eat ANYTHING (the other day he chewed through and started chowing down on a bag of pretzels :roll, so I imagine he may discover the chicken!


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

cheshirecat987 said:


> Cinderflower - thanks for the advice! Chopsticks is a great idea, but I think he'd actually chew through and start swallowing bits of wood within a half hour or so :\ What do you think is in the dog chews that would be bad for cats? And eeeew, do not want to think about eating pig ears myself


well, I never let him play with them alone. I actually would get bits of food on it and let him have it (I saw someone on youtube feeding a cat with chopsticks). it was just funny. he would try to get it from me and play bite but I would hold on to it and then put it away with the other cat eating utensils lol. the only toys mine get by themselves are balls, mice, wadded up pieces of paper, and those springy things, but nothing they can actually eventually eat.

It wasn't really dog chews (I assume the rawhide things they aren't really meant to eat) per se, it was the jerky treats. several companies are under suspicion but the investigation hasn't been concluded: snopes.com: Chicken Jerky for Dogs Warning
the part I find funny? that blue buffalo will not say where they source their meat, but they will come forward with, "it isn't from China." lol that's kind of weird.

Kasel Associated Industries 7NEWS - Dog treats from Denver manufacturing facility recalled for possible Salmonella risk - Recalls Story has a very long and shady history of violations and problems, not just this one particular time. if I had a dog I wouldn't feed it anything made by this place.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Oh I see. I'll try some supervised chopstick time with him then in addition to the dog chews. I have about a million from takeout orders that I never used and just stuffed in a drawer. I knew I wasn't crazy to not just throw them out! 

That is weird about the ingredient source. If it's not from China, why not just say??

I was googling bully sticks earlier for my trip to the pet store in a little bit... did you guys know wikipedia says they are actually animal penises!? :shock: I've walked by them a million times at Petco and never realized what I was touching! haha


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Yup they are bull penises. Sounds gross, but dogs love 'em

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## Flauros (Dec 17, 2012)

cheshirecat987 said:


> Oh I see. I'll try some supervised chopstick time with him then in addition to the dog chews. I have about a million from takeout orders that I never used and just stuffed in a drawer. I knew I wasn't crazy to not just throw them out!


Wow, I do the chopstick thing too! Definitely give it a try. Especially if you've noticed your cat trying to chew any similar shaped hard objects. My cat has a few bamboo chopsticks I keep around my desk for when I'm trying to write something, or knit, etc. and she keeps trying to nibble my pens, knitting needles, tablet stylus, etc. So I can easily pull out a chopstick while I work and let her gnaw that instead. I wouldn't let her chew one unsupervised, though. Don't leave them lying around in case your cat manages to break off a piece.


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## Flauros (Dec 17, 2012)

I just thought of something else too. Sometimes I get my cat dried quail or chicken wings. She absolutely loves chewing those up! The downside is that they don't last long, and you will probably get little feathers scattered around your floor afterwards.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

lol yeah I crammed all the chopsticks in a drawer too, that was kind of handy hahaha. why I would save them when they always send too many with your food is beyond me, but I did it. 

bully sticks: ew. ha ha. I didn't know that but I believe it.

I don't know if any of you eat meat, I don't so I have to buy it specially, but you can get organic Foster Farms hearts and gizzards at the grocery store. or get some from whole foods, whatever you think is best. gizzards are sooooo chewy. hearts aren't but they're full of taurine so you could toss your cat a raw heart for a treat. (cooking kills taurine.)

I would use the cartilage in a chicken wing tip too, but I haven't seen packs of chicken wings (i'm sure they sell them, but the buffalo wings don't use this third part so I don't know what they do with them--and please, no one tell me HAHAHA) at the random times I've been in the meat section. the gristle in gizzards is more than enough though, and perfectly safe for your cat to eat.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

Just thought I'd post an update in case anyone is interested or has a similar cat!

I've been trying the chopsticks and he seems to like that (for a few minutes at least), especially when I'm holding it or it's sticking out from between the couch cushions.

I got a little bully stick for dogs for him to try (about .5" thick and 6" long), and he ate the entire thing in 30 seconds! :shock: Here he is with it:









Does anyone have any thoughts? :sad Maybe get one for a big dog so he can't just chow down? I don't really want this to be a treat for him, just a toy!


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol told ya he'd like it! Mine eats his too, but it takes him at least 5 minutes


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## Auroraei (Jun 18, 2013)

Don't know if this product was mentioned but chew sticks exist for cats, here's some: Amazon.com: N-Bone Cat Chew Treats: Pet Supplies


Not sure if your cat will know what to do with it though!


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

DeafDogs&Cat said:


> Lol told ya he'd like it! Mine eats his too, but it takes him at least 5 minutes


You were totally right! lol



> Don't know if this product was mentioned but chew sticks exist for cats, here's some: Amazon.com: N-Bone Cat Chew Treats: Pet Supplies Amazon.com: N-Bone Cat Chew Treats: Pet Supplies
> 
> Not sure if your cat will know what to do with it though!


Thanks! I don't think anyone did but I found them when I was googling. I was holding off on trying them for the same reason (not sure he'd know what to do with it), but after seeing him go wild with the bully stick (which I could just buy one at a time to try out before committing to a whole bag), I may give it a shot. Do you happen to know if they're harder/more durable than the little bully sticks?


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## lilasmom (Jul 1, 2013)

Bully sticks come in multiple sizes so I would just try a bigger one. I have actually never even seen a bully stick that small! The ones I see are always pretty thick and sturdy. Check out hare-today.com , they have a lot of treats that your cat might like.


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

lilasmom said:


> Bully sticks come in multiple sizes so I would just try a bigger one. I have actually never even seen a bully stick that small! The ones I see are always pretty thick and sturdy. Check out hare-today.com , they have a lot of treats that your cat might like.


I got the smallest one they had because I thought there was no way he'd bite right through it, but I learned my lesson! 

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

Has anyone tried the small size deer antlers with cats?


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

I wont even give antlers to my dogs after Mouse broke 2 teeth on one, and she was only a year old!


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

DeafDogs&Cat said:


> I wont even give antlers to my dogs after Mouse broke 2 teeth on one, and she was only a year old!


Oh no!!  Maybe I'll ditch that idea then. I hope he's okay now!


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## louistnghiem (Jul 28, 2013)

dry duck feets... thats a really good idea. sigh. he likes to chew on my expensive eyeglass frames.... now my paul smith rims have "love bites" all over them...


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

Bully sticks are a great one, just don't give him too many at once. You'll likely be fine with one the size he had once/day, or a shorter but thicker one. Too much of it and he'll get diarrhea.

Before you try those special cat chews try to find a list of ingredients, I'm pretty sure I've seen those before, and they're gross if I remember right. Stay away from rawhide for sure, if they swallow chunks it swells in their stomach.

I'd try to find raw frozen rib bones. They sell them at some specialty pets stores for dogs. Look for pork, llama, alpaca, ect. The beef ones will likely be too big for a kitty; by which I mean too think to safely crunch, not that he wouldn't try it


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## cheshirecat987 (Jun 1, 2013)

librarychick said:


> Bully sticks are a great one, just don't give him too many at once. You'll likely be fine with one the size he had once/day, or a shorter but thicker one. Too much of it and he'll get diarrhea.
> 
> Before you try those special cat chews try to find a list of ingredients, I'm pretty sure I've seen those before, and they're gross if I remember right. Stay away from rawhide for sure, if they swallow chunks it swells in their stomach.
> 
> I'd try to find raw frozen rib bones. They sell them at some specialty pets stores for dogs. Look for pork, llama, alpaca, ect. The beef ones will likely be too big for a kitty; by which I mean too think to safely crunch, not that he wouldn't try it


Oh yeah?? I was assuming once a day would be too much (...based on no actual knowledge, haha). But that would be great! He LOVES the bully sticks, and they seem to satisfy his crunching urge for quite a while. I got a thicker one to try, too, but he likes to lick that one more than chew it.

I actually saw the N Bone cat chews at Petco, but the first three ingredients were wheat, soy, and corn. I mean REALLY? :dis I think I got through the first three lines before I found a meat-related ingredient, if there were any at all. So those were a no-go.

Does your kitty eat those bones, or just chomp on them? Just curious whether I should let him have at it or be taking it away if he really starts to consume it.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

Mine aren't all that interested in them...mostly because they get bones in their raw food, as well as chunked meats, so the gnawing urge is covered.

That being said I would be comfortable with them eating the whole thing. Rib bones are soft and pliable, so a dedicated chewer would be able to consume them. My guys just pick the meat scraps off, nibble them a bit, then wait for dinner, lol.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I have a bag of chicken wings in the freezer because my cats look at them and said - yuk!


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