A soft rawhide product is made by soaking raw animal hides in a humectant or combining chopped rawhide particles with the humectant and a soft edible binder. The humectant is taken up by the rawhide and provides a soft rawhide product even after the product is permitted to dry or is exposed to the air for long periods of time. The presence of the humectant and binder not only contribute to the softness of the rawhide product, but permits an increase in the moisture content and/or flexibility of the rawhide while still maintaining an acceptably low water activity. An additional benefit is an increased ability to import colors, flavors, scents, nutritional material or drugs into the edible chew toy product.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 60/070,018, filed Dec. 30, 1997, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A method for producing a jerked meat rawhide chew toys has steps of forming rawhide chew toys, preparing neat, processing the meat, coating the rawhide chew toys with meat and drying the rawhide chew toys coated with meat. According to the method, the rawhide chew toys are coated with meat and jerked to improve dogs' desire to chew rawhide chew toys a long time to achieve the objective of cleaning dogs' teeth better.
A pet chew toy includes a relatively hard outer shell formed of dried and shaped animal skin. A relatively soft flavored and scented meat product is encapsulated within the outer shell. The meat product promotes aggressive sustained chewing of the toy to exercise the jaws of the pet and clean its teeth and gums.
A chew toy for a carnivorous domestic animal comprises a combination of rawhide and pigskin formed into a suitable shape, such as a bone, roll, donut, or various other shapes. The rawhide and pigskin are provided as sheets which are rolled or otherwise sandwiched together or otherwise intertwined to form a chew toy having improved flavor and order, thereby encouraging the animal to chew on the toy.
A pet chew toy includes a relatively hard outer shell formed of dried and shaped animal skin. A relatively soft flavored and scented meat product is encapsulated within the outer shell. The meat product promotes aggressive sustained chewing of the toy to exercise the jaws of the pet and clean its teeth and gums.
A chew product useful to reduce dental calculus and gingivitis in the oral cavity of animals contains a combination of sodium tripolyphosphate and a cetyl pyridinium salt. Also disclosed are methods for preparing the novel chew product and for using the chew product to promote oral health in animals.
