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So - Himalayan dog chews? Gibbs is not impressed


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And these things are pricey! Gave it to him, he kind of mouthed it, sniffed it, mouthed it again. Walked away. Put it up for a week, gave it to him again, he did some actual chewing this time, not much, walked away.

 

They seem hard as a rock, too. Anybody have a better experience with them?

 

Ruth and SuperGibbs

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Tess LOVES them. I buy a size or two bigger than is recommended for them and she still manages to get most of the way through one in an hour. She also really really loves cheese.

 

Because they're pricey I don't buy them as often. Once they get small you can pop them in the microwave for about 1 1/2 min and they turn into a crunchy treat. You can probably put a full one in for longer and he may be more interested in it.

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Ah, darn. I was hoping they'd be a little more long lasting at that price point. I read reviews of people saying it lasts their dog for days and couldn't bring myself to believe it would work for mine. So far, the best I've found are bully sticks, but even those are being consumed faster and faster each time.

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Penny likes them, although I buy her the biggest size as well and I only let her chew half of it at a time... as she would make it through the whole thing in maybe 30 min! I had to stop buying her bully sticks, they seem to give her the dire rears and she eats them too fast.

 

The best part of the Himalayan chews is puffing them up in the microwave at the end, Penny agrees!

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They last a couple weeks here. Micah isn't into chewing them, he just carries it around. Gideon is a careful chewer, so his lasted two full weeks. Angel, the JRT, is ravenous when it comes to those things, but since I got a multi pack of the large ones, hers lasted two weeks too, and then she stole Micah's and the little bit that was left from Gideon's.

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Kieran is like how you described Tess, so I don't think they'd be a good investment for me haha. The first time I gave him a bully stick, I was shocked to see it last for over an hour, but now he probably finishes them in about half an hour (the 4" ones. He's pretty tiny, too

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Celt is a moderate chewer. Megan is dedicated and persistent. Dan is The Bone Terminator. Thank goodness we have a good supply of bones! I'd be in the poor house if I had to buy their chews.

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I've never tried the Himalayan chews but I've found that with various chew items like rawhides (when I used to give them; I don't anymore) and cow hooves that they last longer when they always have them on hand to chew. It sounds counter- intuitive, and that it would mean spending more money on these things, but in the long run it ended up costing me less.

 

I think there's a certain urgency to chew when they get chew items only occasionally, and that many of them go at it with a fervor because , wow! there's something great to chew that I don't normally get. When the items are available all the time, they're more routine. They get chewed on when there's the urge to chew, but they have their bit of chewing fun (often synchronistically) and then they're satisfied and move on to doing something else.

 

So my dogs have bones regularly outside and cow hooves in the house all the time. But if I were to give them something novel, like a bully stick or a rawhide (or probably a Himalayan chew!), I'm sure it'd be a chew fest until they'd sated themselves with the new item and it was no longer a novelty.

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Anyone know how they're made? It says the ingredients are only milk, salt and lime juice. I wouldn't be willing to pay the price I saw these at, especially if they last only an hour or so. But I wonder how easy they might be to make.

 

Well, considering that a good part of the milk is yak milk, it might be a little hard for most of us to duplicate them. ;)

 

And I read about how they're made once and it's a pretty involved and lengthy process. The milk is boiled till it curdles (this takes hours and lots of skimming and stirring), is strained and put into a wooden box with rocks to press it for a day or days, and then cut and air dried for a couple weeks.

 

I'm really not sure if any of the Himalayan cheese (it's used primarily as a human food there) is made outside the Himalayan region.

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I've never tried the Himalayan chews but I've found that with various chew items like rawhides (when I used to give them; I don't anymore) and cow hooves that they last longer when they always have them on hand to chew. It sounds counter- intuitive, and that it would mean spending more money on these things, but in the long run it ended up costing me less.

 

I think there's a certain urgency to chew when they get chew items only occasionally, and that many of them go at it with a fervor because , wow! there's something great to chew that I don't normally get. When the items are available all the time, they're more routine. They get chewed on when there's the urge to chew, but they have their bit of chewing fun (often synchronistically) and then they're satisfied and move on to doing something else.

 

So my dogs have bones regularly outside and cow hooves in the house all the time. But if I were to give them something novel, like a bully stick or a rawhide (or probably a Himalayan chew!), I'm sure it'd be a chew fest until they'd sated themselves with the new item and it was no longer a novelty.

 

I have seen the same thing with bully sticks...I have had about 5 years of "puppyness" (dogs under 3) in my house and found that when I bought the Jumbo 12" bullies in bulk that they actually get chewed on a few times and left around, instead of being consumed in marathon bouts of excitement that culminate in dogs having diarrhea from eating too many treats.

 

My Border Collie goes nuts for the Himalayan chews and they give him serious potty problems if he eats more than about an inch of them. Then again, so does anything chicken or fish. So we stick with bullies.

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Well, considering that a good part of the milk is yak milk, it might be a little hard for most of us to duplicate them. ;)

 

And I read about how they're made once and it's a pretty involved and lengthy process. The milk is boiled till it curdles (this takes hours and lots of skimming and stirring), is strained and put into a wooden box with rocks to press it for a day or days, and then cut and air dried for a couple weeks.

 

I'm really not sure if any of the Himalayan cheese (it's used primarily as a human food there) is made outside the Himalayan region.

Well the site just says yak and cows milk. So unless I missed it, it could very well be mostly cows milk as I didn't see the actual percentage of either. I also don't know the difference in the milk (maybe yak is high in fat?) Or why yak milk would make a difference, but it sounds like a cheese making operation. I just wondered how hard it actually is. Most people think making yogurt or cheese is hard, but isn't at all. And of course, you can choose any milk you like.

 

I quickly googled, and it appears I am not the only one who thought of this, not that I have any intention of making these. Who knows though, With our new goat due to kid in four weeks, maybe I will use some of the extra milk for these. :)

 

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/855216

 

Eta: I found another forum talking about making these and putting them in a cold smoker after. I could definitely see using about to go bad milk for making these and then once dried, putting them in our cold smoker to really make them smelly for the dog. Maybe as a special treat these might actually be fun to make in the winter when I have some down time.

 

http://www.dogforum.com/dog-food/diy-himalayan-chews-99994/

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One site says that yak milk chhurpi is harder than cows' milk chhurpi.

 

If yak milk is listed before cows' milk then it has to be minimum equal proportions. It could even be more than cows' milk, but no way of knowing unless they tell you.

 

It doesn't look that terribly hard to make. I may give it a go sometime as well.

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