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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Treat Tuesday: Exer-Hides USA Rawhide Curls

I found a package of  Exer-Hides Rawhide Rolls at Walmart that lived up to my incredibly high standards, and now I have to question everything I ever thought I knew. Well not exactly, but I was definitely surprised. Normally I only give my dogs Wholesome Hides because these are made in the USA from domestically-sourced hides, and constructed in a way that makes them very difficult to chew in an unsafe manner.
Walmart USA safer rawhide

While visiting my cousins in Idaho, we made a trip to Walmart. The subject of rawhide came up while we were browsing the pet aisle, and my cousin if I ever gave my dogs rawhide. I explained that I only give them Wholesome Hides because they are made out of one big thick sheet of rawhide, while the vast majority of rawhide rolls are made from one small, thin sheet wrapped around a bunch of smaller chunks and scraps. Chewing that one sheet takes a lot more time and effort, while it's much easier to bite off and swallow large chunks of the cheap ones.

I also mentioned my annoyance at the "USA Rawhide" I see at Petco all the time with the small print revealing that the actual product is manufactured in Mexico from USA-sourced hides. Almost all rawhide is made from USA-sourced hides, it's the process of shipping it to Mexico or China or elsewhere that tends to cause problems. A lot of consumers are aware of this, and specifically look for American rawhide, so I believe that packaging to be deliberately deceptive.

At any rate, back to Walmart. Seeking visual aids for my explanation, I grabbed the nearest package of rawhide retriever rolls. "See? It says USA really big on the front but it's probably not...no, actually it's made in the USA from US-only beef hides, wow. And the rolls are made from one thick sheet and not a bunch of little pieces. I guess I need to buy these." I did find a good example of low-quality unsafe rawhides rolls on the shelf right next to these, also under the name Exer-Hides but made in China.

As expected, these things took absolutely forever for the dogs to demolish. We had Brisbane, Sisci, Molly the Power Chewer, the Barbosa the pit bull puppy gnawing on them for a week and still brought home all four rolls with very little hide missing. Brisbane and Sisci took another couple of weeks to finish them off, and basically had to gnaw enough to unroll the hide and nibble off the edge of the sheet. So many hours of chewing! These are smaller rolls than our gigantic Wholesome Hides retriever rolls, but the USA Exer-Hides were fantastically long-lasting rawhides designed for safer chewing with minimal swallowing of hide. At $10 for four rolls, they were also a great value. I'm not sure if my local Walmart here in California carries them, I'll have to check next time I'm feeling brave enough to venture inside it.

8 comments:

  1. My Terrier Mix "Cali" loves them too!! I'm glad I found them :D

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    1. Glad you found them! I just spotted them in our local California Walmart too!

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  3. Our WM has recently quit carrying these, and that was the very last store I've been able to find that sells the Made in the US hides. Any idea where else I might find them? Or something similar?

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    1. Have you tried asking your Walmart to carry them again? I'm not sure who gets to make those decisions. My favorite domestic rawhides are Wholesome Hides, they last way longer than everything else, but I have to order them from Amazon.

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  4. The Wal-marts in my area no longer carry them either. Now they only have the made-in-China ones which I refuse to allow my dog to have. I can't find them anywhere and am at a loss for what to give him now. It seems no-one else makes 6" retriever rolls made in the US. The only one I was able to find was on Amazon, and I returned it because that company sells their products unwrapped and to me that's just as unsafe as buying from China.

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    1. Have you tried Wholesome Hides? I know some of their products I've purchased on Amazon have been packaged. I'm not too concerned about buying unwrapped products though, as I expect they've been sitting around in a cardboard box rather than floating in a vat of bleach. Maybe contact Wholesome and ask for options?

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  5. My local Walmart stopped carrying them and switched to old Roy! I will not give my fur baby old Roy! So many complaints of old roy has scared me away. i spoke to the manager ar my local Walmart anf she agreed it was a bad move on their part. I spend roughly $200 a month on the exer hide treats for my large mix breed fur baby and am going crazy looking for another place to get them. Amazon wants twice the amount of money for sugar i previously paid at Walmart!

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