Natural Cheap Eco Friendly Dog Chew!

08/02/2013


I know, as usual, it has been way to long since my last post. Since in general I more review products or update you all on how I'm being more eco friendly I haven't had much to write about. However today I thought of something worthy of sharing. Something thats good for the environment, our wallets, and that our dogs will love: a cheap eco friendly natural dog chew.

If you have read my blog you should know that in addition to caring about the environment I care about the bottom line: money. I am an economics major and I believe in budgeting, scrimping, and saving. I don't want me or my husband to have to work harder or longer, I mean what for? I'm a more simple girl and there are many things I can do without or pay less for or find a cheaper version of!

My husband and I have two dogs. Nina and Shadow.


Well I'm definitely not taking frugality to the extreme level (anyone seen extreme couponers?) I do consider myself frugal. The one thing I don't skimp on is our dogs however. Before having seen a dog trainer for Shadow (the big one), he was ripping up his forelegs chewing them. He had a food allergy and we didn't know it until the trainer caught on (even before our vet!). She recommended we find food that the first 2 or 3 ingredients are meat or fish! Now we buy the dogs Whole Earth and Chicken Soup, its really not that much more expensive and the dogs are doing great on it! We buy Frontline Flea and Tick, yes I know not the most eco friendly. The eco friendly option I tried just really didn't work nearly as well though. We also see the vet regularly, about twice a year when the proheart and other vaccinations are due.

There are two areas in which I do save money on my dogs however and the reason you can to read this is to find a new chew toy for your dog. I came upon this by accident but my vet said it should be fine in moderation and from what I've read online other vets agree and even recommend it. It really does help with their teeth too! My dogs teeth have gotten better since the last vet visit and other people whose dogs use them say the same.

.... and the magical chew is.... COCONUT!

My dogs love both the meat of the coconut (why is it called the meat when its a fruit?) and chewing on the husk! They have has two coconuts thus far and no bad reactions at all! They shouldn't eat the husk however just play with it and chew on it so you may want to supervise the first few times you allow them a husk. If there is coconut attached to the husk then it becomes like a kong, it keeps them busy while they figure out how to eat it.

I just bought my dogs another coconut yesterday during my shopping trip for $2. I have two dogs and they probably chew on the husk at least two weeks. That means I'm paying $ .50 a week for each dog for a chew toy! Not bad right? Beyond that their chew toy is natural, eco friendly, cleans their teeth, keeps them preoccupied and out of trouble and is biodegradable. Does it get better?

What do you think? Have you tried it? Are your dogs loving the coconut as much as mine?

Update 01/07/2014

My dogs don't get AS excited about coconut as they did when we originally introduced it, still preferring rawhide to it. The coconut however lasts MUCH longer than rawhide. One piece of rawhide is gone in less than an hour with my big dog (which is an improvement to when I posted this because I'm working on teaching him to chew rather than swallow!), and the coconut they chew on for two weeks.
The coconut does a great job of cleaning their teeth, is a healthy treat, and I picked up 2 for $1 each this week, SCORE!