poeluvr said:
Well i doubt they would make rawhides for dogs if they were dangerous for them.
sadly it's not that simple. if the pet industry couldn't make things that aren't good for pets, we wouldn't have shelves full of crappy foods and treats in all kinds of different places.
in a nutshell - rawhides are made from
hide - the skin of an animal, generally cattle. just like many other parts (hair, horns, claws, beaks etc.) it's made up mostly of protein. unlike the protein in muscle and organ meats, this type is much less digestible tho.
depending on the size of chunks the dog swallows, they may or may not dissolve in the intestinal tract, which is (at least i think so) what is of importance.
regular, uncompressed rawhide isn't something i'd give to a dog, the compressed (heat treated) kind is much safer, since it doesn't let the dog bite or break off large chunks, not even when it is thoroughly wet and soaked.