Help Needed! Chewing/eating ALL types of bedding!

[Meggs19]

Hi all,

I know some others here have had experience with this so I am hoping there are some good solutions! Tonka is such a bad chewer and loves to eat everything...including bedding/blankets. He has destroyed the two dog beds we have given him (torn holes and pulled out stuffing etc.). So we had a few blankets in his kennel for him folded up for his bed. It was OK for a while but now I notice he has been tearing into them. I didn't notice how bad it was until the last time I went to wash them all and saw all the holes forming in them and noticed he had chewed off/into the corners and ripped off the lining/edges on the outside of the blankets in places. I thought he was just tearing them or chewing on them and causing holes but it looks as if he is eating some too as I see it appears some pieces are missing! He must only do it during the day when we aren't home. I have no idea how long this has been going on or when he would have been eating pieces. I haven't noticed him "passing" chunks of blanket left and right and he doesn't throw up blanket chunks either. Are the chunks just sitting in his system? That scares me so much! He has eaten socks before and pieces of toys and always either thrown them up or passed them the other way so I feel like the pieces of blanket would have come out in a similar fashion too, right?? He is eating and pooping normally and doesn't throw up or anything. He is his usual self. I don't know how long he has been doing this though so it's hard to say if he has eaten more chunks recently or over time. I'm not sure. Either way we have had no health issues. My boyfriend is the one who washes Tonka's blankets most of the time and just grabs them and tosses them in without examining and also the holes aren't always too apparent-he's mainly chewed on corners/edges so it's hard to tell sometimes...plus my boyfriend is not always Mr. Observant.

My other question is what do you use for bedding in this case? We don't even have the hard plastic tray that goes on the bottom of the kennel anymore because Tonka started chewing that up too so if I take out his blankets he literally just has the wire bottom of his kennel which seems cruel to make him lay on that and seems like it would be uncomfortable/dig into him. Does anyone have any solutions to this? Any types of bedding that are more bully proof? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[BruceP]

Does he have any "indestructible' toys to keep him company in his cell???

 

[Meggs19]

[MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION] Yes, he has chew toys in there (kong type varieties/balls) as well as a rope (which I remove if he starts to tear up) and a couple deer antlers. He gets baby gated in our kitchen area (leaving his kennel door open in there for him) but he sleeps in his kennel a lot during the day in there and therefore eats at the blankets quite a bit too. I do find his toys in his kennel with him so I know he works on those too and doesn't completely ignore them.

 

[cali~jenn]

Well maybe take away the bedding when you rnt there to supervise? Cutty and mugsy used to tag team when we left. (no crate) they ate beds, couch cushions, stuffies etc. eventually they outgrew the phase thankfully.

 

[Vikinggirl]

I have the exact same problem with my two , they eat everything in sight, blankets, pillows, throws, socks, any soft toys, the only toys they can have are the Kong toys, they must have almost everyone they make, but they had the Kong Wubbas too, and I thought those were safe, but they ate through them and got to the. Stuffing . This was done in less than 3 hours from when they got them. I think they believe they're billy goats. My Dozer has even eaten small rocks, his bandaid and gauze when he was at the vets, after his neuter surgery. They are relentless. I have also taken away their blankets from their crates, and they are laying on the plastic tray, and I feel bad for that because it seems hard, but I have no choice because I don't want them ingesting them and getting sick. Silly puppies, they don't know when they have it good, nice soft pillows, and can't even use them. I bought these gorgeous pillows from Homesense and we do use them , but only when we are in the same room with them and watching them. We will watch TV, and they will lie on the pillows beside us. If we see them starting to chew, we say no, and give them a toy they can chew on, that usually works. I also had the same problem with my female Blossom regarding eating the plastic tray in her crate, she never chewed it be fore, she is almost 9 months old now, and she never chews on it when we a re home, but she did it one day when we were out. I came home and she had chewed off a piece from the back of the cage. I found the pieces, and I pieced them back together to see if any were missing, and there was one. She threw that up the next day. I'm also at a loss as to what to put in her cage, because I don't want her to have to lay on the wire cage bottom either, that can't be comfortable . She doesn't chew the tray when we are home, so most of the time it is ok because someone is usually home during the day

 

[Vikinggirl]

I did see at Petsmart that Kong makes a crate pillow, they seem to be made stronger than other pillows, they are square, and they have a much thicker outer cover, almost like a canvas material. I wonder if they would be bully jowl safe lol

 

[Meggs19]

[MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] I feel your pain! haha! Be careful of that plastic tray! I came home to Tonka having torn into that and chunks were missing...some quite large! I called the emergency vet and they said they couldn't vomit him since that would be dangerous coming back up so I had to bulk his diet up and a week or so later I saw some black chunks of plastic in his poops. I sure home he got them all out of his system! I wasn't going to pull them all out and piece them together as that would have been too hard to do in all those little chunks that were chewed down. You are lucky you have someone home during the day. Even then, though, I notice Tonka will go in his kennel and start to pull at his blankets. He doesn't sleep with us at night either, only occasionally on weekends, so I would definitely feel bad having him on hard metal wiring that often!!

 

[Vikinggirl]

I hear you, but I guess for their safety , that's what we have to do. I wouldn't have wanted to pick through the poop, to make that puzzle either. Lol. Blossom did throw up 2 pieces, and from the other pieces I found in the cage, I'm pretty sure we got them all. I sure hope so, I hope it doesn't cause her any problems. I also had to give Dozer fibre wet food that the vet gave me after he swallowed his gauze and bandage where his IV had been after his surgery. He ate 1 Tbsp every one to two hours for 4 days and it took him a week to pass the 12 inch thing, it came out like a gauze sausage, took him forever to push it out, it just kept coming and coming. Lol. You would think they would learn. It happens so fast, you can be right there and try to take things away , but they are twice as fast as you, and just inhale stuff. The vet couldn't believe it, because she said she put him in the recovery cage with a nice warm blanket, and he started to eat it, even when he was still groggy from the anesthetic , she took it away , and when she checked on him 5 mins later, he had chewed off both the gauze and the outer bandage. It was gone. I honestly don't know how they eat this stuff and don't choke on it. A week after that he threw up my husbands sweat sock, I don't know when he ate it or where he got it from, or even how long it had been in his stomach, he just threw it up one day. .

 

[Momma2Bullies]

Hi @Meggs19, I have the same issue with my girl Layla. She has eaten her beds and I have gone through so many! I am pretty sure she spits pieces out, but like you I can't be sure. What I have right now seems to be slightly working... I have one of those white flat fleecy crate beds, and I have two pillowcases around it, opposite ways so there is no opening. On top of that I have a beat up old flat pillow ( like from a bedroom) again with two pillowcases around it. Then I have a dog blanket from pet smart, just soft plain blanket. I also leave her a nylabone. I notice she has chewed a little of the pillowcase corner, but I think having the blanket to push around and make a bed has helped satisfy her? She doesn't seem to chew the bone. Everyday I come home and check the status of her pillowcases and I have only had to replace the outermost of one because she was starting to get through it. I am hoping she grows out of it, she is only 1 yr 5 months, and my male doesn't do this at all ( which is why he still has a deluxe ortho crate mat!). I don't want her without something soft to lay on, I couldn't just leave the bottom of the crate.

good luck! I know this is hard. I hate coming home to an explosion of fabric and stuffing. Oh also those kong wubbas last about 1/2 hour in this house LOL!

 

[Meggs19]

Thanks [MENTION=5605]Momma2Bullies[/MENTION]! I will have to try the fleecy crate bed with the pillow cases and see if that works, sounds like a good idea. I know I could not put a regular pillow or blanket in there though, as he would get through that in a heartbeat! He has already chewed the corners of my throw pillows on our couches! ARGH!

[MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] Tonka has eaten FIVE socks and in ever instance but 2, I had no idea how/where he got them. We thought we were so careful. I swear he was hoarding them somewhere. He threw up three of them, passed one on the other end and then the final one was a long dress sock and we had the vet do a forced vomit on that just to be safe since it was so long!

 

[Alice Kable]

Ruggles chewed up and ingested some of every dog bed/crate liner we have had. We now have carpet fastened securely over plywood that fits in his crate. I got a "chew Proof" crate liner from K-9 Ballistics that I tuck under the plywood. The liner is easy to pull out and wash. We are retired, home with him most of the time. He is never in his crate with the crate door closed, has lots of NylaBone chew toys, but still has chewed up every piece of bedding except the above. Ruggles will be 6 in Jan.

 

[Meggs19]

Ruggles chewed up and ingested some of every dog bed/crate liner we have had. We now have carpet fastened securely over plywood that fits in his crate. I got a "chew Proof" crate liner from K-9 Ballistics that I tuck under the plywood. The liner is easy to pull out and wash. We are retired, home with him most of the time. He is never in his crate with the crate door closed, has lots of NylaBone chew toys, but still has chewed up every piece of bedding except the above. Ruggles will be 6 in Jan.

Six??!! You are not giving me much hope that tonka will grow out of this, haha! That sounds like an awesome idea...the carpet and the plywood. Where did you get the chew proof liner? Online? Thanks for the help!

 

[TonkaTruck28]

I did see at Petsmart that Kong makes a crate pillow, they seem to be made stronger than other pillows, they are square, and they have a much thicker outer cover, almost like a canvas material. I wonder if they would be bully jowl safe lol

If your Tonka is a chewer this crate pad will NOT do it, dont spend the money. We have 2 for my Tonka, who is not really a chewer, he gnaws on his toys when we are home and sleeps when we are at work, but when he was teething he ripped into his first one and took the stuffing out no problems. Every now and then i notice him nibbling on the corners and it doesnt take much to wreck them!

 

[dalmatina38]

Amber is no longer in a crate; she behaves "most" of the time and seems to have grown out of the chewing stage for the most part. Still sucks on her stuffies but not destroying them so much. She destroyed the bottom of her crate too so we went to Lowes and got a piece of pile wood the size of the bottom of the crate and slid that in there just before we left her lose for good. No blanket or stuffies, just the pile wood and eventually she got where we could leave her out. Good luck.

 

[bullmama]

Check out kuranda dog beds..... I have yet to get one but I am in the same position as you. Half of my fur kids get no bed at all cuz they eat or mark them. Silly bullies!


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