Rawhide Chews and Bone Treats for Dogs (Choking Hazard, Chemical Processing, Formaldehyde Residues, Heavy Metal Contamination) — pet safety profile
Moderate riskRawhide chews are made from the inner layer of cattle or horse hides through an industrial process involving sodium sulfide de-hairing, hydrogen peroxide bleaching, and sometimes formaldehyde-based preservatives.
What is this product?
Rawhide chews are made from the inner layer of cattle or horse hides through an industrial process involving sodium sulfide de-hairing, hydrogen peroxide bleaching, and sometimes formaldehyde-based preservatives. Despite being marketed as natural dog treats, rawhide undergoes significant chemical processing and poses multiple safety concerns: choking and intestinal obstruction from swallowed pieces (the leading rawhide-related veterinary emergency), chemical residues including formaldehyde and chromium from tanning processes, bacterial contamination (Salmonella found in 2-8% of tested samples per FDA surveys), and heavy metal contamination in imported products. FDA has issued multiple recalls of rawhide treats for Salmonella and chemical contamination. Rawhide is technically not a food product and is therefore not subject to the same FDA food safety standards as pet food.
What's in it
Click any compound name for its full safety profile, regulatory consensus, and exposure data.
Processing Residue
Contaminant
Frequently asked questions
No FAQs generated.
Look up Rawhide Chews and Bone Treats for Dogs (Choking Hazard, Chemical Processing, Formaldehyde Residues, Heavy Metal Contamination) in the pets app
Search by ingredient, browse by category, or compare to alternatives in the live app.
Open in pets View raw API dataReference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific information. Why we built ALETHEIA →