Wow, last week was lots of fun with all the giveaways (final draws at noon today!) but back to regular rescheduled programming now.

Readers of my personal blog (all three of you ;) ) and my personal Twitter feed will already know we’ve got a new addition to our household – a lovely old springer spaniel called Lily. We’ve wanted a dog for a while and have been actively looking for a cat-friendly rescue dog since November. The cat-friendly bit was the most important thing – we didn’t care about breed, sex, age etc – just that they’d be cool around our cats — and Lily is the coolest. The cats are doing really well too: they’re still a little wary when she’s running around but after a week, they’re comfortable enough to sleep near each other and the other day, Lily stretched out in her sleep and threw her legs around Boron and he was bemused rather than scared.

We’re both first time dog owners and we’ve got a lot to learn about everything – particularly food & toys. I nearly missed the once-an-hour bus the other day because I was in the dog food aisle of the supermarket for so long, looking at all the different options. Out of all the different things she’s tried so far, she loves rawhide bones the most but as a paranoid new dog owner, I’m worried about the potential choking hazard – small chunks can break off the chew and the dog, unable to chew them any smaller, swallows them then chokes – or the chunk swells in their belly and causes a blockage. I’d rather that didn’t happen to my Lily dog.

I’m quite happy to supervise her nibbling but wondered if there is anything I can do with the chunks I rescue – can I break them up smaller and add them to her food? will rehydrating them help?

I’ve also heard about smaller/older dogs soggying up the rawhide rather than actually chewing/eating it – are there any options then instead of just binning it?