Palatable, long-lasting pet chew product

Abstract

Disclosed herein are pet chew products and methods for making them. The methods include sewing together strips of material obtained from a bovine or from other animals to form an outline of a desired shape; interweaving additional strips of rawhide, animal penis or both under and on top of the strips forming an outline to form a pet chew product of desired shape and size; and drying the pet chew product to the desired moisture content.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A pet chew product comprising strips of material obtained from a bovine or from other animals, the strips being interwoven to form a substantially spherical pet chew with a hollow center. 
     
     
         2 . The pet chew product of  claim 1 , wherein the material obtained from a bovine or from other animals comprises rawhide or pizzle or both obtained from bovine animals. 
     
     
         3 . The pet chew product of  claim 2 , wherein the bovine animal is a bull, steer, cow or an ox. 
     
     
         4 . The pet chew product of  claim 3 , wherein the rawhide material is lightly bleached. 
     
     
         5 . The pet chew product of  claim 3 , wherein the ratio of rawhide fraction to pizzle fraction is 2:1. 
     
     
         6 . The pet chew product of  claim 3 , wherein the ratio of rawhide fraction to pizzle fraction is 1:1. 
     
     
         7 . The pet chew product of  claim 3 , wherein the ratio of rawhide fraction to pizzle fraction is 1:2. 
     
     
         8 . The pet chew product of  claim 1 , wherein the strips are sewn together using an edible sewing material. 
     
     
         9 . The pet chew product of  claim 8 , edible sewing material is catgut. 
     
     
         10 . The pet chew product of  claim 1 , wherein the strips have a length of about 5 cm to about 100 cm. 
     
     
         11 . The pet chew product of  claim 1 , wherein the strips have a width of about 1 mm to about 20 mm. 
     
     
         12 . The pet chew product of  claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the substantially spherical pet chew is about 5 cm to about 20 cm. 
     
     
         13 . A method of forming a substantially spherical a pet chew product comprising sewing together strips of material obtained from a bovine or from other animals to form an outline; interweaving additional strips of rawhide, animal penis or both under and on top of the strips forming an outline to form a substantially spherical pet chew product of desired circumference; and drying the pet chew product to the desired moisture content. 
     
     
         14 . A method of forming a substantially spherical pet chew product from strips of material obtained from a bovine animal, comprising: fabricating flat shape strips of rawhide and/or animal pizzle; interweaving the strips over a substantially spherical substrate in the length and number required to obtain a substantially spherical pet chew product; dehydrating the pet chew product in a dryer about 15 h at about 45° C.; removing the substantially spherical substrate; drying the pet chew product again for about 4 h at about 45° C.; and sterilizing the pet chew product in a sterilizing oven for about 10 h at about 100° C. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the moisture content of the pet chew product is about 10%. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the spherical substrate is a balloon. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the spherical substrate is an ice ball. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the strips have a length of about 5 cm to about 100 cm. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the strips have a width of about 1 mm to about 20 mm. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the number of strips used to form the pet chew product is about 9. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the substantially spherical pet chew product has a diameter of about 5 cm to about 20 cm. 
     
     
         22 . A pet chew product obtained by the method of  claim 14 .