How is dog rawhide made for dog chews that are often shaped like large bones, twists or other fancy forms available at pet stores?
Designed to assist your pup with its natural chewing needs, dog rawhide is made from processed cattle skin which is stripped into two layers. While the tough, outer layer is worked into leather items like shoes and handbags, the softer, inner layer of skin (hypodermic interstitial tissue) is used to make dog rawhide chews.
Nevertheless, different countries hold to different standards, not all of which are necessarily healthy for your dog. Below is how dog rawhide is made in the United States, followed by imported rawhide chews. How dog rawhide is made should influence your decision to use it as a chewing material to present to your dog, since rawhide is made from dry animal skin, basically leather, that will not dissolve in your dog’s stomach but swell, risking bowel blockage.
Processed rawhide products are meant to serve not as food but as a type of animal-based dog toothpick or toothbrush to keep dog’s teeth and gums healthy and as a dog toy chew artifact to distract away from destructive behavior or to relieve a dog’s anxiety. Would you eat a toothbrush if it was shaped and colored to look like a candy cane? Would you eat a pencil if you chewed it to release stress or strengthen your jaw muscles? Then, don’t consider rawhide products as food for your dog either.
Dog Rawhide Is Made From Cattle Skin
Shipped by refrigerated container to avoid spoilage, butchered steer hides receive special factory treatment starting with a thorough removal of their animal fat, called degreasing, and chemical cleansing to prepare it for further processing at a tannery.
Once readied, the treated hypodermic skin layer undergoes a hydrogen peroxide bath for sterilization for a mandated period to ensure the death of all bacteria and germs. The hydrogen peroxide bath gives the tissue its peculiar white-yellow color.
How Do Dog Rawhides Bones Get Their Shape?
Wrung from excess liquids, the bleached hides are set onto cutting tables to be sheared into strips. The factories use automated electric knives to cut the hide into different geometrical shapes, depending on the product to be produced next with the rawhides.
These rawhide strips get sent to a different area of the factory for the ‘tying’ process. Here a machine ties them into various configurations such as rolls, bones, twists and sticks. The product is ready for drying and flavoring.
How Are Dog Rawhide Chews Dried?
Still damp, the newly tied rawhide products get placed on trays and ushered on carts to the drying rooms much like a loaf of bread goes into an oven. They undergo regulated heating to remove all remaining moisture without becoming hot enough to melt.
Once inspected, the dried rawhides receive their flavor to make them appealing to a dog’s senses. After being packaged, they are sent out for distribution through pet shops and stores. Below is a video showing the raw manufacturing process as understood by cats and some critics. Meow!
How Are Imported Dog Rawhide Chews Made?
Most dog rawhide chews in American markets are made in China, but some come from Mexico and South America. The process in China begins by placing the interstitial tissue in a high-salt brine immediately from the slaughterhouse floor. Long periods of time pass before the chews see American soil, so to delay decay the tissue is heavily salted.
Some import companies (not in the U.S.) use preservative chemicals to prevent the hides from becoming putrid. Rawhides made in China and some other countries are received at tanneries where they’re soaked in lime and treated to separate fat from skin. Chemicals and physical force are used to remove the hair. Afterward, the hide is rinsed in large vats of fresh water.
Cutting, tying and dyeing come next, though some imported dog chews have their hides thinly stripped and then filled with scraps and even sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to make up for missing weight, none of which improves their quality.
Rawhide Myths vs Reality
The quality of a rawhide chew is relative to the method by which it was produced. According to Wholesome Hide, who manufacturers super thick retriever roll rawhides only in the U.S.A., 
“Wholesome Hide makes its rawhide treats in the USA only from fresh USA-sourced beef hide. We don’t split the hides into layers to get more yield per hide as almost all Mexican, South American and Chinese manufacturers do.
“We don’t need to use chemicals to thicken and stabilize old hide. Nor do we use chemicals to whiten or add weight. The biggest problem with import treats is that they split the hides into thin layers, fill it with scraps and waste and then use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to add weight to the product. That’s bad for dogs and is the reason many dogs get very thirsty after eating import rawhides. We NEVER use those chemicals in making Wholesome Hide products.”
There is very little regulation of rawhide products. Make sure to check out the manufacturing standards held by the companies that produce your dog’s rawhide chews before using it for the purpose it was intended.