Product Review:
BOODA VELVETS

About six months ago, I started seeing a new type of chew toy as I walked thru my local pet stores. It was sort of a dusty-looking, colored bone-shaped toy. It was sort of pricey, so I just walked on. Later, I heard that these bones were made of cornstarch. I thought that was novel and wondered what in the world was used to hold the cornstarch together. Out of curiousity, next time I went to a pet shop, I took a closer look. My rats seemed a bit bored with wooden chews and I was somewhat suspicious of rawhide, so I decided to give the Booda Velvet bone a try. I bought a Medium size and took it home to my big boy ratties.

When I presented the new toy to the ratties, they instantly tried to crowd their way out the door--pretty normal, but they didn't seem overwhelmed by excitement. After playtime, I hoped, they would take a look at it. Actually, I forgot about it entirely until later in the evening when I noticed they had gnawed off almost one entire end and were making inroads elsewhere! Interestingly, they didn't fight over it, but I saw just about everyone chewing at it at one time or another. Suffice it to say that within 24 hours, they had it chewed down to two marblelike ends. Before long, those got kind of small and I removed them to make sure no one would choke.

Needless to say, I got the Extra Large size next time. The results were the same--no fights, but lots of contented chewing. I have to say, though, these do not last very long for how much they cost. The big ones cost almost $10 out here in Illinois, and I am very lucky if they last three days. Therefore, I use them as an occasional treat, alternated with wooden chews and other types of toys. My rats have suffered no ill effects from them, and they seem safe. The rats just love them.

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