All your questions debarked and answered.
Your Bonno chew guide.
Bonno Chews are handcrafted from ethically sourced Mānuka wood. Each chew is hand-made and finished with New Zealand flaxseed oil. Ready for it to be destroyed.
Bonno is a 100 % natural, strong chew toy. Made without any animal products, artificial ingredients or additives and free from plastics or nylon. Splinter-free - Mānuka wood fragments are blunt, soft, and the fibrous fragments are edible.
Bonno provides the most natural chewing experience for your dog. Chewing is fun, comforting, satisfying, restful & soothing. Bonno is the perfect natural alternative for destructive chewers - it tastes better than furniture, not harmful and less expensive.
Plastic chews are not natural. They are mainly made from petroleum based products.
Chewing on plastic dog chews leads to the creation of microplastics. They can pose health risks to pets and add to environmental pollution. When dogs chew on these toys, tiny plastic particles can break off and be ingested. Over time, these microplastics can accumulate in their digestive system, potentially leading to health issues. When you dog chews on plastic, it can splinter and create sharp edges that can cut your dog's mouth, throat or cause even worse when ingested.
Bonno Chews are 100% natural. Made from ethically sourced Mānuka wood. It is splinter-free. Mānuka wood fragments are blunt, soft and the fibrous fragments are edible.
There are various reasons. Bones can splinter sharp and pose a choking hazard. Animal bones have a high density that is similar to your dogs' teeth. Whilst your dog is chewing on animal bones, it is likely at some point that your dog's teeth are being damaged.
Ingested large bone fragments can lead to gastrointestinal disorders, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, choking and even death.
Raw animal bones can contain harmful bacteria. They also have a certain odor and appearance that may be unwelcome inside your house.
Bonno Chews are 100% natural. Made from ethically sourced Mānuka wood. It is splinter-free. Mānuka wood fragments are blunt, soft and the fibrous fragments are edible. Bonno has a light aromatic pleasant odor. Any left behind fragments are easy to clean up with a brush or vacuum cleaner and can be disposed of in your compost or green waste.
No. Bonno chews are made from Mānuka wood. It is a unique wood. It has tight grains, high density and short fibres, any chewed off fragments or chips are soft.
If you run the chew over the skin of your forearm, you can feel how soft it is. In particular when it has been chewed for some time and has pencil-shaped ends.
We source our Mānuka locally in and around the Bay of Islands and Northland, New Zealand.
Being a resilient pioneer plant that produces countless seeds, Mānuka is one of the first plants to grow after land has been cleared. Within a few years Mānuka establishes if left undisturbed. Land often needs to be cleared of Mānuka for human or other industrial and commercial activities. Being generally clear-felled and destined to be discarded. Our intervention gives a new direction to this otherwise wasted resource.
Known as a health powerhouse, flaxseed oil has gained popularity as a supplement amongst dog owner's for good reasons.
Furthermore, flaxseed oil is a dry oil. It has the ability to absorb quickly without leaving a greasy residue. This makes it an excellent choice for topical applications, like moisturizing skin, but also for finishing wood projects. It penetrates deeply into the wood, enhancing its natural grain and providing a warm, rich finish. It is natural, safe and sustainable.
Most dog's love the mildly nutty taste.
This is why we chose to finish our Bonno chews with flaxseed oil from New Zealand.
You need to replace your dog's Bonno when it's too short for your dog to grip or may be swallowed whole.
All Bonno chews are made from natural sources. At the end of its life, Bonno can be discarded into your green space to decompose naturally.
The right sized Bonno chew is the best way to give your dog the best and long lasting chewing experience.
If Bonno is too small, your dog will easily and quickly destroy the chew. Your dog might be able to pull large and thick strips off its Bonno. If Bonno is too big for your dog, it could lose interest as it simply cannot chew it.
Your dog is gaining satisfaction from chewing when it gets something out of it - slow destruction is its goal!
The dimensions of the different sizes are:
Extra Large: LENGTH 22.5 - 23.5 cm DIAMETER 40 - 55 mm • WEIGHT 250 -500 g
Large: LENGTH 22.5 - 23.5 cm • DIAMETER 35 - 40 mm • WEIGHT 200 - 300 g
Medium: LENGTH 21 - 22 cm • DIAMETER 30 - 35 mm • WEIGHT 150 - 200 g
Small: LENGTH 21 - 22 cm • DIAMETER 25 - 30 mm • WEIGHT 100 - 150 g
Extra Small: LENGTH 21 - 22 cm • DIAMETER 20 - 25 mm • WEIGHT 50 - 100 g (sold as Twin Pack)
No, Bonno does not float. Mānuka wood has a very high density which is very close to the one of water. A Bonno chew will sink after a short time afloat.
Yes. The wood-shaving like fragments of Mānuka wood that your dog will chew off a Bonno are generally edible and of no harm. In fact, this is the reward your dog is working towards - slowly destruct its Bonno.
Mānuka wood, just like most other woods, is mainly fibre without other nutritional values and cannot be digested.
Just like for humans, fibre supports a good digestion system. Mānuka wood is also free from essential oils.
Mānuka is sometimes referred to as 'tea tree' in New Zealand. Captain Cook named it that after consuming a tea with the Mānuka leaves to cure scorbus.
Leptospermum scoparium (Mānuka) is a botanically different species to Melaleuca alternifolia whose leaves are used to derive the essential oils for the commonly available Tea Tree oil.
The latter is native to Australia and its essential oils are not recommended to be used or consumed by dogs.
Bonno has commissioned scientific testing to confirm that Mānuka wood is free from essential oils.
We are trying our best during the production process that Bonno chews are of best quality and manufactured with utmost care. But being a natural product, nature could have tricked us, and your dog may have been able to destroy the chew into big pieces or the chew entirely split.
Please get in touch with us by email info@bonno.nz.
More information about our return & exchange terms and conditions can be found link to Terms & Conditions.
Yes, but ...
Kānuka, a New Zealand native, often grows alongside Mānuka and it is very difficult to separate the two when Kānuka is young. There is a chance that Kānuka is occasionally hand-crafted to a Bonno chew although you would never know the difference.
Commonly known as 'white tea tree', it has very similar properties to Mānuka. The wood of the mature Kānuka plant is slightly harder.
Although botanically different from Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium), young Kānuka (Kunzea ericoides) has the same great qualities for a safe dog chew.
