Does anyone have recommendations for dental treats/chews that are intended to be eaten? We have some Nylabones, etc., but I'd like to find some sort of treat to help with dental care. Based on our experience with Kona's ability to gnaw through and/or remove pieces of almost anything we give her, I'm a bit hesitant with things that are not meant to be digestible.
Does anyone have recommendations for dental treats/chews that are intended to be eaten?
SoCalEngr
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@SoCalEngr we recently started paying for a subscription service called “the real dog box”. We signed up for monthly chew boxes, so we get bag of “soft chew” a “medium chew” and a bag of “hard chew” each month. Each chew is air dried raw, so totally safe for dogs to eat and specifically chosen for dental health. Last month we got chicken feet, 3 duck heads, and two huge turkey wings. This month we got steer pizzle, 3 duck wings and 3 beef backstrap. We started to notice plaque on Denver’s molars which is which is why we decided to try this company out. Our friends also are subscribers and love it. I looked in Denver’s mouth last night and his teeth look amazing. I’m very pleased and the dogs LOVE the chews.
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I use Amazon reviews as a starting point, but I take all of them with a significant grain-of-salt. If you remember, not too long ago there was a news story about people receiving seeds (and, as it turns out, other inexpensive products) via mail/fedex/ups/etc. This was being done as part of a scam to enable fake reviews to be posted. There's an entire industry built on how to game Amazon and other online retailers/review-sites.
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I mean I dont know about that at all. With my dogs greenies concerns me. Sophie has skin issues from food allergies and Dentastix work pretty well for her and don't irritate her skin, so no reason to switch there.
Roxy eats chews pretty fast. I don't give her Dentastix because I worry there could be an intestinal blockage because she gulps them fast, I would probably have the exact same concern with Greenies. With Dentalife they're a bit softer and she chews them. Obviously I'll have to test out CET Veggiedent to see. The problem we've always had with our goldens (and Roxy) and dental chews is that they tend to inhale them so they arent actually effective and seem kinda dangerous!
I would consider bones or something but I'm curious how people handle those in a multiple dog household to avoid resource guarding.
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This has been my go to source for years. The owners name is Terry I would suggest calling him on the phone to place your order, this way you can explain any concerns you have and he can guide your choice and he will provide what's best for you. If I may make a few suggestions. For an adult Golden I would order at least a large or bigger size antler. Some people express concerns about tooth damage from antlers. My suggestion, somewhat contrary to what he says on his page, is to order softer core antlers. I think his concern is that your dog will go through them fast and you'll be disappointed, that may be true but they will be safer if your dog chomps down hard. I have not had luck with split antlers. Splits would be fine for my Golden because he enjoys gnawing around the ends and gnawing it shorter. My golden/lab likes to chomp down hard into the exposed soft core of the splits and manages to splinter the antler and the pieces could be harmful, with whole antlers he doesn't chomp and wears them shorter from the ends. I usually call him and order a 5 pound box that he makes up as I want; whole, soft core, XL large/jumbo. For my two dogs that can last 6/9 months depending on how ambitious they are. I always take them away when they get too small and give these pieces to friends with smaller dogs.
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I give my dog Benebones. They are for heavy chewers but they are not super hard like nylabones and antlers. I've had a number of my patients come into my hospital with broken carnassials and antlers were usually the culprit. I wouldn't recommend cooked bones as there is risk of splintering leading to intestinal puncture. Beware, if you step on a Benebone, it's like stepping on a cactus!
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Not as big of a fan of additives to food or water as compared to natural ways to maintain or remove plaque and tartar. It's just something else in their systems and that just starts to add up in my opinion. When you look at it there are topical and oral flea treatments, Heartworm preventatives, stuff for urine scorching lawns, oral care additives and over vaccinating. The reason I do titers.
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Agreed. This is why, after much Google-foo and some careful consideration, we decided to go with Benebones and Greenies, and not go the OraVet route (though it sounded helpful).
Also a "big yep". We're now making a habit of asking for titers before any vaccination or similar treatment.
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From what I have read, once you achieve immunity, you don't lose it. So once you show immunity you don't even need to do the taters again. I did Maggie's titer at 1 month after last vaccine , so at 5 months and again at 1 year 5 months of age and titers were good. So I will only be doing Rabies (by law) 1 year, 4 year and 7 years of age and stop after that. Most vets will say there is need to do them after 9 or 10 years of age. I've been titering since around 2000 or so and never to had to vaccinate after the 4 month final booster.
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Plaque Off is made from natural Sea algae/ sea kelp. I would be picky before choosing a water additive though.
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So, the Benebones (new style, one each in bacon and chicken) and Greenies showed up today. Kona picked the bacon Benebone (so, the chicken is "on reserve" and we'll swap them out each week), laid down, and went into a zen state of chewing.
Later, I opened up the Greenies. Oh. My. God. The smell. I know they're not made for me, but... I then gave one to Kona. She seemed rather unsure what to do with it, but almost looked like she was considering swallowing it whole. Given that most everything else she eats is fairly small (i.e., kibbles, small treats for training, etc.), I decided that how she was approaching the Greenie was a bit sketch.
So...
Benebones it is, and I'll chalk the Greenies up to "interesting, but not for me".
Thanks to all for their input and help in this mildly interesting foray into "how to take care of a GR's teeth".
Later, I opened up the Greenies. Oh. My. God. The smell. I know they're not made for me, but... I then gave one to Kona. She seemed rather unsure what to do with it, but almost looked like she was considering swallowing it whole. Given that most everything else she eats is fairly small (i.e., kibbles, small treats for training, etc.), I decided that how she was approaching the Greenie was a bit sketch.
So...
Benebones it is, and I'll chalk the Greenies up to "interesting, but not for me".
Thanks to all for their input and help in this mildly interesting foray into "how to take care of a GR's teeth".
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I tried Greenies, however they upset his stomach and cause him to vomit. I give him frozen marrow bones
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How long do you let her chew in a session (i.e., do you monitor her "chew time")?
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At first she just chewed on it here and there not making a dent in it so I didn't limit her time with it but one night she was chewing like crazy and the next thing I knew it was gone.
I figured it got behind the couch and gave her another the next day and saw she was actually eating them.. She was able to get it soggy and tear off pieces that got a jerky like consistency to them. There was no odor and the pieces didn't seem to be like a choking hazard shape.
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Yes I gave my dog dental styx by pedigree for 7 yrs. 1 in am and 1 after dinner his teeth never needed cleaning and were clean white his entire life. I will repeat this with my next golden. plus he loved them.
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For ones that are long lasting, knuckle bones, hooves, and antlers.
For ones that last longer than many dental chews, bully sticks, pig ears, yak chews, and the like.
For dental chews, Whimzees are great!
For ones that last longer than many dental chews, bully sticks, pig ears, yak chews, and the like.
For dental chews, Whimzees are great!
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im one of those people dead set against bones and antler type chews. I’ve had too much damage done to my dog’s teeth in the past. I swear by C.E.T. Chews. My vet was amazed at how they cleaned up my old dog’s teeth when we were getting ready for a dental cleaning. (She was 13 and I was nervous about anesthesia) I gave her one a week for a month and when I took her back, he said we didn’t need to do the cleaning. They had done THAT good of a job. I use them exclusively now. The veggie type and the regular type. I DO take them away when they get to be a few inches long and throw them out to avoid choking hazard. I never leave them unattended with any chewie after I had a dog almost suffocate with one in its throat.
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I am totally with you on this. Fractured tooth in the time of covid and then a vet that took forever to get us in wound up becoming an abscessed tooth with bone loss for my Roxy (English Springer). It was just too much for me to risk anything that MAY fracture teeth. We have been doing denta life for her and I'm going to give CET a try bc the denta life treats get eaten too fast. Sophie (cavalier) is 10 and we do dentastix for her but might also see how she is with CET. Cleo (5 month golden) gets a "cookie" so she's not left out. We found the "cookies" on vacation and all the dogs are obsessed. Best dog treats we've ever got in terms of interest. They're Stella & Chewy dinner patties for anyone interested.
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I used to give the C.E.T. chews to my first golden until I had to pull one out of his throat that had gotten stuck.
I stopped buying them after that.
I stopped buying them after that.
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