Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on March 9, 2008 at 12:52am

I do use greenies, I think it really helps with the dogg breath. I am aware of the lawsuit in the past. One of the dog owner who sued the company have posted a photo of a large piece of greenie that was unchewed and was stuck in the trachea, obviously the dog "inhaled" the greenie instead of chewing it properly, so i really don't think it is the company's fault. Also those people who had posted their "testimonies" all had smaller breed dogs, so i think it is a combination of "unsupervised" and "small breed" that caused the accidents.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Zed on March 9, 2008 at 10:37am

I occasionally get greenies for Zed. He loves them. We haven't had any problems with them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tracie & Emmy on March 9, 2008 at 11:31am

Greenies are the best! Emmy has 2 a week generally - and they help stinky breath very well. (Plus she LOVES them!)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cindi on March 9, 2008 at 10:06pm

Okay, here's the scoop. Greenies were pulled off the market because of a lawsuit and a few dogs dying. The problem is that Greenies (even in their current form) are not fully digestible. Since they are expensive, folks tend to buy small ones. Certain dogs "inhale" treats rather than chew them. For these dogs, Greenies are a no go. If you have a dog who "nibbles" Greenies are fine. Personally, I don't risk it. It's the same reason I don't use rawhide. If not used or supervised properly, you can get yourself a mess of problems.

What to use? First, check your dog food. Be sure you're using a quality, premium food. And canned food can give really bad breath, too. It really does make a difference. Second, go natural. A small bit of fresh parsley on the food helps. You can also get biscuits which have parsley and mint (PetSmart sells them near the tooth paste section.)

Caution is the rule of the day. Read the labels and be sure the treat is appropriate for your dog and you can supervise it if necessary.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Apryl on April 5, 2008 at 1:07am

I feed them to my pup. He LOVES them! I believe it's safe, as long as you're watching them eat it. Also, the report seems like it happened to a few dogs, but imagine how small of a percentage that is if it's one of the #1 sold treats...
If you're willing to take the time to supervise the treat eating, then it's completely fine in my opinion. It usually takes about a minute or two for my dog to eat.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nicole on April 6, 2008 at 9:50pm

We buy Breath tablets. The Petgold ones from petco work well. Even the Walmart ones weren't that bad. Ein has a bad habit of getting things just soft enough to fit all the way down his throat and then swallowing them whole, so items like Nylabone and Greenies don't get offered to him. Why pay that much for something that's only going to last 5 seconds? Especially after his blockage last fall, we're especially careful about what he gets. We never did figure out exactly what it was, but Lucas thinks "hoof" is the best bet.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kristen on April 24, 2008 at 12:33pm

I will occassionally use greenies, but I have found that the Cannidae biscquits have ingredients that freshen breath even better. I use these very sparingly and break the biscuit into for pieces, they are scored to do this easily.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Charlie on April 24, 2008 at 2:37pm

That's nice to know the Cannidae biscuits freshen breath! I looked up the ingredients and they do look a lot healthier than the Greenie ingredients. Peppermint fresh and no risk of choking or blockage to boot. Charlie still has nice puppy breath, maybe from teeth brushing at least 2x/week. If and when he gets "big dog stink breath", I'll try the Cannidae biscuits. : - )

• ▶ Reply