WARNING! Don't feed your dogs Greenies! Read more!

[Brittany]

I did not write this but came from another dog site that I'm currently a member of.

Crossposted from another list with permission from the writer.
Jan (UK)
http://www.canvasbackpets.com/ShopSite/media/GreeniesBig.jpg

I have a warning to pass on with a story to tell of my own.....

On the way back from the Dobe National this year, I was walking one of the dogs at the airport waiting for the owner to return our rental car when the dog decided to throw up.....I was shocked to see a mass of green rubber- like material and immediately called the owner. The mass looked like something you would see in the pad under a carpet. I was assured the dog did not shred anything...and that the only thing the dog had been given to eat recently was a "Greenie"...one of those formed green dog treats that look like a toothbrush.....I
couldn't believe one of those pressed dog treats would reconstitute into what looked like a mass of foam rubber pieces!

Well, after getting home my friend did an experiment....cut up one of those things and soaked it in water overnight....low and behold a mass of foam rubber crap! Certainly NOT digestible! We both made a note to never feed those things again...and then last night in the Seattle area the newscast did a piece on...you guessed it GREENIES! A whole story about how dogs are DYING from blockages after eating those stupid things! Here is a link to the article....turns out they are NOT 100% digestible....DUH!

http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/5325021/detail.html

I've searched up some links and heres what I found!

More horrfiying links about what Greenies can do to your wonderful pets!
This link is graphical... It shows a dog having an emergency surgrey on a dog who ate the product Greenies
http://improvehomelife.com/greenies.html (DONT GO IF YOU HATE SURGREY PICTURES!

http://www.midatlanticpugrescue.org/greenies.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-7aug2001-warning.html
and much more when you go to google and type in Greenies Warning or Greenies Danger

SO PLEASE pass this info on....permission to cross post!!

Brittany

[suki]

yes, I have read, and heard that the "greenies" don't break down, once inside the animal, hence, the lodging of the product.
Tricky stuff!!! I know dogs just love 'em, but owners should moniter their dogs when they are chewing(hopefully) on these things.

[Rob H.]

I stopped buying them because they made my dog vomit. He really loved chewing on them but an hour later they would come back up. They are way over-priced anyway.

[molly]

i Have stopped feeding my dogs these since i read this post and i was wondering if there was a safe alternitive to them i have been told nylabone but i dont know if these are safe. thanks for any help

[DiggityDogs]

NO NYLABONES!! They are worse (IMO) than greenies- if your dog tears it apart and swallows it he could get anything from a perforated intestine to a blockage- of course any chewy that you give your dog should be under supervision if he tears things up easily- I would go with a Kong toy stuffed with treats and other goodies, or a sterilized bone, since they're very hard and won't come apart easily.

[Marinepits]

NO NYLABONES!!

Are you talking about the "gummy" Nylabones or the hard Nylabones?

My dogs adore their hard Nylabones and Galileo bones. I've never had a problem with them, but my mastiff/pit mix destroyed (to bits!) a giant red kong yesterday. I collected all the pieces and reconstructed the toy to make sure no bits were missing and swallowed. Needless to say, he no longer will play with kongs.

[DiggityDogs]

some dogs can destroy kongs- I've seen a bulldog destroy the 'ultra' kong- the black one that's supposed to be the hardest... I guess the moral of the story is know your dog, be careful about what you give them, and watch them closely with any edible treat- certainly anything your dog can chew up could potentially cause harm. I don't give any of the plastic nylabones because I know my dogs shred them to pieces, but if the gallileo works for your guys it sounds like a good toy for them....

[Marinepits]

It's better than chewing my shoes, LOL! :D

Nylabone has also just come out with their new "toughest" nylabone that is guaranteed not to splinter and/or break. www.drsfosterandsmith.com (http://www.drsfosterandsmith.com) Think I'm going to order a few and give it the ole' pit bull test.....

p.s. they're called Nylabone Durables and come in bacon flavor.

[DiggityDogs]

I'm glad they've made some improvements- I remember when nylabones were as bad as cooked chicken bones for a dog! But, if they can pass the pitt test, they're reliable in my book!

[33MTA3]

I use nylabones, too. Kongs do not last around here. And we had a very sad shoe fatality yesterday. RIP, oh lonely Eastland shoe.

[DiggityDogs]

LOL... Poor shoe!

[Marinepits]

Please accept my condolences on your Eastland, V. My thoughts are with your remaining shoe.....:)

[tftmom]

Does anyone have experience with Nutri Dent by Nylabone? It is supposed to be made from corn starch not wheat gluten like greenies but I wonder if it reacts the same in the intestine.
By the way, I made a copy of the initial article and took it to my vet. He said he hadn't treated anyone with a problem with greenies but he was going to stop feeding them to his dogs and post the article in the waitingroom.

[DiggityDogs]

I really have mixed emotions about this article. In the article the writer mentions an experiment where she soaked a greenie in water and it turned into a 'lump of green rubber crap'; or something to that effect. I don't see how you can successfully conclude that they are not digestible by soaking them in water since that's not what they'd be soaking in in a dogs stomach. Soak it in a bowl of hydrocloric acid- then I'll accept the results as conclusive. There may have been plenty of articles and cases where dogs have had blockages or choked on greenies, but how many cases as compared to how many dogs actually eat greenies every day? Your dog can get a blockage from eating a lot of things- including many other treats that are available out there. The bottom line is to know your dog, if he tends to swallow treats whole, digestible 'chewies' like greenies or booda bones may not be good for him and you should stick to biscuits. If your dog is a slow chewer and doesn't act like he's starving when you hand him a treat, he may be OK with one of these types of bones. I am curious to know how many actual cases of blockages have been found vs. how many greenies are consumed every year...

[lilmisszarah]

My bichon threw up from chewing on just a plain old raw hide bone this weekend. I think he got too big of a piece to come off and gagged on it, which made me realize I need to watch him more closely while he's chewing.

[freshmtt]

In my opinion all of that stuff is crap, even the rawhides, those are dangerous because most of them are made overseas and they use formalydehyde in preserving the cow skin..

Greenies, nylabones, all of that stuff is junk, I would never think of giving any of that stuff to my dogs to chew on..

My dogs get only real beef achilles tendons, bully sticks, and raw meaty bones to chew on, anything else like greenies and nylabones is like letting your dog ingest a bunch of chemicals and crap and you don't know what is in that stuff..

this is just my opinion, but once you start reading more about the dangers in dog food and other chew toys you become very aware of what is being put in those things,,

Greenies are totally unecessary, if your dog is fed a proper diet (not the commercial dog food crap) and given raw meaty bones to chew on, they do not need to have their teeth cleaned and will not have bad breath..