Greenies Alert
 

:eek: :eek: :eek:


I just received this from another dog forum I am on! Scary

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

Cindy & The Gang :aimeeyork

Here's the long version of it...
 

Dog Treat May Carry Danger
Wayne Havrelly
KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator


UPDATED: 9:01 am PST November 15, 2005

A KIRO 7 Consumer Investigation exposes a potentially deadly problem involving one of the most popular dog treats on the market.

Millions of dogs chew on the treats every day, and there's a good chance your pooch is one of them.

Consumer Investigator Wayne Havrelly discovered the danger.

These dog treats are called "Greenies." They're sold in stores everywhere.

But our investigation found Greenies and products like them can pose a real danger to dogs.

Matthew Balkman of Issaquah uses cheese to reward his dog "Beau."

He used to use Greenies, a doggie treat designed to clean teeth and freshen doggie breath.

"The dogs do like 'em. They're tasty; he liked eating them," Balkman said.

But last May, Beau acted started acting sluggish after eating one.

"He wasn't eating at all," Balkman said. "I took him to the vet, the vet monitored him for a day and said there was something obstructing his bowel, 'We need to go in and operate.'"

Dr. Jayne Jensen performed the operation and removed a large green lump from Beau's intestine.

"She handed it to me, asked me if I knew what this is, and I said, 'Yes, that's a Greenie,'" Balkman said.

The package says Greenies are "100 percent edible" but a company spokeswoman told us they are "85 percent digestible."

"That was not 85 percent digestible," Jensen said. "That was not digestible."

Constance Odle's dog Berkley is recovering from the same emergency surgery. But instead of a Greenie, a similar product was blocking the dogs intestine.

"At first, I thought he ate a piece of a toy and when the vet told me what it was, I felt terrible guilt because I was the one who gave it to him," Odle said.

Berkley is the latest of several dogs Dr. Jennifer McBride has operated on after eating teeth cleaning products, mostly Greenies.

"We will see things in abdomens that will dissolve like bones and over time, they will dissolve and go away. But these are mostly indisolvable, so they tend to get stuck more often," McBride said.

Our investigation discovered the results are sometimes fatal.

"I tried to revive her," said Gilbert Wright.

Wright lost his prized show dog, "Pompey of the Desert" after feeding him a petite size greenies treat. He feels an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"And I will feel that ways for the rest of my life!" Wright said.

During our investigation we tracked down nine people who claim their dogs died after eating greenies. We passed that information on to the company.

A warning on the Greenies label says to make sure you're giving the right size Greenie for your breed of dog. It also cautions you to "monitor your dog to ensure the treat is adequately chewed".

"They don't chew. They don't even have the muscles to chew. I mean, we chew, we do that. Dogs don't do that," said Jensen.

"They also say on their Web site to avoid gulping or sloppy eating but heck people can't even train their children not to do that," said Gilbert Wright.

Company officials with Greenies declined our request for an on-camera interview.

They sent us a statement expressing sadness over all the dogs in our investigation. They say "millions of Greenies are sold and enjoyed by dogs, every week without incident."

And "though injurious incidents are rare, more often than not, the pet is not fed according to our feeding directions."

Gilbert Wright just got a new Pompey, but his heart will always be with the show champion original who won countless awards for agility.

Beau has recovered from surgery and Mathew Balkman feels lucky.

"I'm saddened for the people that have actually lost their pets because we came very close."

Vets say nearly all dog treats, chews and toys can make your pets sick.

They say it's important to keep a close eye on them.

My 12 lb pom has been eating them for 2 years amd I have been giving them to the puppy as well. Now I'm scared. Does anyone know if Bully sticks will cause the same problem or what is safe to give them to chew on? Thanks

thanks for the greenie tip , now what can i give her? darn it... i would like to
knnow about the bully sticks too cause lexi has them everyday...i just keep them laying around the house for whenever she wants to nibble...

I was just at the petsmart over the weekend and I was thinking about getting a box of greenies and now I am happy that I didn't. I will never by those for my dogs. I also heard rawhide you have to be careful with bc it can break off in chunks and dogs can choke on them. I was told to give my dogs all natural chews as toys and things to chew on. Like all natural pigs ears.

I never liked greenies any way as it makes thier stool soft and green ;) . I have always prefeered large chunks of rawhide.

i heard pig ears were no good for them cause they were undigestable..
now im confused.. what can we give them to keep them busy for awhile?

Gucci loafers?? Prada sling backs?? I doubt those are any good for them, but they seem to love them. LOL. Think of all the junk we eat.. My vet told me aslong as its big enough that it dosent get lodged in thier tiny little throats, let them play with it for awhile.

now thats funny , guccu loafers???????????? cant do that, she will attack me as soon as i walk through the door...

Wow!!!!
 

THank you for that post. I thought about buying greenies for Dollars, but now I for sure wont. :thumbdown

Bully sticks are digestible.

I don't give my dogs greenies, rawhides, or pigs ears or anything not digestible competely. I believe bully sticks and springs are fully digestible but I also supervise those carefully to avoid the possibility of choking.

Thanks for the post and the reminder. :thumbup:

now i feel better about bully sticks and can buy a bunch more,, thanks

I never leave them alone with the bully sticks. I keep an eye on her. I suppose they could choke on anything, whether it is digestible or not. ;)

FYI~ My friend gave her BIG dog a pig ear,,and she threw up for 2 days, with diarreha (SP), she was REALLY sick would eat or drink, layed around she thought she was dying,, the vet told her he WOULD NEVER give those to a dog, it has something in it that 75% of all dogs are allergic to... I never gave one to BAiley,,, and dont know if its true,,, but I never would after hearing that.

Greenies, Bully Sticks vs. Breath-a-licious
 

I wonder, do you know what bully sticks actually are? They are the genitalia of bulls! I would not give this to a dog. I have an alternative out there for those of you who no longer want to buy Greenies. Try Breath-a-licious (BAL). They can be bought through Hearts United for Animals' website http://www.ihelppets.com where 100% profit goes to help rescue dogs and stop puppy mills.

Here's what BAL's add says "Compare BAL to Greenies - they are far superior - made with higher quality ingredients, lower in protein which taxes the kidneys and made with five natural breath fresheners which also aid in digestion. BAL is the better choice for your dog. " I give them to my miniature pinscher with no problems. They are somewhat softer than Greenies which probably could be safer for the digestive tract? The chicken protein is supposedly more digestable than the wheat gluten. They are also a little cheaper than greenies.

I hope everyone takes what they read on the internet w/ a grain of salt.

http://www.greenies.com/faqs/details.cfm?ID=146
It says on their website, that greenies are "highly digestible", not 100% digestible.

While most of the time, this is not a problem...as most non-digestible things pass out of the rectum. The particular dog in question may have had some blockage issues, which when compiled w/ the Greenie created a large issue.

What about Nylabone nuti dent?The ingredients are a little different but should I be worried?

This has been discussed repeatedly. The article referenced in the beginning of this thread was an investigative news story, not just something "they read on the internet" that should be taken with a grain of salt.

This is from an earlier post and is eye-opening:

http://improvehomelife.com/greenies.html

http://www.quikonnex.com/channel/item/15576

http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-...1-warning.html

This is the thread it was taken from:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...2&page=2&pp=15

Another perspective. Nothing is safe.

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=15561

Better safe than sorry. No more greenies in this house. They love bull sticks, at least I know they are all natural. :D We'll just stick to those.

Well, that isn't another perspective. That is a toy. It's true that nothing is 100% safe. That's why I said the following in an earlier post on this thread:

Supervision is a key for many things, but greenies have too much going against them from my perspective.

OH man.. thanks for the warning. I am now throwing out ALL greenies in here. Tay loves hers, and of course it takes a while for her to get it down, but no more. :(

Daphne-my pom isn\'t allowed to have anymore after her 1st one was ate within a few hours and then she pooped green for like 2-3 days AND she puked so much up and it was green and chunky and I know it was the greenie.

No more risk taking for me with my girlies! :(

Do the bully sticks smell?

Oh YES! lol :eek:

I do not give Greenies to my kidz. I read on another dog site where someone\'s baby got a Greenie stuck in their throat and it was like cement, the vet was unable to get it out in time and the dog died.
Nor do I use Rawhide. I use beef only, bully sticks and never leave the kidz alone with one.
Barbg

While we\'re on the topic of bad treats...does anyone know about Pnutz? Are they good or bad? They are made by the same company that makes Greenies. So, I\'m wondering if they are just as bad as Greenies? :confused:

Great! That was the first thing I bought for Muffin. He only ate half but now I am gonna be so worried for awhile. So is half of that still sitting in his body, waiting for problem to arise? Stupid companies!! A $.99 treat that can turn into alot of VET bills and even losing our yorkies! Grrrr, I am kinda mad now! MuffinsMom

I wouldnt buy from this company anymore and take a chance. Why support their profits when they are hurting our pets? And from now on I will look up anything and everything before I give it to Muffin. What we all should do to prevent waiting till something happens! MuffinsMom

Dogs can choke on anything or get hurt by anything. Stewie has never had any problems w/ Greenies or P-Nutz and loves them both. I\'m not going to punish him because of one or two stories I\'ve read that have been over-hyped. If we look for a horror story on any type of treat, we will find one, guaranteed.