Chapter 4
CHOWING DOWN
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36. HOW MUCH—AND HOW OFTEN—SHOULD I FEED MY DOG?
Not as much—and not as often—as he’d like you to. Dogs have the stockpile-for-starvation gene, which dictates, “Eat! You never know when you’ll see your next meal.”28 So unless you have a very evolved pup, he’s not going to stop chowing down just because he’s no longer hungry. The amount your dog actually needs—as opposed to what he’ll eat—depends on his metabolism, age, and activity level, as well as on the type of food involved.
I once used a dog sitter who didn’t grasp this concept. She called me in a panic on the fourth morning of a trip because Frankie was throwing up copiously on every visible surface (but particularly on those that are tough to clean, like the couch and rugs). It turned out that she had ignored my written instructions and served Frankie vast bowls of food, which he happily consumed—until his 11-pound body rebelled. Running mini-marathons might have compensated for his gluttony, but Frankie takes his house-guarding duties very seriously while I’m gone, refusing to venture beyond the backyard. Home protection doesn’t burn very many calories.
The dog sitter’s defense—that she only fed Frankie the specified two times a day—brings me to the question of frequency. Because of their feast-and-famine pasts, dogs are designed to go without food for long periods. How long a period between feedings you want to enforce will depend on convenience—and guilt. If you’re around your dog all day, he will try his best to wheedle food out of you. Twice-daily feedings give you less reason to project, “He must be hungry; I would be.” If you’re away for a large part of the day—or aren’t swayed by pleading looks—then feeding once a day is generally fine. Although dogs don’t have a preference, most people, and especially those who leave home for work, prefer morning feedings, on the premise that a satisfied dog won’t feel the need to chew on shoes or furniture (in Chapter 7, I also discuss keeping your dog occupied by putting part of his morning meal in a puzzle toy). And morning feedings eliminate the fear that your dog is only happy to see you when you get home because you’re a meal ticket.
For large, deep-chested breeds that are prone to bloat—a life-threatening condition that requires surgery, not just a little gas—feeding smaller portions twice or even three times a day is a better plan. Some people even advocate free-feeding for these breeds, i.e., leaving food around all day so they won’t inhale their food at mealtimes. Free-feeding is not recommended in general, however, not only because it’s an invitation for most dogs to overeat, but also because constant access to food can make pups finicky.
37. WHAT ABOUT TREATS?
In theory, treats should be reserved as training aids or as pet sitters. That is, foods that take a long time to consume—for example, peanut butter stuffed into a rubber Kong cone—are the canine version of popping your kid in front of a video when you need a bit of quiet time or when you’re away from home.
In reality, it’s tough to resist a hang-dog look or the urge to reward your pup for sheer doginess. Healthy snacks are a good way to resolve the dilemma. Dog biscuits and other cookielike products with little nutritional value—and huge price markups—are designed to appeal to you. Dogs don’t associate apple slices, raw carrots, string beans, dried chicken strips, and other pooch-paunch deterrents with deprivation. So don’t tell them.
Along with monitoring their nutritional content, you should dole out nontraining treats according to a set routine, the better to prevent free-floating begging. For example, Frankie gets something to nosh on whenever I sit down to eat—which makes me aware just how frequently this occurs. And my best friend Clare gives her dog Archie a snack whenever she opens a bottle of wine. As a friend of hers observed, “When Archie is obese, we’ll know you’re an alcoholic.”29
38. IS IT OKAY TO MAKE MY DOG A VEGETARIAN?
Not really. If you became a vegetarian to avoid cruelty to animals, why practice it on the one you’ve chosen to share your home with? Your dog could survive on a nonmeat diet, but she wouldn’t thrive. That doesn’t mean meat has to comprise the bulk of her menu, or that you have to handle uncooked hunks of it; leave the raw food diet (see question 45) to the carnivores.
39. WHAT’S BEST—WET OR DRY FOOD?
It depends on your dog—and on your budget.
Dry food or kibble is generally more economical than wet food and better for dental health because it’s abrasive. Kibble is not necessarily as nutritious as wet food, however (which isn’t saying much, in many cases of both varieties; see the following question). The canning process allows for the inclusion of a higher percentage of meat and the exclusion of chemical preservatives.
And wet food tends to be more palatable. Many dogs aren’t wild about unadorned pellets—would you be?—so lots of people liven them up with anything from chicken broth to cottage cheese or wet food. This reduces the convenience and economy of kibble.
Smaller dogs and older ones with diminished appetites are often prime candidates for wet food, and big, young lugs usually do fine with kibble. In short, consider such variables as the size, health, and activity level of your dog—and your gag reflex. Dogs often love canned food but they love garbage, too. You may have a tough time dishing out a morning repast that looks and smells repellent to you.
40. WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF KIBBLE AND CANNED FOOD ON THE MARKET, HOW DO I KNOW WHICH TO BUY?
Let’s start with what you can ignore when trying to decide about both varieties: terms such as “premium,” “gourmet,” “natural,” “sensible,” “scientific,” and “holistic” are all meaningless buzz words designed to push your “I’m-a-good-dog-owner” buttons. Don’t bother paying attention to the pictures, either; that nice-looking steak on the package or can bears little resemblance to any meat form that might be inside. Nor does the name of the product provide much useful information. Something called “chicken formula” only has to include 25 percent of chicken products—not chicken meat—by weight. “With chicken” means only 3 percent chicken in some variation needs to be present.
For a better sense of what you’re buying, go straight to the ingredients list, arranged in order of weight. Even here, you’re on shaky ground. The ingredient specifications outlined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), which regulates the pet food industry, are a canine Da Vinci Code. The “crude protein” requirement, for example, says nothing about digestibility, so the protein source could be old shoes. For additional information—including details on the limitations of AAFCO,30 which has close ties to the industry it’s designed to police—see The Dog Food Project, www.dogfoodproject.com.
The best practical guides to what to feed your pup are the Whole Dog Journal’s (www.whole-dog-journal.com) annual reviews of dry and wet dog foods. These not only explain labels and provide formulas for calculating nutrient levels but also recommend and pan specific products.
So with the caveat that this is just a rough outline, you want a wet or dry food that …
CONTAINS MORE PROTEIN THAN GRAIN
Having meat or another protein source as the first ingredient should be enough to ensure that the product is indeed primarily protein. But some manufacturers are sneaky, breaking down less desirable ingredients into component parts to get around putting them at the top of the list. For example, they might cite chicken first, followed by ground corn, corn gluten, corn bran—which, in combination, outweigh the chicken.
CONTAINS IDENDITIFIABLE PROTEINS AND FATS
The protein source should have a recognizable, not generic, name. That is, it should be “beef,” “lamb,” “turkey,” or “chicken” as opposed to “meat,” “animal,” or “poultry.” That’s true too for the “meals”—for example, “chicken meal” as opposed to “poultry meal.” Avoid by-products and especially unnamed ones, altogether. In spite of their grainy-sounding appellations, meals are not undesirable—under AAFCO definitions, they’re required to include meat, skin, and possibly bones in dehydrated form, but not feathers, hair, innards, and other, even more disgusting things (appetite spoiler alert: for example, tumors or euthanized dogs).
Fats and oils, essential for skin and coat health, should have specific names, too. So you want “chicken fat” rather than “animal fat,” “herring oil” rather than “fish oil,” “sunflower oil” rather than “vegetable oil,” and so on. Avoid anything that contains mineral oil altogether, because the “mineral” from which it’s derived tends to be petroleum.
CONTAINS WHOLE GRAINS OR INTACT CARBOHYDRATE SOURCES
Look for whole grains like brown rice (as opposed to brewer’s rice), oatmeal, and whole ground barley, not “fragments” or flour. Corn is not always bad for dogs—though many are sensitive to it—but it has little redeeming nutritional value when in its most common pet food form: as a filler. Similarly, ingredients such as soybean meal, beet pulp, and cereal food, while not necessarily unhealthy on their own in small amounts, are cheap by-products of human food manufacturers that often turn up in pet products produced by the same companies. Sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas, and other starches that tend to turn up in higher-quality dog food are fine as carbohydrates sources.
CONTAINS NATURAL PRESERVATIVES
You’ll want derivatives of Vitamin E and C, including the former in its “mixed tocopherols” incarnation, the latter in forms like rosemary-, sage-, and clove extract, ascorbyl palmitate, and ascorbic acid. Avoid the scarier acronyms: BHA, BHT, and TBHQ, along with ethoxyquin and sodium meta-bisulphite.
DOESN’T CONTAIN FOOD COLORINGS, SWEETENERS, OR SALT
Dogs don’t care about the hue of their food, so avoid anything that contains “numbered” dyes such as Red 40; they’re designed to make greyish meat products look more genuinely meaty. Caramel coloring is probably the least noxious of these cover-ups.
Dogs do, on the other hand, fall for the unhealthy sweeteners that often turn up in poor-quality food to make them more palatable. They include cane molasses, corn syrup in any form, sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin (the name alone should be enough to warn you off), and propylene glycol.31 Blackstrap molasses and honey are fine when consumed sparingly in treats; you just don’t want large amounts of them in anything your dog eats on a regular basis, lest your pup start jonesing for sweets.
The same goes for salt (a.k.a. sodium chloride on many packages), which is no better for your dog than it is for you. As with sugar, it’s used to make generic meat products more appealing. Give your dog enough food with this needless seasoning and he’ll soon be competing with you for the pretzels and popcorn.
41. ARE DRY AND CANNED FOOD THE ONLY OPTIONS?
No. Premixed (but requiring you to add ingredients such as meat and water), freeze-dried, dehydrated, rolled, frozen, and fresh-chilled (cooked and refrigerated before shipping) dog foods have become increasingly common in recent years. All claim to provide a healthy and balanced diet in a convenient, nonperishable (or at least long-lasting) form.
Not all are as balanced or as convenient as others—nor as appealing to every dog. I tried one of the dehydrated varieties, only to discover that, after adding water, I had to wait 10 minutes before the food reconstituted itself. Used to more immediate gratification when he spots me puttering around the kitchen, Frankie waited impatiently for dinner. Upon finally being presented with a doggie version of grits, he turned up his nose at the bowl. I’m not sure whether he wanted something to sink his teeth into, or whether it was an olfactory issue; Frankie refused to discuss it.
But that’s hardly a statistically significant sample (except to me). I’m told that dog food rolls—which have the consistency of liverwurst—are so tasty that bits are used as training treats, and that they’re the only thing some finicky pups will deign to dine on.
All in all, these products run the gamut in taste, texture, and Rex appeal. If you decide to use them in a diet plan, it’s always best to check with your vet—and with the Whole Dog Journal, which has reviewed many of them. At a minimum, make sure you choose a food that’s labeled “complete and balanced.”
42. AREN’T BETTER-QUALITY FOODS MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE THAN BIG COMMERCIAL BRANDS?
The difference in price between a high-quality company’s food and a major manufacturer’s “premium” product isn’t all that significant, but with the big companies you’re also paying for advertising, whereas the smaller businesses generally spend more on the product and less on pushing it. And for some niche varieties, such as freeze dried and dehydrated, you’re eliminating the water weight that bulks up other products—and inflates their prices. To economize on high-class kibble, buy in bulk and store the unused portions in sealed bags in a cool, dark place.
More to the point: pay now or pay later at the vet. Crappy32 food is bad for your dog’s health. Period.
43. HOW DO I AVOID FOODS THAT MIGHT BE RECALLED?
With difficulty. If possible, restrict yourself to products that list the country of origin of their ingredients and the location of the manufacturing plant.33 When I realized that one of my (former) favorite brands of chicken strips, sold by a small company promoting its healthy products, were produced in China, I stopped buying them. The company claims that they spot test each batch and I’m pleased about the disclosure of the factory locale—which is more than many large manufacturers do—but I think I’ll wait until they move their production to the United States in case some melamine slips through, thank you.
In September 2007, a few months after the massive pet food recalls, Congress passed the Food and Drug Association’s Amendments Act (FDAAA), which mandated new standards and improved labeling within two years. Don’t hold your breath for anything to happen. In 2008, a year after the FDAAA’s passage, instead of starting from scratch and writing new, more effective legislation, committee members dredged up the old laws and added huge loopholes. And, as we went to press in 2009, the early warning and notification systems mandated for pet food recalls were nowhere in evidence. To find out about recalls, your best bet is to check the ASPCA’s website, www.aspca.org.
44. GIVEN ALL THE MANUFACTURING PROBLEMS, WHY CAN’T I JUST PREPARE FOOD AT HOME FOR MY DOG?
You can. There’s a common misconception that dogs should never eat human food. More accurately, your dog shouldn’t subsist on table scraps or eat scraps that are unhealthy for them.34
Which is a comparatively recent development. Dogs did fine on scraps when they lived on farms. The first prepared dog food was a response to city life: In 1860, James Spratt created Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes to provide London’s shipyard pups with more nutrition than they could get from scavenging hardtack (biscuits). Many of the mass-prepared dog foods that followed in the United States continued to feature meat, if not prime cuts, until the Depression. With the rise of highly processed dog food after World War II, any real health benefits were sacrificed for convenience and low cost (especially for manufacturers). The fact that so much human food is equally unhealthy explains why table grazing isn’t an ideal nutritional plan for your pup.
I came to home cooking for Frankie reluctantly, because I tend to avoid cooking for myself. When I learned about the problems with many commercial dog foods, I simply switched to better brands. Then Frankie was diagnosed with diabetes and my vet prescribed a kibble in which “chicken meal by-products” was the sole ingredient that seemed to have even a remote connection to the natural universe. And none of the good-quality brands fit the recommended high-fiber/no-grain /low-fat bill.
I won’t go through the saga of seeking a home-cooked diet tailored to a small, insulin-dependent dog. Suffice it to say, the two holistic practices I consulted were long on supplements and general advice—and, in one case, on testicle-site massage (see question 27)—and short on actual portion sizes and ingredient proportions. It took lots of independent research and many weight/age/exercise level calculations to come up with the ideal Frankie formula. Diets that need to be adjusted for other health problems, or those geared toward modifying behavior (which I discuss in Chapter 6), pose challenges that may make home cooking extremely difficult if not impracticable.
Even if your dog is healthy, deciding to prepare meals in your kitchen requires more than throwing some good ingredients together. For an adult, you’ll want to create a diet that includes, roughly, 25 to 30 percent protein, 30 to 35 percent fat, and 30 to 35 percent carbohydrates (preferably complex), 35 in the appropriate portion size for her weight and exercise level.
My favorite source for balanced recipes is the amusing and informative Becoming the Chef Your Dog Thinks You Are by Micki Voisard,36 a self-described Master Dog Chef (www.dogchefs.com). Other recommended books include Dr. Pit-cairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets by Donald Strombeck, and Real Food for Dogs by Arden Moore.
Another option, though not an inexpensive one, is a nutritional consultant, who will tailor recipes to your dog. Reputable businesses, including The Possible Canine (www.thepossiblecanine.com) and Veterinary Nutritional Consultations Inc. (www.petdiets.com), will not send the diet directly to you, but will fax it to your vet for approval. Health research geeks—if you keep the Merck Manual on your nightstand, that means you—might start with the National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements of Dogs, available from The National Academies Press (books.nap.edu), a dense, comprehensive resource intended for professionals.
45. WHAT ABOUT THE BONES AND RAW FOOD DIET?
The premise of this “evolutionary” regimen—introduced by Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst in Give Your Dog a Bone (1993)—is to put your pup in touch with his inner wolf. Eschewing grains and focusing on raw meat, vegetables, eggs, and other foods found in nature (mostly; somehow yogurt found its way in), the diet seeks to replicate the preprocessed menu of canids past. And the program deems chomping on raw bones so atavistically enjoyable as to enhance a dog’s immune system.
Even setting aside the issue of the considerable differences between today’s domestic dogs and their ancestors, I can’t help but be suspicious of an eating plan that has BARF as its acronym. Why risk being mistaken for a dog bulimia manifesto? With a simple word substitution, the diet’s advocates could have had the clever, nonpuke referencing—not to mention vocabulary-enhancing—BARC, for Bones and Raw Comestibles.37 Too late; it’s mine now.
Having gotten that out of my system, as it were, BARF has many appealing aspects, not the least of which is its avoidance of cooking. Many breeders swear by the plan and one vet I spoke with said many of her patients thrive on it. The diet has become so popular that it’s spurred the creation of local co-ops that buy meat in bulk from butchers, as well as of lines of packaged, dehydrated food and supplements (which would seem to defeat the whole dancing-with-wolves premise).
Probably the most controversial aspect of the diet in its purest form—aside from the care that needs to be taken to avoid salmonella38—is the question of whether the benefits of chewing bones, even raw ones, outweigh the risk of having them splinter and lodge in the esophagus or digestive tract.
As it happens, Frankie is on a modified BARF diet. He eats mostly lightly cooked vegetables, meat, fish, and eggs, no grain. Bones are not an issue. Pre-diabetes, when I used to give him uncooked marrow bones, he licked out the tasty, high-fat centers, chewed off the bits of meat left on the outside, but only nibbled desultorily on the bones themselves before losing interest. I guess he’s more evolved in the bone-gnawing department than he is in the eat-while-you-can arena (see question 36).
46. DOES MY DOG NEED SUPPLEMENTS?
It depends on the diet she’s following—and how you feel about supplements. I try to eat enough vegetables, fish, cheese, and chocolate and drink sufficient quantities of red wine to fulfill my daily vitamin and antioxidant requirements without resorting to pills. Because Frankie can’t follow the same regimen, I give him calcium and a multivitamin. Those who buy packaged dog food—as opposed to home cooking—shouldn’t need to add nutrients; that’s what AAFCO approval is meant to ensure. And as with the human varieties, pet supplements aren’t regulated. If you’re thinking about buying mineral-enhanced designer water for your dog, I have some oceanfront property in Tucson that might interest you, too. But that doesn’t mean I necessarily recommend unfiltered tap water. As has been widely reported, the water systems of several cities throughout the United States are laced with pharmaceuticals—the result of people flushing expired drugs down the toilet. You really don’t want to dose your dog with even small quantities of antibiotics—or with Viagra.
47. HOW DO I GET MY DOG TO BE LESS PICKY?
I’ve heard it suggested, including by vets, that if your dog is “gaming” you by not eating his food, stop feeding him for a few days. When he’s hungry enough, he’ll eat whatever you put in his bowl.
I don’t question the effectiveness of that advice. It would doubtless work on a picky child, too. So what if the snubbed food has the potential to make your dog sick—which is why he didn’t eat it in the first place? You’ve proved your dominance over a starving pet.
True, dogs can be manipulative. Frankie sometimes barks and rushes to the front door, even if there’s no one there, hoping that after I’ve left my desk, I’ll head to the refrigerator for a snack—and give him one, too. (Okay, I admit it worked a few times; I’m on to him now, though!) But doggie deception is generally geared toward getting food, or getting more of it, not acquiring a particular kind. Trust your pup. Dogs have—and develop—food sensitivities and allergies. If yours isn’t eating the comestibles you give him, try different comestibles (yes, I’m trying to accustom you to that word, the better to popularize my future raw food diet).
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It could also be a question of your dog not liking a food’s texture or smell; the latter often occurs as dogs grow older and their sniffers get weaker. Adding a small portion of something more desirable to kibble often does the trick.
Food switching can upset a pup’s stomach if you don’t do it gradually, and it’s essential to check with your vet if your dog has lost his appetite. But dogs are, literally, creatures of habit, and don’t mind eating the same thing every day if they like it.39 So if your pup balks at his dinner, he’s trying to tell you something. Please listen.
48. IS IT OKAY TO GIVE MY DOG DIET PILLS IF SHE’S TOO HEAVY?
Sure, if you have money to burn and don’t mind turning your dog into a guinea pig. Doggie diet aids are relatively new, but if they follow the path of the human variety, they’re likely to prove harmful down the line. My prescription: feed your dog less—or better—and exercise her more. Canned pumpkin, for example, falls into the “better” category. It’s a low-calorie—if you don’t make the mistake of buying the sugar-filled kind—high-fiber food that makes your dog feel full. By substituting pumpkin for half a portion of kibble, many owners have seen their pups shed unwanted weight. Because it’s naturally sweet, most dogs really love it, too.
If your dog knows how to raid the refrigerator, get a good lock for it. If she’s able to pick the lock, get her a job as a dog actor (or thief). She’ll get plenty of exercise—and you’ll have added incentive to keep her trim by avoiding overfeeding.
Of course, if she has an actual glandular problem, then pills are okay.
49. MY DOG HAS HALITOSIS. WILL THE BREATH MINTS I’VE SEEN IN PET STORES HELP?
They’ll help for about as long as they help your alcoholic uncle Dave cover his whiskey breath at family gatherings. In dogs, bad breath is generally caused by tooth and gum problems. Forget the faux-candy cover-ups; you need to get to the source of your pooch’s halitosis by checking with a vet or veterinary dentist.
50. SO DO I NEED TO BRUSH MY DOG’S TEETH?
I’m afraid so. Some 75 percent of dogs—the number is higher in small dogs—suffer from periodontal disease by the time they’re two or three years old. It can be headed off, to a large extent, by beginning to brush in puppyhood. I avoided brushing during my first few years with Frankie because, well, I didn’t want to. His teeth are short but sharp, and I suspected he’d be opposed to having me put anything besides food or toys into his mouth. Besides, I never let him chew gum or eat sugary snacks.40
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The bottom line: At one point in my quest for a diabetes-friendly diet, three different vets looked into Frankie’s mouth, clucked, and recommended a professional cleaning, suggesting that, if unchecked, the bacteria massing in Frankie’s gums might course through his immunity-impaired bloodstream and attack his heart, brain, lungs, and liver. Doggie dentistry and muzzles being mutually exclusive, the procedure requires general anesthesia, which makes it very expensive. And by the time I got him to the dentist, he had to have seven teeth removed.
To ensure that Frankie won’t end up capable only of gumming his food—or look even more like a little redneck pup than he already does—I became a teeth-cleaning fool.
Note: Don’t fall for advertisements for anesthesia-free cleanings outside of a vet’s office. For one thing, the dangers of anesthesia have been greatly exaggerated; under proper monitoring, the risk is minimal. More to the point, non-professional plaque removal is worse than no cleaning at all. Periodontal disease starts below the gum line—an area that’s painful to reach. The purely cosmetic cleaning that a groomer can legally perform may fool you into thinking that your dog’s teeth are healthy when they aren’t. Moreover, such necessary adjunct procedures as x-rays, polishing, and flouride rinse have to be done under anesthesia in order to be effective and safe. The cost? Again, pay now or pay later. In dogs, as in humans, scientists are increasingly finding links between periodontal disease and heart disease and other life-threatening conditions.
If you’re wondering how to convince your own dirty-mouthed dog to submit to this process, here are some tips.
START SLOWLY AND STAY UPBEAT
Getting your dog used to having a foreign object that isn’t food or a toy in his mouth is more than half the battle. Dip your finger into low-salt beef or chicken bouillon, let your dog lick it off, and then rub your bouillon-soaked finger gently over a small area of teeth and gums (luckily, you don’t have to get inside the teeth; your dog takes care of that with his tongue).
Act excited, like this invasion of dental privacy is a treat, until you’ve managed to convince your dog to be equally enthusiastic. Expect it to take a few days, minimum.
ADD ABRASIVENESS
In surface, not attitude. Continue to be enthusiastic while, with a finger now swathed in bouillon-soaked gauze, you rub the teeth and gums with small circular motions.
SWITCH FROM BOUILLON TO TOOTHPASTE (OR RINSE OR GEL)
But not to your brand, which can upset your dog’s stomach; dogs can’t be trained to rinse and spit, so yours is going to swallow whatever you use. Mint isn’t a preferred taste, in any case; canine toothpaste flavors range from malt and chicken to wild salmon.
Note: This step can be eliminated and you can continue to use low-sodium bouillon if your dog likes it. It’s cheaper and, except for the small amount of salt, doesn’t have any potentially unhealthy ingredients.
SWITCH RUBBING INSTRUMENTS
When your dog is used to the toothpaste, get him accustomed to whatever instrument you plan to use. Options include toothbrushes, dental sponges, and dental pads. I like the finger brush, a kind of rubber finger puppet with a rough surface at the tip. It gives you more control, or at least the illusion of it. If you use a brush, work the toothpaste down deep into the bristles; otherwise, your dog will just eat the toothpaste and skip the uninteresting part of the process.
MOVE INTO VIRGIN TOOTH TERRITORY
After you’ve got your dog used to the toothbrush or toothbrush surrogate and toothpaste in a small part of her mouth, keep adding teeth to the procedure, until you get them all.
The good news: dogs’ teeth are too close together to require flossing.
51. ARE CHLOROPHYLL BONES AND OTHER CHEWS AS EFFECTIVE AS BRUSHING?
No. According to the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC www.vohc.org), brushing is the gold standard. Although the VHOC does approve some products in the following categories as complementary to dental health, the cure may be worse than the disease—especially because, unlike brushing which is interactive by definition, not everyone remembers the importance of supervising a chewing pup.
CHLOROPHYLL BONES
The best known of these, Greenies, were taken off the market temporarily a few years ago because they caused fatal blockages in several dogs. The chewed pieces reconstituted themselves, gluelike, in their stomachs. Greenies were reformulated to eliminate that problem, but these and similar products can still cause choking if dogs eat pieces that are too large—this usually occurs when owners ignore the size/weight recommendation—or don’t chew them sufficiently. That could be said for any food, of course, but it certainly defeats the teeth-cleaning goal in this case.
RAWHIDE
These addictive leather strips may pose multiple threats to your dog. Toxic chemicals used to cure and strip hair from the animal hides may include arsenic and formaldehyde, and carcinogenic dyes, such as Red 30, are often used to color the hides and give them flavors such as bubble gum and teriyaki. Because dogs spend hours chewing these strips, they get maximum exposure to these toxins.41
Consider, too, that rawhide expands to four times its size when soaked in liquid. This means that if your dog swallows large enough pieces, they can expand and cause intestinal blockages—just as the original Greenies did.
That’s not to suggest you should never use rawhides, as they’re a good way to keep mouthy pups from chewing even more potentially dangerous—or valuable—stuff. Just choose the type you buy carefully. The Whole Dog Journal emphasizes the importance of sticking to rawhides made in the United States, and especially recommends those made by Wholesome Hide in Chicago.
ASSORTED BODY PARTS
Hooves, tendons, ears, snouts, knuckles, and even penises … if there’s a cow or pig part that can be sold as a dog chew, it’s on the market. These anatomical edibles are promoted as all-natural, and many of them are indeed just desiccated versions of the originals. Others, especially those produced in countries outside the United States, contain dangerous preservatives. Conversely, if they’re not preserved well enough, they may contain salmonella bacteria. And the good brands are expensive.
Everyone has a gross-out threshold. I reach mine with food items that bear too close a resemblance to their origins. In addition to meeting that criterion, hooves are very hard, which means dogs can crack their teeth on them. I’m told, moreover, that they smell really pungent, as do bull penises, a.k.a. bullysticks.42 Much to my relief, Frankie wasn’t interested in the pig’s ear I once brought home—being a rescue, he could be kosher for all I know—and I’ve avoided similar items ever since.