Greenie Bone Warning

[Adrienne]

This is cross posted from Global Paw per the writters wishes. Her little dog Nickey ended up passing away yesterday due to complications from the greenies.

My little dog, Nickey, a 6 month old Maltese, has survived two surgeries this week and is now stable and recovering at the Vet hospital. After exploration, they found part of a "greenie" bone stuck in his esophagus.

The vets I spoke to this week are furious about this product. The product DOES NOT DISSOLVE if swallowed in chunks that cannot pass through their system. They have done numerous surgeries to remove them, especially from the intestines. This is the first that the Dallas surgeons have seen in the esophagus.

I wanted to share this with you and ask you to pass along this warning to any pet owner that you know and to keep it passing on. BAN THE GREENIES!! I know my little one will never see another greenie again.

After almost $5000 in vet bills since last Friday, this has been a very expensive lesson to learn. The worst part of course is that my little Nickey (only 6 months old) has suffered tremendously and will most likely develop other esophagus problems because of this.

He is not 'out-of-the-woods' yet so I ask that you say a prayer for him. This has been an extremely emotional week for him and for his Mommy.

I'm hoping to get this word out -- not to damage any one in particular -- but to prevent other pets and families from having to go thru this trauma.

[Fran27]

Ugh. Thanks a lot, I'm not buying those anymore :(

[oriondw]

Yeah we stopped buying them after a few of them caused a severe stomach problems for us.

[aurorab]

I have 2 chis and I get either the teenies or the tiny pieces and I watch them very closely. If baby starts to gooble it and not gnaw or chew them she gets it taken away. She's got in trouble b/c she once stole them and I was so worried that she ate them all, and if she was being sneaky she would have gobbled them down. i was so worried. So now they are way out of her reach (my mom was watching her and she found them) and she only gets them when I am around and watching. Maybe I'm a bit over protective but I think it is important. All treats and bones carry some danger but if you know what it is and watch for it it can be ok.
I can't say that I'd stop using them, they help their teeth (brushing can be difficult) and they are one of the few things that they like. So I'll just be extra careful.

thanks.

[Barb04]

Thanks for posting this very important info.

[Adrienne]

I have 2 chis and I get either the teenies or the tiny pieces and I watch them very closely. If baby starts to gooble it and not gnaw or chew them she gets it taken away. She's got in trouble b/c she once stole them and I was so worried that she ate them all, and if she was being sneaky she would have gobbled them down. i was so worried. So now they are way out of her reach (my mom was watching her and she found them) and she only gets them when I am around and watching. Maybe I'm a bit over protective but I think it is important. All treats and bones carry some danger but if you know what it is and watch for it it can be ok.
I can't say that I'd stop using them, they help their teeth (brushing can be difficult) and they are one of the few things that they like. So I'll just be extra careful.

thanks.
From what I understand it isn't that they always may choke on them but that they are not easily digested in the stomach and intestines, so even a small chunck could cause complications after the greenie was ingested. I personally wouldn't risk feeding my dog somthing that is not easily digested, for me this includes rawhides as well. I only feed raw, natrual bones which are the best for cleaning teeth.

[chilover]

My Chihuahua loves those so much that sometimes she doesn;t bother chewing them at all. I cut up a petit size Greenie and she just gobbles it down. I didn't know they didn't dissolve in her stomuck. Once she through it up undigested but that's about it. I never had anything go wrong with those. But I guess better safe than sorry. Get out the tooth brush!

[bubbatd]

Chip will chew any man made bone and swallow......you don't need a tooth brush if you feed crunch food, and raw bones. Yes, I've done the tooth brushing with pups to get them used to it. I've only had one golden's teeth cleaned of my many. He was 12 and was asleep for surgery .....he lived to be 17. My vet mentions my dog's teeth every time I go in......beautiful with no tartar.

[Pugsly]

Yes, you should BAN GREENIES....I was watching a surgery with my vet a few weeks ago and they do not dissolve or digest inside the dog's stomach. I actually saw her pull out the entire Greenie intact. They are very bad for small dogs and can cause numerous copmlications. My vet swears that they are not good as well.

[aurorab]

the lit'l'bits are tiny little bits (like shavings) and they can still chew them and even if they swallow them they are small enough. I will not give then raw hides, they are very bad and can cause choking or ubstrustions. I will only use dental chews they are formulated to disolve annd help clean their teeth. They will not chew them much and will not chew any other bones, so the lit'l' bits are the best for them. Thanks anyway.
Oh and most if not all chewies, rawhides, hooves, etc can either splinter or choke or not disolve or cause ubstructions, etc. The best thing to do is to not leave them unattended and to watch that they do not eat large chunks and if they try to take it away.

[juliefurry]

I stopped giving them to my dog Mack just because I was afraid that something like that would happen. He swallowed big chunks (no matter how hard to tried to get him to chew them up) and I was afraid they'd get stuck in him.

[Zoom]

Why was she feeding a six month old Maltese Greenies in the first place? That dog would be about the size of my rats and any size of greenie would be too big I'd think.

[Renee750il]

One of the guys at the farm co-op asked if he could give Kharma one one day when I had her in there with me. It was hysterical . . . she took it very politely and held it gently in her mouth until we got out to the car, then she bumped me with her nose and dropped it in my hand! She was so polite, but she definitely did NOT want to eat that thing. No Greenies for Kharma, lol!

[sammydawg]

hmmmm... good to know. Sammy LOVES them and I sorta wondered if they were a bad idea. Can't say as I'm too sorry-- they were EXPENSIVE.

[pitbulliest]

If people have dogs that love to chew...I would recommend raw bones..or even the smoked soup beef bones..my pittie loves those but she doesn't get them often because her gums are a bit sensitive and they tend to bleed a tad..

Its sad to know that its really hard to trust any type of dog product manufacturer these days...with north america being one of the most pet obessed places on earth..you'd think they'd put a little more heart and soul into creating safer and healthier products..*sighs*...

[Sheba]

Wendy NEVER had a greenie.Maybe a mammoth one or two, but those things are huge!If she ever steals a chicken wing if we drop one on the floor, we get it from her and rip the meat and the meat only off for her to eat, just so she doesnt think she won't get anything from it...anyway, why would we eat something she licked?Sometimes she gets pig ears or baby back ribs...But only under supervision

[sparks19]

What do you mean by raw bones? Where do you get them from? If you mean bones like you can get at the supermarket I haven't seen any that are big enough for teddy to chew on. Also I thought that real bones were bad for dogs becasue they ssplinter.

[bubbatd]

I've never had a raw bone splinter. Use only shanks or knuckly bones .... though a round bone's O.K. depending on it's size and the size of the dog. A smoked bone is like a cooked bone......stay away !