I actually give my dog an off brand- it's basically the same thing, but shaped like a bone and she loves it.

Why don't you present both sides of the argument, or at least a link to something that would be a little more informative?

my dog likes these but I cant give them to him. He always chokes on the pieces that he breaks off. no more greenies for him!

I have given my dog both the greenies and the off brand that looks like a bone. He loves them and it helps with his breath (it smells like something has died in there sometimes). He will not let me brush his teeth, so this is my only option.

I used to give my dogs Greenies, but one choked. It was so far in his throat I couldn't fish it out, and hubby had to tip the dog upside down and do the Heimlech on him. Bulldogs have tiny throats. BAD.

I have a small dog with a HUGE mouth and the only think that keeps him from chewing everything else is to shove a large Greenie in his mouth. Keeps him busy for a few minutes and he loves them! HORRAY FOR GREENIES!

Dylan LOVES greenies, but I've heard HORROR stories about dogs choking, so I stopped buying them. Better to be safe than sorry.

Cuba doesn't always chew things the whole way so I have stopped giving them to him.

I have heard the bad things about them, but for me my dog just won't eat them. My local pet store has something shaped similar that is more meat flavored and which serves them same purpose (teeth cleaning) but don't seem to have the same crumbling issue that so many worry about with the choking.

In case anyone is interested in the other teethcleaning bone, I just looked and it is Dentabone by Pedegree

I have a bunch of friends who have had bad experience with Greenies. I tried giving them to my dogs and neither one of them would touch em.

My dog loves them, I joke that they must put crack in them or something. He's a little wimpy with treats/toys/etc so he will happily sit there an gnaw on the thing. I would be really hesitant to give them if he swallowed them in large pieces.

That's it! Dentabones! They actually seem to be a little less crumbly than the greenies. They are less exspensive and might be a little safer. I bought a huge bag of them at Sam's Club once for about $10.

There is a link in that story to CNN.

My dogs LOVE Greenies, but you have to be SUPER careful how often you let dogs have them, they aren't good to feed them all the time, dogs can get REALLY sick from eating too Greenies too often or some dogs at all - like really little dogs... my friend tiny dog got really sick from too much of one of the ingredients.

my pup loved greenies! we called my father-in-law dr. greenie (he is a professor)because we would always find him sneaking them to our dog when we weren't looking. but we stopped giving them because of the choking danger. however, the day we decided to put her down we let her have as many as she wanted (though she was so weak that day she didn't want that many).

I was sitting in my cats vets office when a woman rushed her King Cav Spaniel in to the hospital. The poor thing was in severe pain. Why? No one knew for a while. I went to my appointment with my cats. Was paying at the front desk, which takes forever.

While I was paying the KCS women and the vet tech came out and another vet. The vet announced to people in the waiting of this busy and popular SF vet, "We ask that you please stop feeding your dogs and cats "Greenies" products. They don't digest properly and your pet will end up have to have surgery to have to blockage removed if its lucky."

She had given the poor dog one small Greenies bone and pieces of it had molded together to block her intestinal tract. I called my sister told her to stop feeding Nike "greenies". She said, "Nike never ate them anyway she buried them in the backyard."

I don't see why anyone would risk feeding Greenies to their dog if there was ANY chance of the dog choking or having an intestinal obstruction. There are plenty of other good natural treats on the market. This and rawhide both- bleh. Also people still give their dogs bones all the time. I gave one of my dogs bones for years- not chicken- and thought all was well until he got intestinal bleeding. The vet says NO COOKED BONES, not worth the risk. The cooking process makes them splinter into sharp shards. If you must feed bones then raw are the way to go- the safest ones you can buy at good pet stores.

Also whoever said that their dog's breath smells terrible- your dogs breath should not really smell like anything if he/ she is healthy, unless he/ she has eaten something nasty recently. Bad breath often signals intestinal problems or a bad diet. Try changing the diet to something natural or organic (preferably) and also you can try a table spoon or two of plain yogurt every day!

I've never used Greenies for dogs, but my cats love their treats from Greenies.

I had never heard anything bad about Greenies when I first got Brando, so I started buying them for him when his chewing got out of control. He LOVES them! He goes bonkers over them and it's gone in about 5 minutes. Then at Christmas, a family member mentioned that Greenies had all these issues with dogs digesting them and my bf's family's mastiff had almost choked on one. I did a lot of research and found that ingredients were changed and that there haven't been any recent incidents, but I stopped buying them anyway. I'm convinced, however, that despite the issues, it would never have slowed Brando down. Just before I stopped buying them, Brando got into his overnight bag that was with us when we were traveling with him for the holidays and ate a week's worth supply of them. No choking, no digestive problems....it just gave him green poop (and lots of it) for a few days. My dog has an ironclad stomach...

My dogs just don't go for greenies. They would actually play with them like toys instead of eating them.

My dogs LOVE them is like crack to them...I haven't had any problems with them. (knock on wood)

I always buy Greenies for my dog & my cats too!!

My vet stopped selling the canine Greenies after seeing a trend of the dogs having problems with them. The cat treats are fine, though. My Persian cat nearly has a blood clot when I rattle the bag! They are his favorite!

CJane,

Bad breath often means that the cat or dog needs a dental cleaning. Very important to have checked out as neglected teeth can lead to problems with internal organs. I have my cat's teeth professionally cleaned by the vet every year. And, I am trying to get him used to having his teeth brushed at home. THAT'S going over like a fart in church!

My dogs have never had Greenies but we once them gave them something similar in another brand. They ate them so fast that it really did nothing for the breath. So I just dont bother with those.

There are actually a lot of dog treats that have problems. For example rawhides, besides the fact that rawhides are just bad for digestive tract some of them are preserved in horrible chemicals. Thats why you have to wary of what country things are made in and what they are made of

My chihuahua loves them, but she does eat them up pretty fast. Now that there's a story like that, I'm pretty sure I won't be buying them anymore. I'd like to have my dog around for as long as possible. That story scared me enough. And now that some vets are against them, I really won't be buying them anymore.

i think the thing a lot of people forget is that there is risk of choking and digestive tracts being blocked with any chew or toy. Always supervise your pets when giving them ANY chews or toys.
If your pet likes to swallow without chewing properly, you should definately avoid them.

I once got something similar, they were minty rings, same basic intentions. Made my dogs throw up, not fun for them.

The best thing I have found is broccoli, with the full stem. The florets are good for them, and the stem helps to clean their teeth.
A few things though, it can make a little bit of a mess, so it's an outdoor thing, and like others have mentioned, you really shouldn't leave your dog alone with anything they can choke on.

I can only give these to my two bigger dogs, and they love them. Those two will actually chew the pieces before swallowing them; I think it's much easier for them because they have a stronger bite. Also, they've never been sick from them.

My two toy poodles, however, cannot have these. They can't chew them well enough and get sick after eating one. They also made a bit of a mess with them, as well.

Basically, I have mixed feelings about them, and only ever give them to my big boys whenever I can supervise them... I do like the basic intent, though. They're just not the safest things ever for smaller breeds, I think.

someone mentioned Why anyone would buy their dog something that might be a choking hazzard. Well ANYTHING could fall into that category. B-Bop eats these, he likes them hasn't had any problems. I've talked to 2 vets who haven't had any problems with them either. No one I personally know has had issues with them. I mean how many millions of these must they sell a year? And when a couple pups get ill, suddenly they're the worst thing ever. Well maybe they aren't for everyone, but obviously they're fine for plenty.

I just thought I would point out that the CNN article that Pet linked to is actually from FEBRUARY 2006. Which would make it two years old and not exactly current news. As Phasekitty mentioned, Greenies completely revamped their formula in October of 2006 with a special emphasis on digestability.

I thought this whole thing sounded fishy because I first bought Greenies for Shenanigans after seeing an ad in Real Simple heralding the new formula (I had never heard of them before that since we'd only had Shenans for a few months) and then I checked out the website and was really impressed. Ever since then, Shenans gets a Greenie once a week and she loves them. We've never had a problem. Although the concerned pet owner in me is going to check with the vet at our next appt.

Marley had them a couple times when he was young, but I've heard some horror stories about them so I choose not to give them to him anymore.

They make Greenies for cats too and my cat used to love them until I tried "Temptations" made by Whiskas. She's absolutely crazy over these and only wants them at snack time. If you have a kitty you should really try them.

Pedigree makes one that my dog likes just as well as greenies................they are called denta stix. he eats about one a day. they were the only thing that stopped the whining when i took away his greenies. i saw a min pin choke on a greenie. it was horribly distressing but even more so cause he was 14yrs old and blind, tried to bite everyone who came near to help him. he will also take the denta stix too!!

Holy crap I hadn't anything negative about the greenies before...now I'm freaked out! My dog loves them and has one ever day. She's never had troubles with them. Thanks everyone for all the info and stories - I am going to talk to me vet and see what he has to say. Although I have to agree with preson who said the post by PetSugar was a bit one sided.

The shelter where we adopted Holly fed them Greenies and then I heard a report about how bad they are, so I checked with my vet and he said as long as Holly chews them and we feed her the correct size, everyhing is fine.

They have Feline Greenies also, but my cats don't like them at all.

My dogs love Greenies! The bad rumors about Greenies are both old and ill-informed. As others have said here, Greenies were changed a while back to be more digestible and easier to chew. Additionally, any smart pet owner should make sure to 1) buy the appropriate sized Greenie and 2) make sure the dog is supervised when eating ANY bone.

I tried giving my dogs the off brand and the one of them didn't care for it at all and the other played with it for a short while once and since then has never touched it. I hadn't heard about the horror stories so i'm releived that my pups didn;t take a liking to the greenies because they can chew, bit e and try to eat nearly everything.

I unfortunately have to brush io's teeth as much as possible since she has a tooth condition where the enamel isn't fully formed on all her teeth (it's kind of double-layered). So these Greenies wouldn't be very affective on her.

I have a friend whose dog had to have abdominal surgery to remove greenies from his digestive track...I will never give mine greenies because i don't want to take a chance that it would happen to one of them...

Our Daisy like to take her treats under the bed to eat them, and I'm too scared she would choke on them. I've thought about buying them, but she doesn't really have breath/teeth problems, so I never did.

as ehadams said, you really have to be sure you're giving your dog the correct size. the one story i had read about these a couple of years ago stated that the owners were giving the dogs a size larger than they should have been using. i was surprised that my pug is actually supposed to have the teenie. at the beginning i was giving her the one size up. so yes, please be sure you are giving the correct size

They can also stain your carpet. No greenies in our house!

BAD BAD BAD. My Pug almost died because of them. They are *supposed* to break down in the digestive system but they don't break down properly. They made him sick, he was throwing up large pieces, the vet said he could have gotten bound up and needed surgery, he could have died if I hadn't brought him in.

I've given my kitties the Greenies cat treats in the past and they didn't like them at all.

I had a beautiful and loving Chihuahua - he was my best friend, hero and protector we were crazy about each other and went everywhere together everything I did I did with him in mind. We went through the loss of my husband his daddy and remained well - until one night he was excited and started chewing on his greenie I was in bed and heard him coughing and ran to his aid - but he stopped coughing and seemed okay - then he began to loose weight and not being able to keep his food down - he had always been emotional and we thought his behavior was from the death of my husband, then we had to move three times - so I thought once I got setteled he would be okay - but instead my baby kept loosing weight - finally we all knew it could not be the emotional stress but by then my baby only weighed seven pounds - usually he weighed l0 pounds - they wanted to do exploratory surgery but I knew he could not handle the surgery and as sick as he was I just could not put him through that I lost him last Tuesday and I suspect it was from that night he chewed on the greenie - I have no evidence but please be careful we all love our animals so much we don't want to give them anything that others have lost their dogs from. He was everything to me and now we are separated.

They are actually bad for dogs, they are finding grownth inside dogs that eat them.

I actually have a bag of the bone shaped/no name greenies here at my home, but after reading some of the postings above, I've decided NO MORE GREENIES! I'm so glad I've read these because I was going to give my dog one this morning. I realize too that these are an alternative to getting a 'dental' at the vets or performing somewhat of a 'dental' at home (bushing teeth). Bottom line is, my dog will be going into the Vets for a full cleaning/dental and it will be expensive, but it's better than the alternative!