Owners: Dog treats killed our pets
By Greg Hunter and Pia Malbran

Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Posted: 5:30 p.m. EST (22:30 GMT)


Dog chewing on Greenie, the best selling dog treat in the United States.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- At least 13 dogs have died after being fed the top-selling pet treat in the country, owners and veterinarians have told CNN.

The problem comes because the treats, called Greenies, become lodged in a dog's esophagus or intestine and then some veterinarians say they don't break down.

"I know they are marketed in saying that they do digest. Certainly the ones that we've taken out, esophageal or intestinal, that have been in for days are still very hard," Brendan McKiernan, a board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist from Denver, Colorado, told CNN.

Greenies recommends owners check that the treats are chewed and Joe Roetheli - who launched the brand as a treat that can freshen a dog's breath and clean its teeth - said it was important to pick the correct chew for a particular dog. There are 7 different sizes to choose from depending on the size of the dog.

But most of the dog owners CNN talked to say they did follow package instructions and they still had a problem.

Mike Eastwood and his wife, Jenny Reiff, recently filed a $5 million lawsuit in New York, blaming Greenies for the intestinal blockage that caused the death of their dog Burt.

"I'm mad that their packaging states that the product is 100 percent edible, highly digestible and veterinarian approved, yet our dog died of it," Eastwood told CNN.

S&M NuTec, which manufactures the toothbrush-shaped chew, won't comment on the case but in court papers denied the allegations.

Roetheli said the focus should be on the dental benefits and Greenies are saving dogs' lives by lowering the risk of periodontal disease.

He says feeding Greenies is far safer than putting a dog under anesthesia to clean teeth.

"Dogs really love the product!" he said. "They do a very effective job of cleaning teeth and freshening breath."

Any suggestion that Greenies are defective was rejected by Roetheli, who developed Greenies with his wife, Judy.

"Our product is safe. It is used every day by thousands of dogs, millions a week and it is basically a very safe product."

A CNN investigation uncovered 40 cases since 2003 where a veterinarian had to extract a Greenie from a dog after the treat became lodged either in the animal's esophagus or intestine. In 13 of those cases, the pet died.

One of those was Tyson, Josh Glass and Leah Falls' 8-month-old boxer, who was taken to Brent-Air Animal Hospital in Los Angeles, California, where vet Dr. Kevin Schlanger found the animal had a blocked intestine.

"It was very clear that it was something dense and firm that had caused the obstruction," Schlanger said. He removed a Greenie from the intestine.

McKiernan's says his Denver clinic has seen at least seven cases in the past five years, which he says is an unusually high number. That prompted him to start researching and writing a paper to warn other veterinarians of the problem.

He says his research, which he hopes to get published in a veterinary journal, shows compressed vegetable chew treats, of which Greenies is the most popular, are now the third biggest cause of esophageal obstruction in dogs behind bones and fish hooks.

The federal Food and Drug Administration says it's looking into eight consumer complaints about Greenies but has no formal investigation.

The issue has also been the topic of news reports across the country.

The chews are made of digestible products like wheat gluten and fiber, experts say, but the molding process makes the treat very firm and hard.

Roetheli, who runs S&M NuTec from Kansas City, Missouri, says Greenies do break down when properly chewed and swallowed by a dog.

He told CNN that any product has the potential to cause an obstruction in a dog and that Greenies packaging warns dog owners to monitor their dog to ensure the treat is adequately chewed. "Gulping any item can be harmful or even fatal to a dog," the package says.

The company's Web site addresses the issue in its FAQ section with the question "When giving an animal Greenies, does it affect their digestive system?" The answer "The only time dogs would be unable to digest anything would be if they didn't chew it up before they swallowed it. Canine and Feline Greenies are highly digestible when chewed."

The company says the number of complaints it has received is very low in relation to the vast numbers of treats sold, and CNN spoke with several vets who recommended Greenies.

Introduced in 1998, we found Greenies now selling for about $16 a pound. Last year, 325 million individual treats were sold around the world, nearly three times the sales of its nearest competitor Milk Bone, according to the marketing company Euromonitor International.

"At the end of the day ... literally millions of Greenies are enjoyed by dogs on a weekly basis with absolutely no incidents," company vet Brad Quest told CNN.

Oh dear! Thats sad

I've never given my dog Greenies,but I've seen them before

very sad

IrresistibleB1tch said:

thanks for the info.

I have sad dog news that I am still struggling with. My mom's Rottie- Heidi has bone cancer. She has decided to put her to rest on Thursday before it spreads to her vital organs.
Please say a little prayer for my sis- as I call her.
Please say a prayer for my mom too, she is having a very hard time with this decision and I am sure Thursday will be a very hard day for her.
Our family will miss Heidi so much- she has been a big part of our family for almost 8 yrs. We share the same birth date though she will not make it to her next b-day

Jack Russells rule.

They need to take these Greenies off the market, if they haven't done so already.

That's terrible

ugh.

my dog, should i ever get one, can chew on a large stick. something natural.

Heiress said:

One of my dogs loves really sticks and tree bark. He did however get a splinter in his gum for a stick in the yard.

shanti0608 said:

what a hard decision to have to make! i'll be thinking about Heidi and your family!

Sounds like the producers of this treat like to think that all dogs chew every little piece properly like humans do.... newsflash, SOME DON'T! I could never feed my dog that stuff cos she'd gulp it down in bigger bites. Poor doggies!

shanti0608 said:

owie!

Thank God my dog does not like them.
My sister buys them every year for him for Xmas. I keep telling her he won't chew them.
Gotta show her this.

1sexymf said:

many of my petsitting customers have them for their dogs - i won't give them to the dogs anymore, and maybe i'll make copies of this and leave it for them.

I get nervous giving my dogs any kind of chewtoy, be it these or those rawhide bones. They always seem to cut their mouths up on them.

IrresistibleB1tch said:

Thanks Martina! I am going to be a mess tomorrow at work- I already know. I am very worried about my mom. She is taking her tomorrow morning at 8:30am and my Aunt is going with her for support. I kind of want to be there with my mom but I know they do not have the room for all of us to be there in the room when it happens. I will be a mess if I am there seeing my mom so upset so I decided not to go and go to work instead. I need to find a pic of her so I can post it. She is sooo beautiful! I know it is going to be so hard because she does not look or act sick really. The pain meds are keeping her going. She does have a large lump on her knee but other then that she seems fine.
I am going to miss my sis so much. I am an only child so our pets were always my sisters & brothers..



Thanks for your thoughts & prayers...

Aurgh!

Ok, here's the deal. Greenies are safer than the majority of things that people give their dogs to chew on! But if vets are removing entire Greenies from dog intestines, that means that the dogs are swallowing them whole. Any hard object can cause intestinal blockage if swallowed whole. Dogs who swallow treats whole should not be given edible chew toys, only indestructable ones that are too large to swallow.

If dogs actually chew them, Greenies are quite safe. Safer than rawhide, for sure.

I've worked for multiple vets who gave out Greenies like candy. Never saw a dog have an issue with one. Have seen plenty of dogs have problems with rawhide, though, and with random objects that they eat when they aren't given something appropriate to chew on.

I think the Greenies company makes a good product, and I've been sorry to see them get so much bad press, while lots of people are selling vastly more dangerous stuff that hurts dogs far more often.

shanti0608 said:

If they swallow big chunks, your dogs are much more likely to need sticks surgically removed from their intestines than they are to need Greenies removed. At least Greenies aren't sharp!


[Edited 2/15/06 19:32pm]

SeattleInvasion said:

You probably have a point there. I am sure if we knew the total number of death due to the crappy dog food and the deaths from administering the flea preventative, we would all be shocked. There are so many things that can harm our animals anymore. I guess the best thing to do is keep a close eye on them, know there chewing habits (if they chew completely or just swallow whole...) and make sure we give them the love and attention and care they deserve.






for my Heidi - we will miss you Heidi Poo!

SeattleInvasion said:

i'd have to agree - sometimes i just shake my head at the kinds of toys and treats at the pet stores!