Pedigree Dentastix Large Dog Treats, Original Flavor with...

Most Helpful Review

"Short Version: This product does what it claims. I have 2 dogs who each get 1 dentastick a day. Both have great teeth, and the older (11 years old) is only now showing some preliminary tartar on one side of her mouth. I have seen them both start to have tartar when I was less scheduled about given them sticks daily, and I've watched it recede when I got back on the ball. this product works.Way too long version:I worked as a veterinary technician for 10 years, and I gave hundreds of clients "the talk" about the importance of oral hygiene. I've personally performed dentistry services on dogs and cats (including scaling, polishing, and tartar removal where it was literally cracking chunks of tartar off teeth). Taking care of your pets' teeth is important. it makes them healthier and happier, and helps to prevent one route for heart disease, kidney disease, and general infection.I've tried lots of things to take care of my dogs' teeth; the dentastix are the last on the list:tooth brushing:I started with straight up tooth-brushing. That was a failure. my spaniel HATED mint-flavored pastes, and would get all trembly all over any time she smelled it. she LOVED the meat-flavored options, and so we'd spend the time having a wrestling match while she tried to lick the paste and eat the brush i was trying to use. I gave up.Dentabones:These were the precursors to dentastix. larger, and SUPER effective. the spaniel got one 1-2x a week, and it kept her tartar at bay. I check her over pretty regularly, and if I missed a week or 2 (or 3) of dentabones, i'd see the tartar creeping up.t/d:this is a Hills prescription food targeted for tartar control. I never used it for meals, but I'd get a bag through work and give the kibbles as treats. The kibbles are large and designed to be too large to swallow whole, forcing the dog to crunch them. The spaniel will eat near anything (but mint toothpaste- see above); while she wasn't terribly enthusiastic about t/d, she ate them. I didn't use them for long, though, because while the spaniel would grudgingly crunch through while giving me spaniel-eyes, my german shepherd took the "too large to swallow" size as a challenge. i was a bit nervous about this causing problems down the road, from either choking, or bloat. also, it doesn't do much good for the teeth if not crunched.C.E.T.s:these are the raw hide-type treats you can get at your vet's. they're treated with some enzyme or other to help break down tartar. These are supposed to be more digestible than other rawhides, so you have less concern about rawhides blocking up the GI tract. These work moderately well, and both dogs were relatively big fans. For a chewer, they'll last a decent amount of time, and my spaniel was a fan. I stopped using these for a couple of reasons. 1- once again, the german shepherd wanted to swallow his whole and quickly so he could steal the spaniel's. 2- they're a little pricey for daily use. 3- the biggest reason was that my spaniel was a little too into savoring them. she'd chew and suck and tug on them, and they become long and slimey and gross. inevitably, she'd start sucking on one she had tugged out to be long and it would lodge halfway down her throat and half way still in her mouth, making her gag and me have to reach in and pull it out. once or twice, fine, but she started doing this every time. too risky for me.NUBZ:these are the treats for teeth sold at Costco that are shaped vaguely like a bone/toothbrush. the dogs both love them, and in a flavor test (holding one in each hand and letting the dog choose- and my dogs do sniff back and forth), prefer them to dentastix. Unfortunately for them, these just don't seem to keep the tartar at bay. they slow it for sure, but not to the degree i've seen in the dentastix.Kirkland Dental Chews:These are the x-shaped treats also sold at costco. I never used these long enough to she a tartar effect because my spaniel had an allergic reaction to some ingredient and got itchy and pink all over.Dentastix:I resisted dentastix because I thought it was just a scheme to sell smaller dentabones for more money or something. I think it ends up coming to be only slightly more expensive to do dentastix once daily v. dentabones once weekly. or it did, before the dentabones were discontinued. I've had great success with dentastix. the one time my vet noted there was some beginning tartar build up, I really knuckled down on remembering to give dentastix regularly, and the tartar completely receded. i haven't had any allergy issues i had with the kirkland line, it's more effective than nubz, and cheaper than CETs (with less choking hazard). I think these are a GREAT addition to your regular doggie care.The only caveat i have is that there still is a bit of a choking hazard. My german shepherd was eating one and got too big a piece lodged in his teeth. Apparently (as told by my husband) he started freaking out, frothing, slamming his head about and pawing like mad. My husband "