# Healthy Alternative to Denta Stix?



## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

Bear has been getting Pedigree Denta Stix for the better part of his life. He goes nuts over them, and despite the fact that he eats them in about three seconds, they do a surprisingly good job of keeping his teeth clean. The only time I can remember him having plaque was when I stopped buying them for a few months, and it went away again when I started buying them again.

However, I feel pretty silly paying all this money from top-quality, grain-free food and then turning around and giving him treats the ingredients of which make me want to be sick.

Any good ideas for healthy, grain-free treats that can keep his teeth clean the same way the Denta Stix do? The only place I really have around here to buy dog stuff beside Wal Mart and the usual grocery stores is PetSmart.

And no, I'm not interested in switching to raw and/or giving him raw bones every day, thanks.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Sorry, I didn't read all your post about not using raw. I don't do RMBs, but I do feed premade raw. Anyway, I know most people will say to use raw, meaty bones from the meat section of Wal-Mart. In fact, I really don't think Wal-Mart has anything other than that I would use. However, believe it or not, I have one dog that refuses to eat RMBs! So, like you, I'm constantly searching for a good chew stick of some kind. Petsmart where I live carries some dental chews that I consider okay. First, there's one called 3M natural dental chews. They're a 3-prong style. They also carry Blue Buffalo brand chew sticks and a brand called Get Naked (at least I think that's what they're called LOL!). The Blue chews are the most expensive, of course. The Get Naked chews come in various types....anti-oxidant, joint, etc. Petsmart also has some bully stick brands, but I never buy any. My favorite, and my dogs' favorite brand of bully sticks, come from Canine Caviar and are made from Buffalo.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I know what you mean, I feed my dogs Canidae mixed with some holistic select wet food, and try to pick training treats without grains etc. But Obi's special crate treats are the no brand beef strips from the supermarket. He looooves them, but they are terrible.

I also give mine dried bones. They love them, and they last a lot longer than raw bones, and they are also less smelly and messy. Cow hooves are another favourite around here, they take ages to get through just one of them and they love them.


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## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

Ugh... I'm watching TV - you know there's something wrong when a dog food commercial includes a picture of a grain field and a voice over about "healthy, wholesome grains."

But yeah. Bear has raw chicken legs sometimes, if we happen to be having them for supper, but not every day. I'm looking for something he can have daily - Dad is one of these people who doesn't feel like Bear "knows he loves him" unless he's giving him food, so my compromise is that he can give him one of the Denta Stix (or whatever I replace them with) a day.

The best training treats I've found so far are Zuke's Mini Naturals. Bear goes nuts for them.


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

I would try bully sticks.


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## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

If you mean those single-wrapped sticks, they're nearly $4 EACH taxes in, at least the ones I've seen. Definitely not. Especially since something like that will only last him two seconds. Plus, I can't imagine them having any real dental of breath freshening qualities to them.


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

I saw what you said about not wanting to switch to raw or give raw bones every day, _however _I just wanted to say that you don't have to give a raw bone _daily_ to keep the teeth looking good. A couple months ago I started giving my dog a raw bone for the sole purpose of cleaning his teeth (they had gotten pretty icky and I was about to take him for a cleaning that I really couldn't afford so I tried this as a last ditch effort). I gave him one and then another the next week and his teeth were like 500 times better. They looked totally white, like they'd just been cleaned. After that I give him one only every 2 weeks or so, in his crate since I don't want the mess in the house. This seems to be enough to keep his teeth looking nice and I didn't really change up his diet to do it. Once he gets a bone cleaned off completely I let him carry them around (after I check that there's no nasty bits hanging around, LOL) and he continues to love them even though they're "all gone". Sometimes I put a glob of peanut butter inside his old soup bone, though  So a $1.50 soup bone (about 4" long) lasts him a looong time, even after the good stuff is gone.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

What about stuffing a kong for a daily treat? Not particularly tooth cleaning, well maybe one of the special shapes is, but you can vary the stuffing a lot to be as junkfoody or healthfoody as you like.

I gave the dogs dried cow ears for ages, they took about 20 minutes to eat versus 5 for pig ears, cost a lot more than what you give now though.

Hooves stink and they sure hurt if stepped on with bare feet, not sure which was the clincher that made me stop buying them!

Antlers are supposed to be good long lasting chews but don't know if the stores you can get to have them.


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## bumblegoat (Jun 22, 2009)

Maggie Girl said:


> So a $1.50 soup bone (about 4" long) lasts him a looong time, even after the good stuff is gone.


Soup bones are not appropriate to feed though. They are usually marrow bones, and those are weight bearing bones from cattle. They are incredibly dense and can break teeth. I'm speaking from experience; my dog has several fractured teeth thanks to marrow bones.


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

Ah... I will be on the watch for another kind then. Thank you for the info. I do also give him pork necks, which are even meatier and much cheaper than then soup bones. A pack of 6 halved pork necks was $1.38.


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

CoverTune said:


> I would try bully sticks.


that's what i was thinking....or deer or elk antlers...

they are sold on ebay and you can buy them in bulk...

plus, bestbullysticks.com also has them, which is where we get ours...


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## tuffycuddles (Sep 25, 2008)

ANTLERS!!!!!! I order mine online from Grateful Shed Anlter Chews , they have good prices!!


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## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

I'm really just looking for something treat-like that I can buy a bag of at the store. Nothing that has to be bought online and/or in bulk. Like I said, it needs to be something Dad can give him daily as well.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

You can find antlers in some of the local mom and pop shops for pet supplies. I'm not sure why such an aversion to raw bones, but to each their own  Besides that, you can always do the basic teeth brushing daily.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Lol when the farrier comes here to trim the horses I will always save the trimmings & give them one a week or so (anymore & they get sick lol) I also fed dentastix & I have recently found since I switched to TOTW they make Izze sick lol, so I just give them the horses hoof trimmings.


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## Penelope (Jun 13, 2011)

Try bestbullysticks.com 
They have been the cheapest I have found so far and the quality is great....they also have chews, bones ect.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Halo Dental Sticks look exactly like Dentastix but I have not yet tried them yet -- I saw these in my local pet boutique as well as Petco. Also Paragon Dental treats look similar. I plan on purchasing some of these soon, as Jackson also loves dentastix but I won't give them to him often.

http://shop.halopets.com/Natural-Tr...l-Treat-for-Dogs-Sm-Med-Pumpkin-Flavored7-2oz
http://www.paragondogchews.com/dog_chews/geometric_shapes/sticks

Bully sticks and Himalayan Chews have done a good job at keeping his teeth clean (along with some brushing and petzlife and plauqeoff every now and then). I buy bully sticks (odor free) from www.bestbullysticks.com -- BEST deals I have found!


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

What type of RMB would be appropriate for 2 Shih Tzu? Chicken Wings? I'm so confused as to how they make such a magical difference. I brush my dogs teeth about every other day and it makes NO difference in the plaque, only keeps his breath much fresher. They also have a huge variety of chews including daily rawhides (It takes them about a week to get through one). None of that makes a difference.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

luvntzus said:


> What type of RMB would be appropriate for 2 Shih Tzu? Chicken Wings? I'm so confused as to how they make such a magical difference. I brush my dogs teeth about every other day and it makes NO difference in the plaque, only keeps his breath much fresher. They also have a huge variety of chews including daily rawhides (It takes them about a week to get through one). None of that makes a difference.


 I used to feed my Lhasa raw, and I gave him chicken drumsticks. Since he's a pretty big Lhasa (20 lbs) and Shih tzus tend to be smaller than Lhasas, I would say that chicken wings would work fine for your kids. If that's still too much for them, you can buy split wings...I got those for my poodle when he was a younger puppy. He just recently graduated to the whole wing.  HTH!


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

mom24doggies said:


> I used to feed my Lhasa raw, and I gave him chicken drumsticks. Since he's a pretty big Lhasa (20 lbs) and Shih tzus tend to be smaller than Lhasas, I would say that chicken wings would work fine for your kids. If that's still too much for them, you can buy split wings...I got those for my poodle when he was a younger puppy. He just recently graduated to the whole wing.  HTH!


Thank you.


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

luvntzus said:


> What type of RMB would be appropriate for 2 Shih Tzu? Chicken Wings? I'm so confused as to how they make such a magical difference. I brush my dogs teeth about every other day and it makes NO difference in the plaque, only keeps his breath much fresher. They also have a huge variety of chews including daily rawhides (It takes them about a week to get through one). None of that makes a difference.


since you don't feed raw...i wouldn't recommend giving him raw bones, unless they are nearly stripped beef ribs...with just enough left on them to keep the interest of your dog....chicken bones can be ingested and if your dog is not used to being fed raw, well, they can get diarrhea...

we used to give our kibble fed shih tzus antlers and bully sticks....we didn't give rawhide, since it's not always digested and can back up a dog's intestines into a torsion....


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

luvntzus said:


> What type of RMB would be appropriate for 2 Shih Tzu? Chicken Wings? I'm so confused as to how they make such a magical difference. I brush my dogs teeth about every other day and it makes NO difference in the plaque, only keeps his breath much fresher. They also have a huge variety of chews including daily rawhides (It takes them about a week to get through one). None of that makes a difference.


Have you ever tried Petzlife or Proden Plaqueoff? I started using Plaqueoff about... oh, two months ago and I've noticed a huge difference. He did not have bad teeth, just a bit of tarter build up on the four canines... since sprinkling it on his food, I've been able to scrape most all of it off, even with my just my finger.


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## TorachiKatashi (Sep 29, 2010)

I know a few of you suggested that bully stick site, but it's US only. Still stuck on something to try. Checked out those links you mentioned, Jackson's Mom, nothing like those around here.


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

MagicRe said:


> since you don't feed raw...i wouldn't recommend giving him raw bones, unless they are nearly stripped beef ribs...with just enough left on them to keep the interest of your dog....chicken bones can be ingested and if your dog is not used to being fed raw, well, they can get diarrhea...
> 
> we used to give our kibble fed shih tzus antlers and bully sticks....we didn't give rawhide, since it's not always digested and can back up a dog's intestines into a torsion....


Uh oh, I justs gave them the raw chicken wings and they ate them. Here's what HASN'T helped- bully sticks, dehydrated chicken, dehydrated sweet potatoes, rawhide, flossies, dentastix, petzlife gel, hartz dental bone and I'm probably forgetting a few.


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## melaka (Mar 31, 2010)

I've been wanting to try RMB for Buffy too, since I've seen them recommended so many times on this forum. I'm more confused than ever after reading this thread though.

I use some kind of gel on her teeth weekly, as recommended, but she's still starting to develop plaque on her back teeth and she's not even 1.5 years old yet. She gets occasional Denta Stix and chews on antlers often.


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## katielou (Apr 29, 2010)

You can feed RMB just fine to a dog that is not raw fed. If a huge piece of muscle meat with a tiny bit of bone you may get diarrhea. But chicken wings, necks ,back, trotter ect will not be a problem.


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

katielou said:


> You can feed RMB just fine to a dog that is not raw fed. If a huge piece of muscle meat with a tiny bit of bone you may get diarrhea. But chicken wings, necks ,back, trotter ect will not be a problem.


That's really good to hear!


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

I feed my dog regular dog food but he gets a raw bone every week or two and never any issues... same firm poops as usual ;-)


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## CoverTune (Mar 11, 2007)

I like to buy the 'Get Naked' dental chew sticks. I doubt they would do a lot to clean teeth, but they are similar to Dentastix.


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