Monday, June 11, 2012

Myah Happily Devoured The Dental SmartBones (And Her Teeth Look Great!)


The Good: Our dog likes them, Freshens breath and cleans teeth as the product promises to.
The Bad: Comparatively expensive, I’m not wild about the environmental impact of the single bones.
The Basics: Myah really seemed to enjoy the Dental SmartBones treat I bought her, and her teeth are looking better already!


Last week, I had a rather abrupt problem. The spring on my Petco 16' Retractable Lead For Dogs (reviewed here!) sprang (after only three months, that made me pretty pissy!)and I knew I had to go to the pet shop to get a new lead for her. Thinking that this is yet another chance for me to show my wife that I really am eager to keep up on Myah’s care while she is away, I made sure to pick Myah, our Siberian Husky, up a treat while getting her the leash. Right before she left for her summer job, my wife had noted that Myah’s teeth were beginning to get a little yellow and she had bought her a treat to deal with that. So, thinking ahead to the next day when I would be dragging Myah all over creation in my attempt to see Prometheus (reviewed here!) in 3-D IMAX, I figured I would pick her up a treat that would both clean her teeth and keep her occupied for a time. For that, I chose the Dental Smartbones.

The Dental Smartbones are a treat that seems to be trying to take over both the alternative rawhide and Greenies niches. Made of something that looks like twisted pieces of green and red rawhide (it isn’t, though), the Dental Smartbone is supposed to be difficult for the dog to chew, which helps them, scrape the plaque and tartar off their teeth. In addition to appearing to enjoy the Dental Smartbone, it cleaned Myah’s teeth and leave her breath fresher than without using them, so they do exactly what they claim to on the package.

Dental SmartBones, a new-to-me and Myah treat, was one I picked up when getting Myah her new leash. Eager to illustrate to my absent wife that I am spoiling our dog while she is away, I picked up the Dental SmartBone to help keep Myah’s teeth clean. The Dental SmartBones Treats are green (like Greenies) and red and shaped like a traditional rawhide bone. It is 7 1/2” long and 2” wide at its widest point.

The Dental SmartBones Smart Treat is a treat that trades on being flavored like vegetable and chicken. Each Dental SmartBones 4 oz. treat comes individually as a carded bone-shaped treat and it was a bit pricy for me at $3.99. Still, to keep Myah occupied in the car, it seemed worth it to me. I would be thrilled to find a more environmentally-sound multipack of these.

The green and red stylized "bone," reminiscent of a rawhide chew, is designed to help fight plaque and tartar build-up by having a texture to it and being very hard. The bone-shaped treat is smooth until the dog bites into it and fractures it. Then it becomes very mealy and the texture helps remove matter from a dog's mouth. Because the bone is too big to simply be swallowed, the Dental SmartBones Smart Treat effectively brushes the dog's teeth and tongue using friction whenever the dog bites into it to split it and swallows it, dragging the bolus across their tongue. This has had noticeable results with Myah. Myah's breath was not bad to begin with, but her teeth were looking a little yellow. With the Dental SmartBones, Myah's teeth looked cleaner; they were still a little yellow, but there was no plaque or tartar on them after she enjoyed this treat!

Dental SmartBones are part of the “No Rawhide” movement and, truth be told, I’m not exactly sure why that’s an issue or what the appeal is. I do, however, know that Myah really seemed to dig the “bone” and she had it devoured in less than fifteen minutes!

These treats are not bad for dogs and the package recommends that dog owners have clean drinking water available to their dog when they feed them this treat. This treat is a dietary supplement, not a full meal. Dental SmartBones Smart Treats in the petite size has at least 9% crude protein, .2% crude fat, 1.5% crude fiber and 14% moisture, so those looking out for their dog's specific dietary needs, that might help. They are made with real, dried chicken breast, so that might be why Myah went so eagerly for it! The extensive list of preservatives at the end of the ingredients list (which opens with corn, chicken and sorbitol) clued me in on how the bone would have a February 15, 2014 expiration date.

Myah loves this treat and I am likely to get them for her again as a “once in a while” treat; on its own, it is far too expensive for me to justify stocking up on them. But for something to help me keep Myah’s teeth clean, these do appear to work!

For other dog treat reviews, please check out my takes on:
Bark Bars Peanut Butter And Carob Chip
Mixables Grandma's Country Stew
Spearmint Booda Bones

7.5/10

For other pet product reviews, please click here to visit my index page on the subject!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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