Chews And Treats For Puppies

Chews are an excellent way to help keep puppies from boredom, destroying furniture, helping keep them calm and to aid teething. When puppies chew, they self-soothe as chewing releases endorphins. Just like human children, puppies lose their baby teeth, which are replaced with adult teeth – chewing aids the loose teeth to fall out!

Choosing Chews for Puppies

Aim for: Natural pure meat chews. These will be dehydrated or dried and come in various different proteins, using various parts of the animal. Some raw bones are suitable – we will discuss them below!

Avoid: All baked and dried bones/chews with bones as these can splinter and cause blockages. Avoid all animal derivatives, cereals, vegetable derivatives, glycerin, salt, vegetable starches etc. thoroughly check the ingredients look under composition.

What to Look For?

When looking at treats for young puppies with baby teeth, there are a few things we need to consider:

1. The Dent/Flex Test

This test enables us to quickly check if the hardness of a treat will be suitable for a puppy. We want to avoid anything too hard at this stage, to ensure the tooth-bed/gum is not damaged, aiding dental health into adulthood.

If you can dent the chew with your nail, bend it slightly, or snap it easily then it is deemed of a safe hardness for your puppy!

2. Size

Always choose a chew that is size appropriate! It may be exciting walking through the pet shop and seeing XL chews and thinking ‘that’ll keep them busy for a while!’, but these chews may become dangerous if left wet with saliva for days, which leaves them available for bacteria to collect. Try to aim for chews that can be eaten in one day/sitting. Thicker chews cause the dog to chew with the treat at the back of their mouth, which aids dental health for the molars.

With regards to chews too small for the size of a puppy, we need to be cautious of them being a choking hazard, as well as being careful when the chew becomes small enough to swallow. This is especially important with tiny puppies, and brachycephalic puppies!

Choosing Raw Bones for Puppies

Some raw bones can be suitable for puppies, but caution is to be taken to ensure the puppy learns to chew properly instead of swallowing it whole. Chicken wing bones are often a good place to start due to the bones being very soft when raw. Chicken wingtips are often a good choice for tiny puppies. Larger puppies may suit chicken carcass (ribcage etc) to start with. When introducing raw bones, try to limit to one small bone per week to ensure the diet balance isn’t offset. Only feed raw bones if the puppy is already raw fed.

Introducing Chews to your Puppy

When introducing chews to your puppy for the first time, it’s vital to ensure you hold one end of it, at least to start with. This will avoid choking whilst the puppy learns to chew properly. Some people use a clamp or tongs to hold slippery raw bones with!

Try to limit to one natural chew per day.

Examples of Treats for Young Puppies

Here are some ideas for puppies with puppy teeth (this list is not conclusive), there are many good quality brands and products available. One of our favourite sellers is https://dollysdelightspet.com/

Braided Lamb, Braided Ostrich, Goat Ears, Pure Sticks, Lamb Ears, Rabbit Ears, Pizzles (aim for thinner/more bendy ones) and cow udder. Be cautious of feeding anything with fur on to young puppies as this may be a choking hazard.

© Bethany Calhoum, written for NO BULL Just Natural Health for Dogs.