Lookie what I found on another forum

http://improvehomelife.com/greenies.html


along with this

"That's one of the problems...they do "love" them. The fact is that gluten is physically addicting. That is one of the reasons why wheat makes up 30% plus of the calories of the Standard American Diet (SAD), with another 40% being from milk products. From gluten, we derive gliadomorphins, a morphine like substance that comes from the main protein in gluten called gliadin. The counterpart in dairy is the casomorphin that we derive from the main protein in cow milk, casein.

Both of these substances...gliadomorphins and casomorphins... are very addictive. They are the reson we have such cravings for wheat-based foods and CHEESE. When I tell people that they need to start cutting back on these things, many of them say "I could do without the wheat stuff, but I could never give up my cheese." Yep.

Dogs and cats manifest food addictions very clearly. These are the cats that are constantly meowing for food (totally unnatural for an occasional feeder like a cat) and the dogs that are always begging, both of which usually become very overweight unless someone is watching them very closely. Then, they develop serious allergies, ear problems or GI problems... or worse.

So, the dogs DO LOOOOOVE Greenies (unless they listen to their intestinal tract and stop eating them on their own. Those are the wise ones). The ones that love them WILL become ill from them at some point most likely. With these things (like gluten), it is a matter of WHEN they us and them, not IF.

For some interetsing reading, put "casomorphins, gliadomorphins" in your search. Look at their vital involvement in autism. But, they are also responsible for post-meal drowsiness and resulting caffeine addiction. Did you know that more people die from falling asleep at the wheel than from alcohol-related accidents??? Wow! And most of you have never even heard of casomorphins and gliadomorphins, have you? Hmmm...

Hope this helps,
John
__________________
Dogtor J.
http://dogtorj.tripod.com"
Taken from chazhound

***Edited By: joce on 8/21/2005 12:59:05 AM***
Reason: f

Ahh, yes. DoctorJ. I never regret reading his posts. I am never left uneducated on anything that he may be debating :-)

gbrox--
I think many of the people on this forum, whether they decide to continue feeding greenies or not, would have wanted this information. Given this information, everyone can make his or her own decision. If you continue to feed greenies, that's fine, but let others make their own informed decisions too! Better to have too much info than not enough. =)

I have been researching and discussing this "problem" for several months now, and am absolutely appalled and horrified at what I have discovered. One of my own little ones choked severely, upon having been given her first (and only) Greenie. This was well over a year ago, and to this day, she chokes and gags several times daily, as a result of esophageal spasms. I am one of the lucky ones. She's still breathing.

I have four friends whose dogs have died slow and agonizing deaths, as a direct result of having been given this product. Vomiting, losing consciousness, multiple exploratory surgeries, developing blood poisoning and pneumonia are just SOME of the resultant injuries they have suffered.

I have read posts that admonish people for referring to Greenies as "treats", when they are "chews". That being the case, I would like to know why, when I was instructed to return, not only the unused portion of the bag, but also the pieces my dog had vomited up, Greenies "made it up to me" by sending me their "Greenies Bits". For those of you who are unfamiliar with the product, these look like green aquarium pebbles. Now, unless your pet is in the habit of chomping on gravel, You are probably not unlike myself in realizing the intention is NOT that they be chewed for any length of time. I did not give the pieces to my dogs, but rather decided to experiment with them, to see if, in fact, they would dissolve or digest.

The results were clear. All they ever did was puff up and take on the consistency of softened rubber. Common sense should dictate that any appreciable amount of these, introduced into a dog's intestinal tract, could easily form a blockage. So, be it in the esophagus or the digestive system, these "chews" have the very real potential to prove fatal.

I find the company's response to pet owners' complaints abominable. I can only liken their "concern" to a quick and ineffectual brush-off. Let's introduce a human element to this --- If your child choked on a quarter and you had to have it surgically removed, how receptive would you be to having the surgeon tell you, post-operatively, to keep quarters out of your child's reach, and from this point forward, to ONLY allow them to put fistfuls of pennies in their mouths?

Per the company's own recommendation, the bits are for "dogs under 10 pounds", yet they have sent the replacement "bits" to people I know, who have dogs, weighing in excess of 70 pounds, after the choking and vomiting problems have been reported.

I also find it absolutely reprehensible that the company feigns ignorance to the tragedies, with each new incident that gets reported. NO, this is not news to them. NO, these are not isolated incidents. NO amount of wishing to the contrary is going to make these things safe, and certainly not, as the package clearly states, "highly digestible".

I have been moved to tears so many times in the past months, hearing people's tales of loss, expense and tragedy, it makes my heart ache.

To anyone who wishes to point out the fact that the package does say, albeit in extremely small type, that the product may cause a choking hazard, and even death, we as a society tend to not read the small print, and certainly, to believe that a $20 dog treat must be of an exceptionally high quality...silly us.

I'm sure my friends who no longer have their treasured companions, sleep easier at night, knowing that the manufacturer had the presence of mind to cover their fannies with the disclaimer. I can tell you, every time my little one goes into one of her choking spells, I feel like an "unfit mother", knowing that it was my careless trust in a product's claims that is causing her continued discomfort and breathing difficulties.

The knowledge that these things have been found as much as eight months after the fact, to be the cause of animals' deaths should drive the point home to all who have "never had a problem", there is, even in the animal world, such a thing as a silent killer...

Please, accept my comments in the spirit in which they are intended. Someone has to advocate for our "four-legged" kids too. We must exercise as much, if not more, caution with them, as we would with our other children.

***Edited By: allchokedup on 8/21/2005 10:09:51 PM***
Reason: Corrected typos

Beau-toxed by the Meanie Greenie

Although I am being a bit cleaver, Greenies are NO TREAT! Mike, I am sorry to hear of your loss of Burt.

“The original smart green treat” is apparently not very smart! Much to our shock, sadness, and disappointment our Bernese Mountain Dog Beau came very close to dying because of a Greenie. I know now how lucky we were. Three year old very healthy Beau stopped eating or drinking and vomited until he ran out of all energy. The vet determined that it was a blockage in his intestine and had to operate. Blocking his intestine was a piece of a Greenie! This was verified by independant lab results.

The manufacture determined through it's “investigation” that the Greenie was chewed insufficiently and that Greenies are “not recommend for dogs that have a tendency to gulp products”. Are you kidding me! How naïve and insulting! I do not know of a dog that does not eat quickly (gulp) food and treats that are specifically produced to taste good. Their slogan touts “with a taste and texture pets love”. After notifying the company of Beau's problems they have added a cautionary comment on their website’s feeding instructions regarding adequately chewing; unfortunately this caution was after the fact for Beau. The previous instructions did not say anything about for nibbling dogs only and not for gulpers. It is still amazing to us that “The original smart green treat” is apparently not smart enough to break down once in the stomach and intestine of the very animal it is made for. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

We have come to find out, by complete coincidence, that others in our area in which we live have also had Greenie blockage problems. So, Beau apparently is not an anomaly and there obviously is a recurring problem with the digestion, or lack thereof, of Greenies.

Beau is for the most part healthy but still today has a nagging intestinal infection (months later) that is now leading to the veterinarians recommending having him neutered. Tragic as Beau is a purebred BMD from Championship blood lines and is from the Netherlands. We imported him with high hopes that he would become a Champion and be a valuable stud in bringing some healthy qualities to the BMD breed in the Pacific Northwest. He has extremely structure - healthy bones and joints (a big thing for the BMD breed) has great other qualities and has won shows and is well on his way to getting his own set of credentials. We had high expectations and hope that he would be a Champion and thus a great stud dog. Our plans have been thwarted by the Greenie problem and when he is neutered all of this work in the ring will have been for nothing. That is really sad and we are still trying to get through that element of this saga.

The Greenie guarantee reads “If you are satisfied, tell your friends!” I guess the reverse is true too. ALL DOG OWNERS NEED TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT THIS TO ALL WHO WILL HEAR - to our vets, pet stores, suppliers, other news organizations etc.

The Greenie people know about this problem and what are they really doing??? How you can develop a product that would not break down in the stomach and intestine of the animal you make if for is beyond belief.

A chihuahua in my dog events club had a greenie lodged in her throat.

Hi,

My 55 pound English Setter is right now, at this moment, in recovery at the emergency hospital after removing a chunk of Greenie from her intestine - a greenie I gave her two full days ago.

Over the past two years, she has had a history of abdominal pain for until now, unknown reasons. We checked MANY MANY things to account for the pain, and today we believe we've gotten to the bottom of it.

The emergency vet also mentioned esophogus (sp?) problems from greenies.

So, we may be an isolated incidence, but the fact is - Greenies caused a severe problem in my dog and she'll never get another one.

Joanne

i hope your dog makes a full recovery joanne

I'm a practicing veterinarian who used to recommend Greenies. They're great for the teeth but apparently imbibe fluid and if a sufficiently large piece is swallowed, may pass through the pylorus into the small intestine and continue to swell, causing obstruction and intestinal necrosis (death of the obstructed segment). This is not a frequent occurence but has been found on a few occasions. Whether Greenies present a greater risk for this phenomenon than other porous chewable products is not known. It is possible that Greenies are no more hazardous than any item that can be swallowed in a sufficiently large size.

I would urge pet owners who any such product to give the size appropriate for the dog, closely monitor the size as the dog chews it and remove it as soon as it becomes small enough to be swallowed.

I do not get freaked by what is posted about greenies. I give them to Nala once every two weeks. I never leave her alone with a greenie, she is always supervised when she has one.I always buy the Jumbo ones for her. She has never had a problem with eating them.

Dear Joann (JLGIBBSJL),

In my opinion, yours is not an isolated experience. My dog DIED 5 weeks ago from this product. In my case my dog had an emergency exploratory operation. The result was the removal of 3 1/2 feet of dead intestines and the foreign body obstruction - a greenie. My dog died from 48 hours later form complications from the surgery - i guess when you're a 12 pound daschund, an d regardless of the fact that he was only 4 years old and very healthy, the removal of 3 1/2 feet of intestines was just too much for him. He fought for 48 hours but died. My wife and I are devastated. Trust me, you are not alone in yur experience. Not by a long shot. I am aware of many cased. I'd like to talk with you about your experience and also the vet that posted on this board. Can both of you please contact me - (mhenyc at yahoo dot com) is my email address. My dog will not die in vain. The company that makes these treats needs to answer up.

Thanks,
Mike