REVIEW: FELINE GREENIES Dental Treats Savory Salmon Flavor

Are you trying to keep your cats occupied and chewing to help promote Dental Health? Trying to find an addictive treat to get them nice and trained? I might just have the one for you!

We’ve been a Greenies household for the past 2 years since both Walker and Beau are addicted to these tasty treats. Greenies are one of the most popular treats and rightfully so. I will admit, we haven’t used too many flavours as of yet, but after purchasing the first bag, I’ve been buying more and more of these delicious Salmon bites! As is with all treats we give our little ones, we try to make sure of the following:

• They’re all Natural or “Healthy”
• They have low calories
• They have bonus nutrients or supplements
• They’re easily stored and have longer expiry dates (without artificial preservatives.)

So let me give you a bit of the rundown for Salmon Greenies

Packaging

I’ve been getting into the habit of talking about the packaging on treats, and I must say Greenies are pretty great. They use standard zip locks that help keep treats fresh. When you squeeze a bag no air gets in or out, which really helps treats stay fresh and makes sure they don’t expire too quickly.

Ingredients

Greenies actually recently modified their ingredients to try to make their treats a bit more healthy. They are currently using the following ingredients:

Chicken Meal, Wheat, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols), Oat Fiber, Natural Poultry Flavor, Salmon Meal, Ground Flaxseed, Brewers Dried Yeast, Minerals (Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate), Choline Chloride, Citric Acid (A Preservative), Fruit Juice Color, Taurine, Dl-Methionine, Mixed Tocopherols (A Preservative), Vitamins (Dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Turmeric Color, Rosemary Extract.

Unfortunately, it’s a pretty long list, which usually means it’s a no-no for us. But given the fact that the ingredients that stand out are Wheat, Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, and Salt, I’m not too worried. A lot of the other ingredients act as vitamin supplements or are ingredients we find in a lot of kibble sadly, so it’s hard to find treats that don’t have similar ingredients unless you feed strictly freeze dried treats (which I’m usually a bigger fan of anyways.)

Calories

3,490 kcal/kg, 1.25 kcal/treat

Guaranteed Analysis

CRUDE PROTEIN 27.0% min
CRUDE FAT 12.0% min
CRUDE FIBER 10.0% max
MOISTURE 10.0% max
IRON 120 mg/kg min
ZINC 120 mg/kg min
VITAMIN A 8,000 IU/kg min
VITAMIN B12 0.6 mg/kg min

Off the top, we can see that the protein is fairly high, but so is the fat. I’m impressed with the moisture content, although I wouldn’t be feeding your little one treats or kibble at all if you’re worried about how much they are drinking.

Extra Benefits

• They are large in size and very crunchy to help scrape away plaque and tartar.
• They will help stimulate the gums due to their size (just as long as your little one doesn’t inhale them, but chews them)
• They do have salmon inside so they help with skin & fur, although I would choose to use Salmon Oil over this treat if you’re worried about Skin & Fur
• They have added vitamins and minerals to make sure your little one gets an extra kick
• They are very low in calories in case you are watching your little one’s weight

Worries for Feeding this treat

Allergies! If your little one has gluten, wheat or chicken sensitivities this is not the treat for you. I’m actually surprised that the Salmon mix uses Chicken Meal as a base. I remember the first time I found this I was actually shocked, and couldn’t understand why they did that since Salmon has great Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids for skin and coat. I mean, this mix does have Salmon Meal, but it is quite a bit lower on the list, so if your little one is addicted to Salmon (like Beau is), this is a good treat for them.

Funny enough, when Beau first had his PU Surgery & Double Cystotomy he refused to eat at all because of all of the pain. When I whipped out some Greenies, he got to it and started to eat his wet food. So something about these treats is pretty addictive, but at least they’re healthier than most like Temptations.

Conclusion

Greenies are definitely on my top list of treats! They’re actually recommended by a number of vets, especially due to their large size. I’ve had great experiences with them, especially when Beau refuses to eat, but would I say they’re the healthiest… no. In my opinion they get a 4.5/5. The only reason being: they aren’t the absolute healthiest. I don’t think any kibble style treat will ever be the healthiest to be honest, so I don’t know if it’s avoidable, but until I find them… I think these are one of the best!

So let me know pet parents, do you use greenies? Have you had any success with them? What are your thoughts and do you have any other treats to recommend?