Is Nutri Dent safe for a bunny?

[mysweetbunny]

Could this be safe for a bunny? Theywere giving free samples and I put one in my purse and later my bundragged it out and started chewing it and eating it.

http://www.nylabone.com/default.aspx?pageid=111&prodID=121

The ingrediants are listed on website. I stopped her from eating it for now, but just curious.

 

****cellulose,******This is the only red flag I cansee , Not knowing how much is used ,I would only give it occasionallyand for only a few minutes at a time. Ifhe really likes such things Iwould get the small unflavored buscuitsmade for dogs and break it in half , I usethe enflavored ones with myguys some like it and some dont.

 

[pamnock]

It's not harmful to rabbits.

Gypsy -- cellulose is a fiber found in plant cell walls. Itis one of the most importantcomponents inrabbitfeed. (Alfalfa in the pellets and timothy hay would be commonsources of cellulose in the domestic rabbit diet.)



Pam

 

onder:Why was I thinking it wasa liquid plasticbindingmaterial ,? Maybe I had better go back inand wake up the brain , I think I left itdown there :sleep:.

Sorry about the mix up , I willget my act together later , I promise.

 

[pamnock]

Your brain is working just fine -- there arecellulose based plastics. From the photos, I can't actuallytell if the product is a biscuit orplastic based--however, a small amount wouldn't hurt the rabbit.

Pam

 

[mysweetbunny]

Gypsy & Pam, Much thanks to you both foryour help and advice. I can't tell you how amazingly helpful& a relief it is to have such a wealth of rabbit knowledgeavailable for the asking on this wonderful site.

The dental treat does appear more plastic than biscuit consistency. I let her have some more of it tonight. Shereally loves chewing at it. Something about it reminded me ofa chewy sweettart candy. I'd say it's that consistancy prettyprecisely, except more plasticky. Well, she chewed at it forawhile whittleing it down, and then when to play with her ONLY accepted(by her) toy (one of those rolling ball that emits treats or in thiscase her pellets) before she went back to it.

I've been watching her cause don't want her to consume too much of ittonight. If it's not bad for her, then maybe it'd be an okoccasional chew treat besides apple twigs?

I also have wondered about this... I am always putting lotion on myhands, usually Palmers cocoa butter, and aside from that I put cetaphillotion on my face at night. She is a licker, and is attractedto these lotions. It can't be good for her, but I can't giveup my lotions either. Just hope it's not hurting her in thelong run.

 

[FreddysMom]

Hi MSB,

I went onto the Greenies website andhere iswhat they said in their FAQ section.

http://www.greenies.com/faqs/details.cfm?ID=29

hope that helps!

 

[align=left]Petey is a number one fan of Greenies(R). [/align]
[align=right]~Suzie London [/align]

[align=center]About Greenies[suP]®[/suP]
Little did Dr. Joe and Judy Roetheli know that theunsavory doggy breath emanating from their male Samoyed, Ivan, wouldsomeday result in the #1 selling dog treat in America* and provide dogowners throughout the world with an effective alternative to brushingtheir pets’ teeth.

Because the Roetheli’s could find no solution for Ivan’sbreath, they teamed with a well-known board certified veterinarynutritionist in the late 1990’s to develop a dog chew treat formulatedto control dental tartar, plaque and gingivitis, and formulated totaste great while reducing bad breath. The result wasGreenies[suP]®[/suP], the original green smarttreat[suP]®.[/suP]

With its unique toothbrush shape and green color,Greenies[suP]®[/suP] success skyrocketed through word of mouthreferrals. Today, with more than 300 million treats sold,Greenies[suP]®[/suP] has its imitators. But don’t let thoseother green dental treat wannabes fool you. There is only oneoriginal green smart treat[suP]®[/suP], and onlyGreenies[suP]®[/suP] has the VOHC[suP]®[/suP] Seal ofAcceptance[suP]®[/suP] for plaque and tartar reduction.

*Euro-Monitor, 2004.

Veterinary-Accepted Dental Benefits

Greenies[suP]®[/suP] is proven to remove plaqueand tartar – even heavy deposits – reducing gingivitis, fresheningbreath and improving your dog’s overall oral health by helping to fightoff dental disease. In fact, Greenies[suP]®[/suP] was thefirst treat to receive the Veterinary Oral Health Council[suP]®[/suP](VOHC[suP]®[/suP]) Seal of Acceptance for both plaque and tartarremoval.

Independent studies showed feeding onenutritious Greenies[suP]®[/suP] per day resulted in a:

• 62% reduction in tartar (calculus)
• 14% decrease in plaque formation &
• 33% reduction in gingivitis
• 77% reduction in dental stain formation
• 31% reduction in bad breath

Dogs Go Wild Over Greenies[suP]®[/suP] Taste


Many dogs perform their favorite tricks for the temptingtaste of Greenies[suP]®[/suP] dental chew treat. In studyafter study, dogs prefer Greenies[suP]®[/suP] over almost all otherconventional chew treats. In story after story, we’ve learneddogs will do almost anything to get their daily Greenies[suP]®[/suP]“experience.”


Greenies[suP]®[/suP] Ingredients:
Processed wheat gluten (wheat protein),glycerin, natural flavor, powdered cellulose fiber, monosodiumphosphate, monoglycerides of edible fatty acid, magnesium stearate andchlorophyll.
§Processed wheat gluten (protein):The wheat gluten used is concentrated by using hot water to extract thestarch out of the wheat. What is left over is wheat protein. Nochemicals are used.





§Glycerin: This is a 3-carbonmolecule that occurs naturally in fats and oils. Glycerin is split fromthe three fatty acids of fats and oil. It is used as an ingredient andserves to allow the processed wheat protein to be molded intoGreenies[suP]®[/suP] physical form. Without glycerin,Greenies[suP]®[/suP] would crumble and not provide the dental benefitthat comes from chewing. The glycerin used in Greenies[suP]®[/suP] isproduced from vegetable (non-animal origin) ingredients. Glycerin is anatural substance that exists in plant and animal tissues.
§Powdered Cellulose Fiber: This ismade from powdered plant material. It is cleaned, than ground into apowder. It helps the dog maintain firm stool. Cellulose ispresent in nearly all plant origin food. We use a purified cellulose soit is non-antigenic, meaning it will not cause allergic reactions.





§Natural Flavor: The ingredient usedfor the natural flavor is proprietary. However, we can tell you that itcontains no beef protein and a very small amount of natural flavor isused.
§Monosodium Phosphate: This is asource of phosphorous, which is a required nutritional mineral.





§Monoglycerides of edible fatty acid:Greenies[suP]®[/suP] contain fatty acidsderived from vegetable oil sources. Such fatty acids are often derivedfrom fats and oils that represent the other major part of fats whenglycerin is split off.
§Magnesium stearate: This serves as alubricant in molding Greenies[suP]®[/suP]. Magnesium stearate is usedin production of nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical products aswell as a lubricant in commercial baking of cookies andbreads.





§Chlorophyll: Naturallymakes Greenies[suP]®[/suP] green.

Personally this site is actually one ofthe more indepth I have run acrossed . Its also one ofthe few with more concern for ouranimals than any other pet site out there . Fromthe sounds its as close to natural as can bepossible . I think next trip to the feed store I will pick upa few and she how my guys take to them .
[/align]

 

[pamnock]

mysweetbunny wrote:

I've been watching her cause don't want her to consume too much of ittonight. If it's not bad for her, then maybe it'd be an okoccasional chew treat besides apple twigs?

Although a little won't hurt her if she gets into it accidentally, it'snot something I would feed on a regular basis. Hay would be abetter choice. I would also wash your hands before lettingher lick them, so she's not ingesting the lotion.

Pam

 

[mysweetbunny]

Hi again Gypsy & Pam & Freddysmom!

Freddysmom, great link! I hadn't seen that, it's cool it addresses bunnies too!

Gypsy, Thanks for the indepth info on greenies! That wasgreat research on the topic.. I really appreciate it! I thinkthe texture is attractive to my Fluffy girl. It'd beinteresting to see if (as an occasional treat) your buns might likeit. It doesn't 'sound' bad after reading it. Whilemy common sense side knows it's best to give her less processed treatsfor chewing, my bun is pretty finicky, so it peaked my interest seeingshe liked it so.

Pam, Thank you as well for the advice! I do keep an unlimitedsupply of Timothy Hay available to her, as well, I measure out timothyhay based feed twice a day. We keep a printed out a detailed list I'vecompiled from this and other sites of what foods she can have (fromfairly frequently to never given) or can't have & keep itposted on our fridge. She also gets apple twigs from a tree Ibought and clip from. I'm very carefulwith her diet. She's almost a year old now and she's only hada little diarreha once... and I know the culprit. My fiancegave her a little of his poptart.... and I let him... I guess we werepushing the limit that night, and we both learned from thatone.

Now we don't stray from the list except for this time after seeing howshe loved chewing and whittling down that little 'greenie'treat. It's hard to find things for her that she will reallychew on aside from eating her regular 'list' foods... she doesn't seeminterested in willow or or other woods... I think she needs the 'taste'as well as texture payoff, the little piglet.

I'm going to watch for any ill effects from this monitoredtreat. I don't let her have the whole thing. I didgo out the next day and buy a bag of the smallest ones.

All of your advice means alot to me and will keep an eye out to additional info

 

[bitsygiggles]

is this the product you all are talking about? because there is some real concern there...

http://www.usrecallnews.com/2006/02/pet-product-recall-update-are-greenies.html

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060115/NEWS/201150326/1009

maybe I am wrong..? I've never actually bought them so..

 

[naturestee]

I have those for my cats. As Iunderstand, the problem with the dog treats was that owners would givetheir huge German Shepard the size made for toy poodles. TheShepard would just swallow the whole thing instead of chewing it (andwhat good does it do the teeth then?) and then it wouldn't digestproperly.

Personally, I'd much rather give my rabbits an apple or willow stickanyway. Free if you can find an untreated tree, and tasty andhealthy for the rabbit.

 

[Runestonez]

Would the problem apply to bunns?:?Bunns grind up their food really well with their molars beforeswallowing it anyway...so it wouldn't be likely to find chunks thatwouldn't dissolve would it?

 

[bitsygiggles]

I re read the article to understand what wasbeing said about weight verses which treat is appropriate, it just says(to me) if it s chewed right it is 'basically' safe.

my only issues are...Why does the product not break down bythe digestive juices? I've been told a big piece of unchewedsteak (for instance) takes a long time for the body to digest, and itsits in there a long time, causing gas, and upset tummy trouble, butthe body is able to digest it without concern.

If this product is being consumed by animals (which you can not tell tochew properly) It should be made digestible no matter how well it ischewed. Honestly, who can sit and monitor their pet whilethey munch away on one of those things every time? And once apiece is bitten off and swallowed, what then? the Heimlich maneuver?

I never really thought about the connection ( its been 6 yrs)

I have actually paid for a surgery resulting from a blockage (theynever really knew what it was that blocked it) I purchased differenttreats for her, so who knows what it was. its expensive, andreally sad and hard for the animal. (it was our dog) Sherecovered, thank god but pretty scary. So it upsets me that acompany is selling anything that is only safe if the dog follows therules.

anyhow, sorry this has turned into a bit of a rant for me. I wouldwrite a letter to the company but I am sure it would fall on deaf earsamong the many other letters.

anyhoo, bunnies ARE good chewers, sad how even treats and toys have to be so heavily considered.