Hi Kevin,
Nylabone and greenies have both caused serious health problems.. I can’t remember the details. But, you can look them up on a search engine, and I believe Dr. Becker (DVM) on mercola.healthypets.com has some articles about it. The healthiest thing to give your dog to clean their teeth is raw meaty bones and a species appropriate diet. No grains. Dogs have no dietary need for grain. In fact, their canine cousins in the wild consume only about 5-6% vegetable matter (not grains, but including small amounts of fruit). Feeding grains leads to weight gain, dental carries and plaque, as well as many other adverse health conditions. Crunching up RAW bones, scrapes them clean. Feeding a meat protein based, balanced diet is the best thing you can do to maintain their good health. If you check out the prescription diets, you’ll see they contain mostly plant based proteins. Which don’t contain complete, biologically appropriate proteins for carnivores.
A raw chicken or turkey neck, or chicken wing is a good, inexpensive “tooth brush” for your mid sized dog. You can get them cheap, by buying past date ones at the meat counter. Buy in bulk, repackage & freeze in individual portions.
For more info on raw feeding check out Dr. Becker’s articles on that too. Hope that helps. 🙂
