Happi Doggy Dental Chew Care - Immune Support - 2.5"

The Happi Doggy Dental Chew Care in Immune Support is the turmeric and shiitake chew in the Care range. Both ingredients have genuinely interesting research behind them and both are here in small amounts, so the section below sets out what that does and does not mean.

Key Features

• Turmeric And Shiitake: Turmeric for curcumin, shiitake for beta-glucans. Both are antioxidant sources and shiitake adds dietary fibre
• What Happi Doggy Claim: That it supports a boost in overall health and the body's immune function
• Two Chew Sizes: 2.5 inch for small dogs, 4 inch for bigger ones. Both come as a 150g bag
• Meat-Free And Rawhide-Free: A tapioca starch and glycerin chew, not a pressed hide
• Sodium Hexametaphosphate: The tartar-control ingredient in the base recipe, which binds salivary calcium so it cannot harden onto the teeth
• Grain-Free: Tapioca and pea flour rather than wheat

On Boosting The Immune System

Worth saying plainly: boosting immunity is not really a measurable thing, and a healthy dog's immune system is not running below par waiting to be topped up. The ingredients are not nonsense, though. Beta-glucans from mushrooms such as shiitake do modulate immune signalling, and that is real research -- mostly in laboratory models and at doses nowhere near what a flavoured chew contains. Curcumin, the active part of turmeric, has the opposite problem: it is poorly absorbed from the gut on its own, which is why supplements pair it with piperine or a fat carrier. A pinch of turmeric in a starch chew is a flavour and a colour more than a dose.

What Does Keep A Dog Well

Nothing exotic, which is the unsatisfying answer. Vaccination and parasite control on schedule, a complete balanced diet, a healthy body weight, daily exercise and enough sleep, dental care, and a vet check once a year or twice for an older dog. A dog that is lethargic, off its food, losing weight or repeatedly picking up infections has something going on that needs diagnosing -- lethargy is a symptom, not a gap in the supplement cupboard.

What Is Actually In It

Happi Doggy's published list for this range runs: tapioca starch, powdered cellulose, pea flour, glycerin, apple fibre, sodium caseinate, Lactobacillus acidophilus, calcium citrate, sodium hexametaphosphate, lecithin, perilla extract, prebiotics and eucalyptus oil, plus the flavour's own ingredients and colouring. One of those matters more than the rest. Sodium hexametaphosphate is the ingredient doing the tartar work, and it is the only thing in the chew with a well-established mechanism: it binds the calcium in saliva so that it cannot settle onto the teeth and harden. The rest is mostly starch and fibre, which is what makes the chew chewy.

How A Dental Chew Works, And What It Cannot Do

Two things are happening. The chewing itself wipes soft plaque off the tooth surface, which is why a chew a dog has to work at for several minutes does far more than one it swallows in two bites. Alongside that, the sodium hexametaphosphate interferes with plaque hardening into tartar. Neither effect reaches below the gumline, and neither removes tartar that has already formed -- that is a scale and polish under anaesthetic, and nothing you feed will substitute for it. Brushing with a dog toothpaste is still the gold standard, daily if you can manage it. A chew is something you do as well, not instead. If you want independent proof a chew works, look for the Veterinary Oral Health Council seal, awarded only after trials measuring plaque or tartar reduction; we have not seen one on this range, which very few chews carry.

Dogs Rarely Get Cavities

A lot of dental chew copy, including Happi Doggy's own, talks about tooth decay, cavities and rebuilding enamel. That language comes from human dentistry and it transfers badly. True cavities are uncommon in dogs -- the figure usually quoted is around one dog in twenty. What affects most dogs is periodontal disease: plaque hardening into tartar at the gum margin, the gum becoming inflamed, and the attachment around the tooth slowly breaking down. The majority of dogs have some of it by three years old. So the question worth asking about any chew is whether it slows plaque and tartar, not whether it stops decay. Enamel cannot be rebuilt either; there are no living cells in it.

About Fresh Breath

The perilla extract and the eucalyptus oil are the breath ingredients, and they do what mint does for us -- cover the smell for a while. Bad breath is a symptom rather than a hygiene problem. It is usually gum disease or a tooth that has gone bad, and sometimes kidney disease, diabetes or something stuck in the mouth. A dog whose breath has got noticeably worse needs someone to look in its mouth, not a stronger-smelling chew.

Match The Chew To The Dog

• The range comes as a 2.5 inch chew and a 4 inch chew. The small one is for small dogs -- given to a labrador it stops being a chew and becomes something to swallow whole.
• Stay in the room while your dog has it, and take the last stub away once it is small enough to go down in one piece.
• These are soft and pliable rather than hard, which is kinder to teeth than a bone, an antler or a nylon chew -- all of which can fracture a molar. A dog that bolts its food can still swallow a large piece.
• Puppies still losing their milk teeth, and old dogs with loose or missing teeth, do better with something softer still.
• Fresh water alongside. A starch and glycerin chew is dry work.

Meat-Free, But Not Dairy-Free

Happi Doggy market this range as vegetarian, and that part holds up: there is no meat in it and no rawhide, which is the main reason people buy it. Two details the packaging does not dwell on. The base recipe contains sodium caseinate, a milk protein, so these are not dairy-free and a dog that reacts to dairy is not in the clear. And some flavours are coloured with carmine, which is made from insects, so vegan is not quite the right word either. Recipes and colourings do change, so read the panel on the bag you receive.

About The Hypoallergenic Claim

Happi Doggy describe the formula as grain-free and hypoallergenic. Grain-free is simply true -- the base is tapioca and pea rather than wheat. Hypoallergenic is a looser word than it sounds. No food is hypoallergenic for every dog, and a real food allergy is identified by an elimination diet run with a vet rather than chosen off a shelf. The milk protein in the base is the thing to know about here.

It Counts As Food

The usual advice is to keep treats under about a tenth of a dog's daily calories, and a dental chew is a far bigger piece of food than a training treat. Take the equivalent out of meals rather than adding it on top. Happi Doggy publish the analysis for the range at roughly 9.8 per cent protein and 5.9 per cent fat with very little fibre, so most of what your dog is eating here is starch.

Who Makes It

Happi Doggy is a Singapore dental chew brand, sold in some markets under the name Happi Skippi. The whole range is meat-free and rawhide-free, built on a soft tapioca starch and glycerin chew rather than a pressed hide, and the brand lists the chews as suitable for all life stages.

Good To Know

• Introduce any new chew gradually. One a day at most to start with, and watch the stools for a couple of days -- a sudden change of treat is a common cause of a loose morning.
• Store the bag sealed and out of the sun. Glycerin chews go hard and brittle if they dry out, and a brittle chew snaps into pieces instead of being worn down.
• Not a substitute for a dental check. If you can see brown deposits along the gumline, or the gum is red where it meets the tooth, the chews are not going to fix it.
• Turmeric stains. It will mark a light carpet, a pale beard and your hands, and the stain on fabric is stubborn.
• If your dog is on medication, particularly anything affecting blood clotting, mention any turmeric product to your vet. The amount in a chew is small, but it is the sort of thing worth them knowing.