Healthy Treats Teething Puppy Treats - 50g

The Healthy Treats Teething Puppy Treats are crunchy cream-filled treats made for the months when a puppy is losing its milk teeth, with chamomile extract, menthol extract and clove oil in the filling to help soothe sore gums, plus added vitamin C. They are a kind thing to have in the cupboard during a rough patch, and they work best as part of a plan that also includes the right things to chew.

Key Features

• Soothing Ingredients: Chamomile extract, menthol extract and clove oil, all traditional gum-soothing ingredients, included at flavouring level.
• Added Vitamin C: The treats are fortified with vitamin C.
• Age Range: Labelled by VetIQ for puppies from 4 weeks of age, which covers the whole teething period.
• Format: A crisp baked shell with a soft cream-filled centre, small enough to give several across a day.
• Pack Size: 50g resealable bag.

What Teething Actually Involves

• Puppies get their milk teeth from around three weeks old and start losing them from about three months, with the adult set usually through by six or seven months. The uncomfortable stretch is mostly between three and six months.
• You may find tiny teeth on the floor, or none at all, because most get swallowed. A little blood on a toy is normal. Chewing everything in the house is also normal, and it is not naughtiness: chewing genuinely relieves the discomfort.
• What helps most is having the right things available to chew, consistently, so your puppy has a better option than your furniture. A chilled rubber chew toy or a damp flannel put in the freezer for an hour is cheap, effective and reusable.
• Avoid very hard chews during teething. Cooked bones, antlers, nylon bones and hooves can fracture teeth, and a puppy with a mouth that already hurts is not the time to find out.

When To See Your Vet

• Milk teeth that have not come out when the adult tooth is already up are called retained deciduous teeth. They crowd the adult tooth and trap food, and they usually need removing. Canines are the common offenders, and small breeds are most affected.
• Also worth a check: a puppy that has gone off its food, is drooling heavily, pawing at its mouth, has a swollen face, or has an adult tooth growing at an odd angle. A bite that does not line up is better addressed early than late.
• On the clove oil: it is in here as a trace flavouring, which is a long-established use and not something to worry about. Concentrated clove or other essential oils are a different matter entirely and are genuinely toxic to dogs, so never apply neat oils to a puppy's gums on the theory that more would work better.

About The 4 Week Label

• Mark & Chappell label this range as suitable for puppies from 4 weeks of age. That is written for breeders: a puppy of that age is only starting to wean and is still with its mother and litter.
• What it actually tells you is that the recipe is gentle enough for a very young puppy. It is not a suggestion that a four-week-old puppy should be having treats, and it is not a reason to take a puppy off its mother early.
• Most people get their puppy at around eight weeks. From that point these are genuinely useful, because a soft-centred treat a puppy really wants is the easiest way to get house-training, handling, lead work and crate practice started.

The Main Food Does The Work

• A complete dog or puppy food is formulated to supply every nutrient in the right proportion. A treat sits on top of that, and it is not a way to patch a diet that is falling short.
• If you think the main food is not working for your dog, the answer is a better main food, chosen with your vet, not a supplement bolted on top. Adding things to a poor diet rarely helps and makes it much harder to tell what is causing what.
• Growing puppies are the case where this matters most. A growth food has calcium, phosphorus and energy balanced deliberately, and that balance is best left alone.

Who Makes It

• Healthy Treats is a range made by Mark & Chappell Ltd, a British company that sells pet healthcare under the VetIQ Healthy+ name. The brand is VetIQ; Healthy Treats is the dog treat line, and Healthy Bites is the matching line for cats and small pets.
• Every treat in the range is built the same way: a crisp baked cereal shell wrapped around a soft cream-filled centre, with the active ingredients carried in the filling. That is what lets them put something useful in a treat a dog will take by hand.
• Mark & Chappell state there is no added sugar in the range and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. The antioxidants used are vitamin E, ascorbyl palmitate and rosemary extract.

These Are Rich Treats

• Worth knowing before you buy: the cream filling makes this a high-fat treat. Across the range the crude fat content runs from roughly 23 to 30 per cent, which is higher than most dry dog foods. The calories per treat are low because the treats are small, not because they are lean.
• On a small dog that adds up quickly. Keep everything outside the main meals under about a tenth of the day's calories, and take a little off the main meal on days you use a lot of them.
• If your dog has had pancreatitis, is prone to it, or has been put on a low-fat diet by your vet, check before using these. A rich treat is exactly the kind of thing that gets overlooked when someone is being careful about the main food.

Feeding Safely

• Mark & Chappell ask that dogs be supervised while eating these, that they are fed as a snack between meals, and that fresh drinking water is always available. Sensible advice for any hard treat given to a puppy.
• Hand-feed rather than tipping a pile into the bowl. You can see what went in, you get the training value out of it, and in a multi-dog house nobody takes more than their share.
• Introduce them a couple at a time over a few days. A new ingredient in a large first helping is the usual reason for a loose stool that then gets blamed on the product.

A Treat, Not A Medicine

• This is a complementary pet food. It is not a veterinary medicine and it is not licensed to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. The VetIQ name on the bag does not change that, and neither does the wording on the front.
• The fair way to read the range is good treats with a sensible extra in them, chosen to suit a situation. That is a reasonable basis for picking one bag over another. It is not a reason to use one instead of seeing your vet.
• If your dog is already on medication or a prescription diet, mention any treat you are adding at the next appointment. Prescription diets work by controlling exactly what goes in, and extras can work against them.

Storage In The UAE

• Mark & Chappell ask that the pack be stored cool and dry, out of direct sunlight, and used within four weeks of opening. That matters more here than in the UK, because heat and humidity turn the oils in a high-fat cream filling stale faster.
• Press the resealable strip shut after each use and keep the bag in a cupboard rather than on a sunny shelf or in the car. A fridge is not needed and tends to soften the shell.
• If a treat smells of old oil or crayons, or the shell has gone bendy, throw the bag out. Rancid fat is unpleasant rather than dangerous, but dogs refuse it and you have lost the pack anyway.

Good To Know

• Complementary pet food for dogs. Not a complete diet and not a veterinary medicine.
• Supervise your dog while feeding. Feed as a snack between meals, with fresh water available.
• Resealable bag. Store cool and dry, out of sunlight, and use within four weeks of opening.
• A high-fat treat. Keep treats to roughly a tenth of your dog's daily calories at most.
• Made in the UK by Mark & Chappell Ltd under the VetIQ Healthy+ brand.
• Not for human consumption. Keep out of reach of children.
• Contains poultry protein and wheat flour.
• Give alongside suitable chew toys, not instead of them.