Best chews for dogs: what veterinary teams should tell clients

Whole Dog Journal’s new “Best Chews for Dogs” video lands in a familiar but clinically important gray zone: pet parents want simple recommendations, while veterinary teams know the answer depends on chewing style, oral health, GI risk, calorie budget, and the product’s actual evidence base. The publication’s recent chew guidance favors edible, supervised options and highlights that not all popular chews are equally safe or useful. (whole-dog-journal.com)

That framing fits with the publication’s broader nutrition and preventive-care coverage. Whole Dog Journal’s related material on choosing dog food has focused on practical decision-making, label reading, and common misconceptions, and its chew coverage extends that same consumer-education approach into enrichment and dental care. This matters because chews are often marketed simultaneously as treats, boredom relief, and oral-health tools, even though those functions do not always align in practice. (whole-dog-journal.com)

In its chew article, Whole Dog Journal spotlights bully sticks, collagen sticks, tendons, and beef trachea as examples of options that may work for many dogs, while also noting tradeoffs. Bully sticks are described as single-ingredient and unlikely to splinter, collagen sticks as somewhat easier on the stomach, tendons as lower-fat and tooth-cleaning, and trachea as useful for food-stuffing enrichment. But the same review also points to risks: coffee wood shed small pieces in testing, and a pig ear reportedly broke into a large piece that became lodged in a dog’s throat. Elsewhere, Whole Dog Journal notes that nylon chews remain controversial because of reports of swallowed fragments, GI injury, and tooth fractures, even as manufacturers instruct clients to supervise use and replace damaged products. (whole-dog-journal.com)

Outside commentary helps put those recommendations in a more clinical framework. The Veterinary Oral Health Council says it reviews submitted data for plaque and tartar control and awards its seal to products that meet its standards; it also advises giving the right-sized product for the dog’s body weight and limiting chew use to times when someone can observe the dog. AAHA’s dental resources go further on risk, stating that there is not a strong rationale for offering hard treats such as antlers and natural or synthetic bones that may damage teeth, and noting that hard chews including bones, sticks, rocks, yak milk chews, antlers, and rawhides can fracture teeth. (vohc.org)

A 2023 review in the Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association offers a useful summary for teams trying to translate this into exam-room advice. The authors argue that the ideal chew should be interesting to the dog, nutritionally reasonable, proven to reduce plaque and calculus, not excessively hard, and low-risk for choking and GI obstruction. They specifically list real bones, nylon bones, antlers, cow hooves, yak milk treats, some harder bully sticks, and ice cubes among items excluded by the “not excessively hard” criterion because of tooth-fracture concerns seen in practice. The same review notes that some soft rawhide chews that break into small pieces have evidence for reducing plaque, calculus, and gingivitis, underscoring that “rawhide” is not a single risk category and product design matters. (ahvma.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the practical takeaway is less about endorsing one chew and more about tightening the counseling framework. Clinics are increasingly being asked to sort chews by purpose: enrichment, dental benefit, caloric impact, digestibility, pathogen exposure, and fracture risk. That creates an opportunity for veterinarians and technicians to move the conversation away from “natural” versus “processed” and toward evidence-backed, size-appropriate, supervised choices. It also reinforces the value of recommending VOHC-accepted products when clients specifically want oral-health claims, while reminding them that brushing remains the gold standard for home dental care. (vohc.org)

There’s also a workflow implication for practice teams. Chew counseling can be folded into puppy visits, nutrition consults, dental discharge instructions, obesity management, and behavior discussions, especially for dogs that need safe outlets for chewing. A short script, such as avoiding items hard enough to fracture teeth, choosing products sized to the dog, supervising all chew sessions, and stopping use when fragments break off, may be more useful than brand-by-brand advice alone. That approach aligns with current guidance from VOHC and AAHA, and with the reality that many complications from chews, including fractured teeth and GI obstruction, are preventable but often only recognized after the fact. (vohc.org)

What to watch: The next development to monitor is whether more chew makers pursue evidence-based differentiation, through VOHC acceptance, clearer safety labeling, and stronger guidance on which dogs should not receive specific products. (vohc.org)