Remember to brush your teeth! Dental Bone Review

Since it is Pet Dental Month I wanted to share my favorite way to brush my teeth. Nope, it doesn’t involve a toothbrush or one of those finger brushes, it’s a treat! Mom gets these Checkups Dental Bones from Costco and I get one everyday after dinner. I like these better than the other “Kirkland Dental Chews” that Costco offers. It’s not a matter of taste its the size. For a big mouth like mine those small chews are gone fast and don’t really make it to many parts of my mouth. With the Checkups they are larger and take me longer to chew. Due to the size I tend to work harder at it and I think more teeth end up touching it. Texture wise I think I would say its chewy, basically it doesn’t just break apart when chew, your teeth have to sink into it and work it apart.

Pros:
Great for big dogs
Tastes great
No Corn, Wheat or Soy (they make me itchy)

Cons:
Even in broken in half, too much for smaller dogs (bag lists smallest dog weight at 20lb)
Costco seems to always be running out!

Recommend:
Yep, taste great and even if they only take a little bit of plaque off, it’s better than nothing.

Do they really work?
Not sure, I am not a doggie dentist, but the vet has always said Trey and I have pearly whites and healthy gums.

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Checkups Dental Bones

Dogbon Dog Bone Review

I thought I would share with you one of my older toys, my Dogbon Rubber Chew Bone.   Most of my older toys only lasted because they were at the bottom of the toy box or they are truely durable.  This toy falls under super durable and super fun!  It is a semi-clear rubber bone, looking at it I would normally say it is nothing special but to me it is.  It’s special to me because it makes fun sounds, well it doesn’t, I do!  Normally when I chew on my Nylabone there is just a standard grinding sound, but when I chew on this I manage to make a squishy squeaky sound sound that sounds like two pieces of wet rubber rubbing together.  If I am not in the mood for Nylabone but want to chew this is my first choice, I will dig to the bottom of my chew toy box just to find it.  What is nice is after all this time I only have teeth marks on it, no chunks missing yet.

Pros:
Durable
Fun Colors
More give than a Nylabone, but has taken more bites
If you drop it on the floor, being rubber it does less damage
Much like a Kong but a little more slippery texture (probably why I can make my funny sounds)

Cons:
Harder to find, as of now I only see a small one listed on Petsmart’s website and none on Petco. I think I got mine at Petsmart 2 years ago.
A REALLY HARD chewer might kill

Recommend:
Yep, although I haven’t killed mine I could see a bigger mouth that wants to kill it would take off chunk unlike a Nylabone, but if toys like the Kong toys work for you then this should.

Price:
Approx $12 from petprojekt.com

DogBon Dog Bone

DogBon Dog Bone

Folding Dog Bowls (Review)

Below is a picture of Folding Travel Bowl #3. The #3 is not part of the model number but my replacement number. Hey! I know what you are thinking, “Penny stop eating your bowls” but it’s not my fault! These bowls are great because you can fold them up put them in a small pocket for easy storage. The problem is after a couple weeks of regular use they seem to leak more and more. I can see why they are not completely waterproof, after all they are made of nylon and couldn’t be chemically sealed (I don’t want to drink that stuff!). At first if you load up the bowl with water and leave it, it will slowly leak through and the outside of the bowl will get wet. This is not really a problem if you are on a hike, after all we aren’t stopping for a long time period. However after a few weeks of use the leaks get faster, the problem really seems to be with the thin “inner liner” since the water seems to quickly leak to the space between the inner and outer layers. Mom gets water out of her Camelbak and I have to drink fast otherwise I am licking the liner, I probably only get half of what is poured. The previous 2 bowls I had were picked up at Petco and I think were store brand, this new one is from HomeGoods and is the Outward Hound brand that mom got while she was traveling (check out their pet section along with TJ Maxx for killer deals!) maybe a different brand will help, but here are my thoughts based on the Petco ones.

Pros:
Folds up nicely
Inexpensive (approx $4-$5)

Cons:
Leaks after a few weeks of regular use

Recommend:
No, not unless you really need something that collapses (like me) or you wouldn’t be using it too often. Now I am going to give this Outward Hound one a try and maybe it will change my mind.

I am open to suggestions, but the replacement need to be lightweight and folding. Until then I might continue to suffer with these.

Folding Travel Dog Bowl

Folding Travel Dog Bowl

Folding Travel Dog Bowl

Folding Travel Dog Bowl

Kong Series- 1 My First Kong

These next couple weeks I am planning on doing reviews on just Kong products. As a chewer, Kong products are usually on the go-to list when looking for new toys.

How best to start off this series of Kong, but with my first Kong. That’s right, mom kept it! What better for a puppy than a pacifier aka Kong Binkie. Now this Kong is designed for puppies because it is a soft rubber that normal chewers would decimate in short time. Since this is a softer rubber and puppies are chewers make sure you do supervise the little tikes, afterall we grow so fast and it’s only a matter of time until this soft rubber is too soft. Not long ago Anderson Vet Clinic posted to their Facebook page about a chunk of Kong they had to remove from a dog that tore one apart and swallowed.

So here is a picture of mine, you can’t really see it but there are a bunch of teeth marks down at the bottom which was mom’s cue that it was time to get an adult Kong toy. The real shocker is how I didn’t chew off the handle, what was I thinking. But that does bring up a bad side of this toy, I can see that handle coming off with baby chewers and being eaten, so once again SUPERVISE US!

Pros:
Great for puppies
Gives pups something positive to chew on
CUTE!

Cons:
The handle could be a weak point to chew off and swallow.

Recommend:
Yes! But only while supervised. Actually I would recommend the classic shaped Kong Puppy over the Binkie for safety reasons. If you go with the Binkie make sure you watch the wear on this toy, once you start seeing good teeth marks, its time to take it away because it wont be long until that handle is gone.

Price:
Approx $9 from Petsmart.com

My First Kong

My First Kong

After Christmas Sales!

Don’t you love after holiday sales?  Mom ran by Petco yesterday, I couldn’t go because she said she also had to go get human food while she was out, but check out the spoils I got.  Petco had all their Christmas items marked down 75% so mom picked grabbed a whole bunch.  She even grabbed toys she would never buy knowing how fast I play operation on them.  After holiday sales are the best options for us toy killers!

Penny, petco, sales, dog, toys

I love after Christmas Sales