Happi Doggy

Happi Doggy makes one thing: meat-free dental chews. The range is built on a soft tapioca starch and glycerin chew rather than a pressed hide, which is the reason most people come to it -- a dental chew for a dog on a vegetarian diet, or for an owner who will not buy rawhide. It splits into two lines. Zest is the everyday chew in six flavours, and Care is the same chew with a functional ingredient added: rosehip and okra for joints, pumpkin and mountain yam for digestion, turmeric and shiitake for immunity, honey and coconut oil for skin and coat.

Which Size

• 2.5 inch -- for small dogs. The 150g bag holds around eighteen chews.
• 4 inch -- for medium and large dogs, as a 150g bag in the Care line or loose packs of six and twelve in Zest.
• Size matters more than flavour. A 2.5 inch chew in a labrador's mouth is gone in one bite and does nothing for the teeth; a 4 inch chew is more than a small terrier can manage.

The Part That Does The Work

Two things are going on in any dental chew, and it is worth knowing which is which. The chewing itself wipes soft plaque off the tooth surface -- so a chew a dog has to work at beats one it swallows whole. Alongside that, Happi Doggy's base recipe contains sodium hexametaphosphate, which binds the calcium in saliva so it cannot settle on the teeth and harden into tartar. That is the one ingredient here with a well-established mechanism, and it is the same in every flavour, so pick by what your dog will actually eat.

What A Chew Will Not Do

• It does not reach below the gumline, and it does not remove tartar that has already formed. That is a scale and polish under anaesthetic.
• Brushing with a dog toothpaste remains the gold standard. A chew is something you do as well, not instead.
• Most dental chew copy talks about cavities and decay. True cavities are uncommon in dogs -- the figure usually quoted is one in twenty. What affects most dogs is periodontal disease, and the majority have some of it by three years old.
• Fresh breath from a chew is cover, not cure. Breath that has got noticeably worse usually means gum disease or a bad tooth, and sometimes kidney disease or diabetes.

Reading The Label Honestly

• Meat-free and rawhide-free -- true, and the main reason to buy the range.
• Not dairy-free. The base recipe contains sodium caseinate, a milk protein, so a dog that reacts to dairy is not in the clear. Some flavours are also coloured with carmine, which is insect-derived, so vegan is not quite the right word.
• Grain-free -- true. The base is tapioca and pea rather than wheat.
• Hypoallergenic -- a looser word than it sounds. No food is hypoallergenic for every dog, and a real food allergy is diagnosed by an elimination diet with a vet.
• The functional ingredients in the Care line are present in small amounts. Enjoy them as treats that lean the right way, not as supplements at a therapeutic dose.

Good To Know

• Stay in the room, and take the last stub away once it is small enough to swallow in one piece. These are soft and pliable, which is far kinder to teeth than a bone or an antler, but a dog that bolts its food can still swallow a large chunk.
• Treats are usually recommended to stay under about a tenth of a dog's daily calories, and a dental chew is a sizeable piece of food. Take the equivalent out of meals.
• Introduce a new chew gradually. A sudden change of treat is a common cause of a loose morning.
• Store the bag sealed. Glycerin chews go brittle if they dry out, and a brittle chew snaps into pieces instead of wearing down.
• If you want independent proof a chew works, look for a Veterinary Oral Health Council seal, awarded only after trials measuring plaque or tartar reduction. Very few chews carry one, and we have not seen it on this range.