July 10, 2014

Dental Chews for Dogs - WHIMZEES - are Vegan.




Click to go to Whimzees website
The rescued dogs in my care are fed a 100% supplemented and balanced vegan diet. I also give them marketed vegan kibble to help ensure they are getting all the nutrients they need. And I sometimes offer it at the end of homemade meals to help clean the teeth a bit. The dogs I'm closely bonded with have always allowed me to brush their teeth. However, I still notice that they could use dental chews. And if you are not brushing the dog's teeth, it seems dental chews are "a must". Keeping a dog's teeth clean is very important to help prevent disease further down the line; a powerful preventative measure for long-term health. So I discovered Whimzees (or actually Paragon at the time). And I have found them in Hawaii at a the feed shop and then in New Zealand at the vet, so I assume they are pretty easy to find! They are a worldwide brand - and they happen to be vegan! 


Paragon Pet Products are located in Veendam, northern Netherlands. They produce vegetable dog chews made of all-natural ingredients. The company use to produce their own brand Paragon - now called WHIMZEES. The dental chews consist of 6 vegetable-based ingredients only: potato starch, glycerin, powdered cellulose, lecithin, yeast, malt extract, annatto extract color or alfalfa extract. No GMO’s, no wheat, no corn, no preservatives, no sugar, no gluten.  All ingredients are sourced in Western Europe and are certified that they do not contain any animal by-products. However, they cannot guarantee that animal by-products were not used as fertilizers for the ingredients, they told me. (That is true of much of the food we buy. It's a grey area within vegan living, unless you grow your own food the vegan-organic method - which some vegans are starting to do. Many vegans like to buy organic food which is highly likely to use products derived from animal exploitation as fertilizers. Hard to get away from this, so it's one of those "as far as reasonably possible" aspects to living vegan.)
the white colored brush

I've tried WHIMZEES out on 3 different dogs and they wag their tail for this healthy treat. If you see a dog is not thoroughly chewing the alligator-shaped or toothbrush-shaped chew - please take it away; true of any dental chew. I have not noticed dogs doing that with this product. You do need to give the correct size though. Stick with the companies recommendations for size, please don't give a small dog a medium sized chew. See chart below for the sizes they offer; they do have petite or small chews specifically for small dogs. 

I did notice on their online shop that they offer an XL toothbrush that has white color made of calcium carbonate, and I did not verify if their calcium carbonate is vegan in that one brush; which I've never even seen. (calcium carbonate can come from several sources, and one of them is nonvegan like shells collected from a seafood restaurant; though it can also be non-animal derived.)








™ / WHIMZEES is the Property of Paragon Pet Products - made in Holland


Old packaging: Paragon is now marketed as Whimzees
New Packaging - these 3 colors are vegan!


10 comments:

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debbie said...

Just curious what your thoughts on naturally shed elk or deer antlers are for chews. I would assume vegan because they are naturally shed?

M. (known as) "Butterflies" Katz said...

Hi Debbie

If I were with my dog in the woods and he found a naturally shed elk/deer antler and was chewing on it - fine. But not if it is a business - because I don't think you can trust a business that profits off the product.

nancy said...

What a good subject. Coming on the market a couple years ago for dogs. Yet naturally shed antler chandeliers have been in demand for years. You need to know your source. Dogs have been trained to find them because of the demand. I bought a small guide to training for my dog. Also they look along deer trails. Here big business steps in. This yr my dog catalog sells deer antlers- naturally shed & HARVESTED. Now i won't trust any business- the next business may lie. So disapointing!

Anonymous said...

Did the company confirm that the ingredient "lecithin" is from plant sources, and not animal/egg sources?
Thank you so much!

M. (known as) "Butterflies" Katz said...

Yes Tokki

Thanks for being a true vegan and checking, but it says right on their site, on the ingredients page that the lecithin is plant sourced.

http://www.whimzees.com/ingredients/

I've spoken with a representative at Whimzees who assured me that they were all vegetable.

Unknown said...

This post seems to be for a while now, I hope that you can still help me with this. I have spent hours looking online for vegan dental treats and haven't found any. Do you really recommend these dog treats as vegan? I noticed that one of the ingredients is "glycerin" Is glycerin not made out of boiled animal bones? I need some advice about this.

M. (known as) "Butterflies" Katz said...

To respond to Fa Rams

There is vegetable glycerin and animal glycerin. Both. They are vegan except possibly their white toothbrush (rare) that has (unidentified) calcium carbonate (which is mostly likely vegan, but would have a chance of being nonvegan.) The whimzees are vegan and they are good. Found them in New Zealand and in Hawaii. so they seem easy to get...an international brand. I go to cruelty-free stores or order online directly from vegan dog food people for vegan dental chews.

Unknown said...

Thank you Butterflies Katz, I really appreciate the time you took to to respond to my question it means a lot to me.
I didn't even know that there were vegetable glycerin, that's good to know, my only concern was the glycerin but I will definitely look at the ingredients for calcium carbonate also. I ordered the whimzees online based on your review, but I really liked the fact you said that is good to buy them from vegan and cruelty free-stores, I will keep this in mind next time I buy them :)

Unknown said...

Yumiiiii!! thanks for sharing