Stella & Chewy's Dental Delights Large Dental Chews for Dogs

Stella & Chewy's Dental Delights Large Dental Chews for Dogs

Stella recommends the Large for dogs 51 lbs and up, one chew per day. Before the ingredient list, one number you should have: 113 calories per chew. That is not a small treat and it needs to be counted as food.

This is not a raw product, and that surprises people

Most of what Stella & Chewy's makes is freeze-dried raw meat... 90 to 95% meat, organs and bone. Customers reasonably assume the whole brand works that way.

These chews don't. Here are the first six ingredients as Stella publishes them:

1. Brown Rice Flour
2. Rice Flour
3. Vegetable Glycerin
4. Gelatin
5. Water
6. Oat Fiber

Cage-free chicken is seventh. The guaranteed analysis is 20% protein and 2.5% fat, against 48% and 28% for their chicken dinner patties.

None of that makes it a bad product. A chew has to hold a firm, grippable texture that a dog works at for several minutes, and you cannot build that out of freeze-dried meat... starch and glycerin are how any dental chew on the market gets that texture. But if you came here expecting a raw meat product because of the name on the bag, this isn't one, and we would rather tell you that up front.

Two practical consequences. It contains grain, brown rice and rice flour, where almost everything else in Stella's line is grain-free. And it contains chicken and chicken liver, so it's out for a dog avoiding poultry.

The calorie math, which nobody prints

Stella's own guidance is that treats should make up 10% or less of your dog's daily calories. Run that against 113 kcal and you get a real answer: one Large chew is 10% of a daily intake of about 1,130 calories.

A moderately active dog in the 55 to 65 lb range is roughly in that territory, which means on the Large size, one chew a day sits close to the top of the 10% guidance rather than comfortably inside it. For a bigger dog, 80 lb and up, it's a comfortable fit.

The point isn't to put you off. It's that if you give one of these daily you should take it off the dinner bowl, and on a smaller dog at the bottom of the 51+ range, that adjustment is not trivial. Here's the whole range so you can check the size against your dog:

Daily calorie needs vary a lot with age, activity and metabolism, so treat that last column as arithmetic rather than a prescription. Your vet can tell you your dog's actual number.

Don't size down to save calories

It's tempting to give a 60 lb dog a Medium instead. Size recommendations on dental chews are a safety matter, not a calorie one... a chew small enough to be swallowed whole or bolted in two bites is the wrong chew, whatever it saves you. If the calories are the problem, give the right size less often.

What it's made to do

Stella's design description: nubs and ridges that scrape the teeth as the dog chews, a shape made to flip and roll, and a form designed for paws to grip and hold. It's infused with peppermint and parsley, and with calcium.

Stella publishes some stronger claims than that about what the chew achieves. We've left those out, because we'd rather hand you the ingredient list and the calorie count and let you judge. No chew replaces brushing or a veterinary cleaning... ask your vet what your dog's teeth actually need.

Full ingredient list

Brown Rice Flour, Rice Flour, Vegetable Glycerin, Gelatin, Water, Oat Fiber, Cage-Free Chicken, Natural Flavor, Parsley, Ground Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Citric Acid (a preservative), Sodium Bicarbonate, Chicken Liver, Peppermint Oil, Tocopherols (preservative).

Identical across all four sizes. No wheat, corn, soy, or added artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Guaranteed analysis

• Crude Protein (min) ... 20%
• Crude Fat (min) ... 2.5%
• Crude Fiber (max) ... 3.5%
• Moisture (max) ... 20%
• Calcium (min) ... 0.3%

Identical across all four sizes. Calorie content is 2,832 kcal/kg for every size... only the chew weight changes, which is why the per-chew calories differ.

Serving

One chew per day, matched to your dog's weight. Stella notes that treats should be 10% or less of daily calories, and that puppies may need up to twice an adult's food amount. Give it with fresh water nearby and under supervision, as with any chew.

Sizes we carry

Single chew, a 5.5 oz bag of 4, and a 23.2 oz bag of 17. The single is worth taking first if your dog hasn't had one... that way you find out whether they'll work at it before you buy seventeen.

One honest note on the label

Stella & Chewy's publishes no AAFCO statement for these chews, and none appears on their product page. That's normal for a treat rather than a complete food, and it means these are a supplement to a balanced diet, not part of one. Don't count them toward your dog's nutrition... count them toward the calorie total.

Sizes marked "Special Order" in the size list are not stocked and are ordered for you. The size you have selected is a stocked size.

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