S&M NuTec LLC, the maker of the top-selling dog treat, Greenies, faces even more legal troubles with new lawsuits cropping up. The latest legal case to arise is a federal class-action lawsuit involving a group of 10 pet owners from eight states whose dogs either died or were seriously injured after eating the treat.

Greenies has been making headlines in recent months as S&M NuTec, a Kansas City-based company, is accused of selling a product they knew may pose health risks to dogs. Thus far, it is reported that 13 dogs have died, and more have experienced serious health problems resulting from the treat being lodged in dogs’ esophagus or intestines.

Last year the company sold 315 million treats (750 million since their introduction in 1998), which are green, with a tooth-brush shape at one end and a bone shape at the other. The popular treat is touted as a healthy teeth cleaning tool.

In recent months, a couple in New York brought a wrongful death and product liability suit, followed by a similar lawsuit in Los Angeles. A Seattle-based attorney who alleges his dog died after eating a Greenie has filed a petition asking the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a formal investigation into the treat.

S&M NuTec has contended all throughout the allegations that there is nothing wrong with their product, and that it is up to pet owners to give their dog the correct size treat and to ensure that their dog sufficiently chews it. In a written statement, the company said “It is our firm belief that our dental treats are safe and effective when used as directed.”

Joe Roetheli, CEO and co-founder of S&M NuTec, has said that the focus should be on the dental benefits that Greenies provides, and in effect are saving dogs' lives by lowering the risk of periodontal disease. He contends that feeding Greenies is much less dangerous than putting a dog under anesthesia to clean teeth.

In February, Roetheli said the company investigates all reports of injuries or deaths due to Greenies and, in “several dozen” incidents reimbursed dog owners for veterinary costs or for the loss of their pet. On their website (www.thetruthaboutgreenies.com), it states “reports of problems have been rare – although highly publicized in recent months.”

Roetheli developed Greenies with his wife, Judy, for their own dogs’ oral hygiene.

A CNN investigation revealed 40 cases since 2003 when a veterinarian extracted a Greenie from a dog after the treat became lodged in the animal's esophagus or intestine. The dog died in 13 of those cases.

Josh Glass of Los Angeles is one of the 10 plaintiffs in the class-action suit. Glass gave his 8-month old boxer, Tyson, a Greenie before boarding him at a kennel so that he could leave town for the Christmas holidays. Two days later, the kennel called to tell Glass that his dog had died. A necropsy revealed part of a Greenie lodged in Tyson’s intestine – leading to internal bleeding.

Richard Wyde of Mercer Island, Washington, said his four-year-old dog, Odin, an Old English sheepdog, died after small chunks of Greenie became lodged in the dog's intestines. In March, Wyde filed a petition asking the FDA to conduct a formal investigation into Greenies, including researching just how many dogs have had resulting medical problems because of the treat.

A woman filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that in 2003 her French Bulldog had surgery because a piece of a Greenie lodged in the dog’s esophagus, and due to those injuries, can now only eat food ground up in a blender.

A New York couple, Mike Eastwood and Jenny Reiff, filed a $5 million lawsuit in New York Superior Court last November, blaming Greenies for the death of their dog, Burt. The four-year-old Miniature Dachshund died two days after an obstruction was surgically removed from his intestines. The couple criticized the Greenies’ misleading packaging which stated the product is “100 percent edible” and “highly digestible,” claims which have reverberated throughout the various lawsuits. Eastwood and Reiff have launched their own website, www.burtscause.com.

Even though two key ingredients in Greenies -- wheat gluten and fiber -- are digestible, the molding process makes the treat extremely hard and inflexible. Greenies are sold in different sizes for dogs of different weight ranges.

Meanwhile, Brendan McKiernan, a board-certified veterinary internal medicine specialist in Denver, Colorado, has been conducting his own research on compressed vegetable chew treats (of which Greenies is the most popular). He says his research indicates that these types of treats are now the third highest cause of esophageal obstructions, following bones and fish hooks.

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