The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton wrestles with healthy dog treats and the changes in dog food over the years

A special treat, which isn’t a treat at all, but morsels of dentally perfect dog food. Genius!

But unfortunately, this tactic of dental care by stealth did not meet with the approval of most of the canines. The canine patients, I mean. Not the canine teeth.

I’ve never been a fan of bribery and I’m not totally convinced about offering snacks to all our patients. Vets spend much of their time talking about the importance of weight management and the implications of carrying extra pounds. I’ve never been to the doctors and come out with a lolly or a doughnut.

That said, it’s an undeniably different experience visiting a vet – not least where we put our thermometers – so I suppose a spoonful of sugar and all that.

One patient came in this week with her own food for the day. It was to be offered after she had recovered from her anaesthetic. The gourmet package looked tasty and was called ‘Nature’s Canine Kitchen Garden Pantry’, or something similar. It looked as delicious as it seemed wholesome. I was almost tempted to grab a forkful.

“That packet costs four pounds,” commented one of the nurses. My jaw dropped. It was more expensive than my own lunch would be, whenever that time arrived.

Later in the morning, I saw a young poodle cross called Mitzi. A poor appetite and intermittent vomiting seemed to be the main problems, although Mitzi otherwise looked a picture of health. An interesting conversation followed, again focused on food.

“We’ve tried all sorts of food, but she just doesn’t seem to like any of them,” the worried owner explained, shaking her head as she spoke. “We’ve tried them all.”

The husband quickly added, “And the new one we’ve got is so hard, I have to hit it with a hammer.” I raised my eyebrows. No food I had ever come across – for dogs, humans or any other creature – needed to be bashed like this. Maybe this was the reason Mitzi was not an enthusiastic eater?

It was all a far cry from days gone by. My grandparents kept dogs and ran a small boarding kennels. I have crystal clear memories of dogs’ dinners back in the day. A huge, dented metal bowl would appear from the ‘coal house”’.

It was no longer a coal house by then, but was filled with dog leads, wellies, dog food, gardening tools and large, metal bowls for mixing food.

My gran would shovel handfuls of biscuit-like, pebble-sized nuggets (called ‘mixer’) into the bowl and stir it up with several enormous tins of pasty dog food. It had a consistency (and probably a similar composition) somewhere between spam and meat paste. The aroma was more difficult to describe.

After about five minutes of mixing, the delicious concoction was ready and was shared out into smaller bowls for all the hungry dogs. It disappeared in seconds, leaving the bowls spotless. I couldn’t help but wonder what Mitzi would have made of that.

I examined Mitzi and failed to identify any obvious problems, before explaining a possible course of action. We agreed to carry out some X-rays and some blood tests and we booked Mitzi in for the next day.

As they headed back to their car, I noticed Mitzi’s owners had picked up a packet of ‘tasty-but-healthy-dog-dental-treats’ to add to Mitzi’s smorgasbord. I hoped it would work.