Chew Toys for Maltese with Dental Crowding

A vet flagging early dental crowding in a Maltese and recommending chew toys is a smart catch — Malteses are genuinely prone to overcrowding because they're packing a full set of adult teeth into a very small jaw. The right chew toy here needs to be soft enough that it won't stress already-crowded teeth, but textured enough to do some real mechanical cleaning work. Before I point you in the right direction — is your dog actually interested in chewing things, or is this more about introducing a new habit on the vet's advice? And has the vet said anything about avoiding certain hardness levels?

That's really helpful. So we're not dealing with a dog who's going to destroy things — we need something that a reluctant chewer will actually engage with, that's gentle enough for a crowded small mouth, and that does useful dental work in the process. Does she have any food motivations we could use? Some of these toys work better when stuffed or flavoured. And is she more likely to lick at something or actually gnaw?

Perfect — that tells me exactly what you need. I'd go with the Kong Classic in size Small. For a 5kg Maltese who's food motivated and more of a licker, a stuffed Kong is ideal: she'll work at it to get the food out, and the natural rubber ridges do the mechanical cleaning your vet is after without putting any real pressure on her teeth. The rubber is soft enough that even if she does gnaw, there's no risk to crowded or sensitive teeth. Stuff it with something like plain cream cheese or a smear of wet dog food and she'll spend a good 15–20 minutes on it. You can freeze it to make it last longer once she's into the habit. It's one of the few toys that genuinely ticks both the enrichment and dental boxes without requiring your dog to be a dedicated chewer.

Small is the right call for a 5kg Maltese. Kong's XSmall is really designed for dogs under about 2–3kg — your dog would get through the contents too quickly and it wouldn't hold enough to keep her occupied. The Small gives a decent stuffing capacity and the opening is sized so she has to work a little, which is where the licking and tongue movement helps clean around those crowded teeth. If you find she empties it very quickly once she gets the hang of it, freezing is the main trick to slow her down — no need to upsize.

Good luck with it — most reluctant chewers convert quickly once they realise food comes out. Start with something really high value in there the first few times so she associates it with good things, and you should be set. Hope it helps with the dental situation too.