The scores
Greenies Feline Original Tuna Dental Treats: C/61 — Average. Chicken-meal-led panel with no synthetic preservatives or artificial colors, plus a VOHC Seal for plaque and tartar.
Temptations Classic Chicken Cat Treats: D/38 — Below average. Chicken-by-product-meal-and-corn panel with BHA, BHT, and four FD&C dyes.
How the ingredients compare
Both panels open with poultry sources but diverge sharply on quality and preservation:
Greenies Feline: Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Wheat, Rice Flour, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)
Temptations: Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Corn, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA, BHT, and Citric Acid), Rice, Corn Gluten Meal
Greenies Feline opens with chicken meal — a defined, species-named rendered protein. Temptations opens with chicken by-product meal — a rendered protein that explicitly includes non-muscle parts (necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, intestines per AAFCO definition). The fat sources are the larger gap: Greenies Feline preserves poultry fat with mixed tocopherols (vitamin E forms, natural). Temptations preserves animal fat with BHA and BHT — both classified by the U.S. National Toxicology Program with carcinogenicity concerns at long-term exposure. Temptations also includes Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 2; Greenies Feline uses no artificial colors.
Where Greenies Feline pulls ahead
VOHC verification: Greenies Feline Original carries a Veterinary Oral Health Council Seal of Acceptance for mechanical plaque and tartar control — the only mainstream cat treat in our database with the seal. The VOHC review process requires manufacturer-submitted clinical evidence reviewed against published efficacy thresholds. Cat dental disease is one of the most common feline health issues per AVMA prevalence data; a verified mechanical-control product is meaningfully different from a generic crunchy treat.
No BHA, BHT, or artificial colors: Greenies Feline preserves with mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract. No FDA-permitted but rubric-deducted synthetic preservatives, no artificial dyes. The 23-point score gap is mostly attributable to this single difference.
Lower-calorie discipline: 1.4 kcal per Greenies Feline treat vs roughly 2 kcal per Temptations. For cats — where the 10%-of-daily-calories AAFCO supplemental-feeding guideline translates to roughly 20-25 calories of treats per day on a typical maintenance ration — the per-piece calorie load matters. Greenies Feline allows more pieces within the same daily allowance. Shop Greenies Feline on Amazon →
Where Temptations holds its own
Temptations’ strongest argument is acceptance. The brand has spent two decades engineering flavor-acceptance with cats, and the ingredient panel that includes natural and artificial flavors is the reason the product is named “Temptations” — cats who refuse most treats often accept this one. For owners administering medication via pill-pocket-style treating, Temptations’ high-acceptance profile is a practical advantage that Greenies Feline does not always match.
Price and shelf availability are the other arguments. Temptations runs roughly half the per-ounce price of Greenies Feline at most retailers and is carried in nearly every grocery, drugstore, and supercenter that sells cat products. For households where the treat is once-a-week affection rather than daily dental support, the cumulative BHA-and-dye exposure is small — the panel-quality gap matters more for high-frequency use. Shop Temptations on Amazon →
The bottom line
Greenies Feline is the cleaner panel and the only mainstream cat treat with VOHC dental verification. If you are buying a cat treat for any dental reason, Greenies Feline is the right pick despite the C grade — the verified mechanical claim is the single largest dental-health argument in this category. If you are buying purely for affection, neither of these is the best treat available; PureBites Freeze-Dried Chicken Breast at A/95 and Inaba Churu Tuna at A/90 are the cleaner choices and outscore both options here by 30+ rubric points.
Read our full reviews of Greenies Feline and Temptations for the complete ingredient-by-ingredient breakdown.