Most dogs love treats and, unless you have a picky eater, your dog will gladly eat just about anything you offer him. Since our dogs don’t do their own shopping (and couldn’t read labels even if they did!), it’s really up to us to make sure the treats we give them are healthy treats.
It’s always best to look for treats that are made with natural and organic ingredients and have no artificial flavorings or colorings. When reading labels, look for short ingredient lists with few, if any chemicals added. Some of the worst possible treats that you can give to your dog are those cheap, bargain bags of multicolored biscuits that are loaded with artificial flavors, artificial colors, and meat or poultry by-products. But fair warning, I just found chicken by-product meal and animal digest listed as ingredients in a very well known brand of dog treats. Even if you are buying a name brand that you trust, you still need to do your due diligence.
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Here are some definitions of ingredients that you generally want to avoid in dog treats and dog foods: Meat Meal - The rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. The animal parts used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: “4-D animals” (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters and so on. It can also include pus, cancerous tissue, and decomposed (spoiled) tissue. Beef & Bone Meal – A by product meal made from beef parts which are not suitable for human consumption. It can incorporate the entire cow, including the bones, but the quality cuts of meat are always removed. This is an inexpensive, low quality ingredient used to boost the protein percentage. Chicken meal – To create chicken meal, ingredients are placed into large vats and cooked. This rendering process not only separates fat and removes water to create a concentrated protein product, it also kills bacteria, viruses, parasites and other organisms. Because meat can be rid of infectious agents through the rendering process, “4-D animals” (dead, dying, diseased or disabled) are allowable chicken meal ingredients. While not always present, the possible inclusion of these ingredients makes chicken meal always considered unfit for human consumption. Tallow – This is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet. It is solid at room temperature. Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without the need for refrigeration to prevent decomposition, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation. Tallow is used in animal feed, to make soap, for cooking, and as a bird food. Chicken by-product meal – This consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice. Animal Digest – A cooked-down broth made from specified or unspecified parts of animals (depending on the type of digest used). If the source is unspecified (e.g. “Animal” or “Poultry”, the animals used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: “4-D animals” (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on. Artificial Preservatives: Definitely avoid BHT, BHA and Ethoxyquin which are used as artificial preservatives and may be linked to cancer. |
It does pay to look closely at the labels. My guess is that most people would not knowingly give food or treats that included these ingredients to their pets if they knew what they actually were.
Make Your Own Treats
Fortunately, there are safe and healthy alternatives to consider. First, you could always make your own treats. Sure, it takes more time than just buying them off of the shelf but, when you make your own, you can be sure that the treats are made of healthy, wholesome ingredients. We have some pretty tasty recipes here and a “how to video” here to make it easier for you if you decide to give this a try.
Easy Shortcut for Homemade Treats
If you want a shortcut to making your own treats, you can get a good, premade mix from K9 Cakery where all you have to do is add water and oil, stir and bake.
| Here’s the ingredient list for their Carob Doggie Biscuit Mix: Whole wheat flour, oats, bleached wheat flour, carob powder, honey powder, baking powder. |
As you can see, no questionable ingredients there at all. I just recently made these myself for my two German Shepherds, one of which is a picky eater, and they both loved them. They were very quick and easy to make!
Buy from a Good Company
A third option would be to find a quality brand of baked biscuits. I think Sojo’s brand is fantastic because their products use nothing artificial, no preservatives, just simple, natural, HUMAN-QUALITY ingredients.
| Here is their ingredient list for their Bacon Cheddar Treats for Dogs: Rye flour, oat bran, natural bacon, cheddar cheese, canola oil, eggs, baking powder. |
Nothing there but wholesome ingredients. Yum….sounds good enough to eat!
Whatever you decide, just do your best to leave the unsavory and unhealthy ingredients out of the next treats you give your dog. After all, treats are supposed to be a positive thing, not a health threat and your dog is relying on you to make sure that his treats are healthy and safe.
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