
Healthy dog treats should be natural, nutritious, palatable, and free from harmful additives or unnecessary ingredients. They should also provide some health benefits. When choosing treats for your dog, consider the following:
1. Healthy Dog Treats:
Choose high-quality, natural dog treats made with minimal ingredients. Look for treats with whole-food single ingredients such as White Fish Jerky and Dried Sprats. Avoid any treats with artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or derivatives. Some treats require a ‘binding’ ingredient to hold it together, predominantly in the form of grain such as cereal or maize which should be avoided.
2. Dental Chews:
Most of the commercial ‘dental sticks’ available are doing more harm to dogs than they are good. They contain a whole host of worrying and unnatural ingredients that could cause harm to your beloved best friend.
Grain – Not easily digestible and common cause of allergies
Sodium Tripolyphosphate – Found in detergents and industrial products. Known to cause vomiting as well as other adverse symptoms.
Smoke Flavour – Used to cover up the taste of all the nasty chemicals. Serious safety concerns over the use of smoke flavouring, along with suggestions that it can cause cancer.
Potassium Sorbate – Hidden ingredient used as a preservative. Carcinogenic ingredient known to cause skin, eye and respiratory problems.
Meat and Animal Derivatives – Any part of any animal including their feathers and claws. No labelling requirement for the manufacture to declare what animal or body part. Particularly worrying if your dog has allergies to certain meats.
There are healthy alternative dental treats, such as White Fish Jerky. Treats like this are single-ingredient, low in fat and very crunchy. The action of crunching and chewing helps to remove excess tart from their teeth and promote good oral hygiene.
3. Fruits and Vegetables:
Many dogs enjoy fruits and vegetables as treats. Options like apple slices, carrot sticks, blueberries, and banana slices are healthy choices. Be sure to research which fruits and vegetables are safe for dogs, as some can be toxic such as onion and grapes.
4. Homemade Treats:
Consider making your own dog treats using simple, dog-friendly grain free recipes. This allows you to control the ingredients and avoid unnecessary additives. A popular way to do this is using a small dehydrator to dry slices of fruit like apple of banana, which preserves their longevity and adds a nice crunch for your dogs’ teeth.
5. Avoid Human Food:
Yogurt, peanut butter, cheese, sausage slices, cooked meats are all commonly given as high reward treats – but should be avoided. Many of these are exceptionally fatty for dogs. There are many healthy and natural dog treats available which should always be used instead of getting the dog into a habit of receiving human food or table scraps.
When introducing new treats into your dogs’ diet, it’s important to monitor for any adverse reactions. Some dogs may have sensitivities or allergies to certain ingredients. Additionally, consider the size of the treats and factor them into your dogs’ overall daily caloric intake to prevent overfeeding. You are always welcome to contact us at Bentley’s for unbiased nutritional advice, we will be honest if we feel our food would not be suitable for you and your dog. Our philosophy is simply to see more dogs on a healthier diet.