I spend a decent amount of time on the blog talking about food. Food for myself, that is. But today, I’m bringing the focus on to Lucia.
Today, we talk dog treats.
Normally, we don’t buy Lucia dog treats. I give her slices of fresh vegetables here and there. She gets to lick the bottom of my yogurt cups before I throw them away. She seems to be pretty satisfied with the situation.
But recently (thanks to a Klout perk), I received three bags of Hill’s Science Diet Ideal Balance Dog Treats for Lucia to try. And boy, does she love them.
I love them too, for the fact that the ingredients are natural and recognizable. I can actually read and understand the ingredients; no creepy sounding chemicals that I can’t pronounce and don’t have the slightest clue what they are.
The three varieties we received were a good spread: the Fruity Snacks with cranberry and oatmeal are cute little flower cookie shaped treats – Lucia gives them a “paws up,” if you will. The Veggie Chips with pumpkin and yam are thin disc shaped treats; they’re easy to break in half if you don’t want to use an entire treat at once. Finally, the Jerky Strips with real beef: Lucia FLIPS over them, so I only use them for a big reward at this point…don’t want her to get too spoiled now!
Make sure you don’t overfeed your dog when it comes to treats: the Ideal Balance treats provide a serving suggestion per day depending on the size of your dog. For example, the Fruity Snacks suggest that a 40lb dog (like Lucia) should only have up to 4 of the treats per day. I usually only end up giving her one, but that is good to know for reference!
Anyway, if you’re looking for all-natural treats for your pup, check out the Ideal Balance line of products. They’re Lucia-approved!
Do you have a favorite type of treat for your pets?
I have a dog, too, but would be concerned with feeding him these treats for several reasons. First off, wheat is listed as either the first ingredient (fruit one) or the second ingredient (beef) and is then followed by a lot of other grains. So these are predominantly carb-y treats. Additionally, they’re high in sugar – in the beef one, both dextrose (a sugar) and molasses are high up in the list, and in the fruit one there’s molasses. There’s also added salt, coloring, and chemicals on the ingredient label.
Our dog doesn’t eat any grains and a lot of his “business” issues cleared up in doing so. He’s also small (13lbs) and prone to bad teeth, so I make sure he’s not getting added sugar when possible. There are plenty of chicken jerky and beef jerky treats on the market that are just that – dried chicken breast or what not. When another person in our agility/obedience class offers my pup a treat, I let him have it, so I’m not *crazy* about everything being grain/sugar/salt free, but when it comes to treats I’d personally buy, they have to be good quality and ones that I wouldn’t be concerned about him having a decent amount of (especially for class, as when they learn new stuff they get tons of treats).
Also, for the quality, the cost is high. You can get some ones that are more meat-based or have better ingredients for the same price or less. Even Trader Joes has some really great options.
Just my two cents, from a crazy dog lady.
Thanks for your comment, Tamar!
Like I said, I usually don’t give Lucia any treats (aside from fresh vegetables), so giving her one of these every once in a while (she probably only gets to have 1-2 in a week) doesn’t bother me too much. Also, she gets veggies because I’m cheap and I don’t usually feel like buying separate treats for her. But…these were free, so I thought we’d sample them to see if she approved!
However, if someone were to feed their dog a lot of treats regularly, I could definitely see the concern based on the carbs, etc. I wish I had Trader Joe’s around here so I could check out their line of treats…maybe some day we’ll get one…