⚠️ 5 Treats We Do Not Recommend

⚠️ Not All Treats Are Created Equally ⚠️

Who doesn't love seeing their pet light up when they know they're going to get a tasty treat? We love the excitement and making our pets happy with a little treat! Did you know that not all treats are created equally and some even contain harmful ingredients? 😬

Even though we're giving a treat to our floof, we still want to make sure they're not only tasty, but healthy! At the very least, we always want to avoid controversial or harmful ingredients in our pets treats! So let's take a look at 5 Treats We Do Not Recommend and why! We'll also look at ways you can always be sure you're buying healthy good treats for your furry family! 💙

Milk Bones are one of the most popular treats on the market! The problem is; aside from offering very little nutrition, they contain not only controversial ingredients, but also harmful ingredients.   Milk Bones are made with "meat and bone meal" which is just one of the controversial ingredients they use. It's considered controversial because we don't know the source animal, so we can be guaranteed it's 4D meat.    BHA is a harmful synthetic preservative used in Milk Bones which is also used in products like jet fuel, embalming fluid and lipstick!
	Beggin' Strips are also a well known supermarket treat and the ingredient panel doesn't read much better than Milk Bones!   Beggin' Strips also use "meat" an unidentified protein which as we now know is controversial. They also contain BHA which is harmful because it has been proven to cause organ damage.   Beggin' Strips want to make their corn-filled treats look like bacon, they do this by adding artificial colours (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6) these are harmful because some dyes may have cancer causing effects. Artificial colours used in pet food and treats are essentially paint! In fact, add a little water to a Beggin' Strip and you can pretty much "paint" with it!
Snausages contain the controversial "mystery meats", the harmful BHA and the artificial colours!   On top of all that, the fourth ingredient is corn syrup which is a lot of sugar for our pets and we already know the impact sugar has on their health.   In these toxic little treats we also find Propylene Glycol which can be used as a replacement for antifreeze! Propylene Glycol has been banned for use in cat treats, unfortunately it is still allowed in dog treats and it definitely falls into the harmful ingredients category.
	Pup-Peroni is a well known treat that also made our list of the 5 Treats We Do Not Recommend! For good reason too! Check out a portion of their excessively toxic ingredient list!   Meat By-products, Sugar, Liver, Propylene Glycol, Caramel Color, Red 40, BHA and Onion Extract! Throw in a little onion extract if the rest wasn't toxic enough! We all know onions are toxic for dogs and especially if they're in a concentrated form like an extract! To be honest, even though the onion extract is a ridiculous addition, it's the least of our worries with all the rest of the harmful and controversial ingredients that make up these sticks of ick!
Last but not least is Temptations for the kitties. These treats contain several controversial ingredients especially for obligate carnivores who need meat to live! There is just as much grain as there is questionable "meat"!   Chicken by-product meal, ground corn, animal fat, dried meat by-products, brewers rice, wheat flour and natural flavour. By-products are nutritionally inconsistent which makes them controversial, corn for a cat is definitely not recommended, we have no idea what animal the fat or meat by-products came from, so we know it's 4D and with out listing their "natural flavour" we have no idea what that is either!

We can see from the variety of coloured ingredients highlighted just how harmful these treats are for our pets. Some folks may think, "treats are treats, they don't have to be healthy". When treats are served in moderation, that thought process holds some water. Our pets typically get treats everyday and that's where the thought process has to change. If we're feeding something to our pets everyday that contain controversial and or harmful ingredients, we know we are impacting their health negatively.

Treats are great and everyone loves treats, especially the furry guys so when we're serving treats, be sure you're selecting tasty treats that are also healthy and will do no harm to our furry guys! Here are some simple tips to keep in mind when you're choosing treats for the furry guys! 👇

🐾 Single ingredient treats with a named source of protein are our best bet! That means the ingredient list says "Beef Liver" or "Lamb Lung" or "Chicken Heart", you don't want the treat that just lists "liver" or "lung". The source animal needs to be identified. 

🐾 A treat ingredient panel that has all words you know and can pronounce is another easy way to pick a good treat. There are some excellent treats that have more than one ingredient and as long as we can pronounce each of the ingredients and we know what they are, that's a good treat!

🐾 Avoid any treats that contain 👇

⚠️ BHA, BHT or Ethoxiquin

⚠️ Artificial Colours of any kind by any name

⚠️ Unidentified sources of protein (meat, animal) are "proteins" you want to avoid

⚠️ Any treats that contain by-products of any kind should be avoided, just like you avoid them with your pet's food

The easiest way to choose a good treat for the floof, is if you can't pronounce the ingredients or don't know what they are without looking them up, you shouldn't buy that treat for your furry guy! 👍

As long as these treats are still being purchased, manufacturers will continue to make them! When we stop the demand for unhealthy, toxic treats and start demanding better for our pets, the manufacturers will have no choice but to change and improve the quality of products they produce for our pets! 🐾