[Gloria K]

Good point. Never thought much about the calorie count. The sticks I get him are about 6 inches. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I really do try to keep his weight in check.

[Dog_Obsessed]

You’re welcome! I probably actually freak out too much about calories in chews. With Himalayan Dog Chews, I was working really hard to make sure Lily didn’t eat more than 1/2 and inch per day because I was worried about her getting too many calories. Then I kinda realized that it didn’t really matter how much she ate per day, just how many calories she got overall from them.

[Gloria K]

Half inch per day??? Mickey devours one of these in just under 45 minutes. LOL. He weighs 12 pounds and could rip a school bus apart in an hour.

[homzie]

My Springer Spaniel weighs 60 lbs. and hard telling how fast she will devour these. That is why I want something that lasts.

[Dog_Obsessed]

I didn’t leave them out freely, lol. I would give it to her for 20 minute increments once a day. I like Himalayan Dog Chews because they would probably last several hours for Lily in one sitting.

[Gloria K]

My daughter has a 12 pound terrier mix as I do and her dog takes forever to go through a bully stick. I guess it just depends on the dog Homzie, but I would sure give them a try. Dogs seem to absolutely love these things. Make sure they are odor- free and of good quality.

[homzie]

I put chew stuff up after a while on top of the entertainment center and my dog knows the next day where it’s at and will stare and bark until I give it to her. lol

[Gloria K]

I’ve never heard of the Himalayan dog chews but if they would last Mickey longer than the bully sticks I would like to give them a try. What exactly are they? And is there a brand that you prefer?

[Dog_Obsessed]

I’ve never actually tried Bully Sticks with Lily, it was the Himalayan Chews I was talking about. I once tried them with a foster, but they stank so badly that it scared me away from them. Then I heard scary stuff about bacterial contamination. I now know that you can get ones that don’t stink, and that if you get them from a reputable source then bacterial contamination isn’t really a concern. The part that they’re made from still grosses me out though.

Himalayan Dog Chews are made from Yak milk, and vegetarian. The main brand, and the one that I use, is just called Himalayan Dog Chews, but there are some other brands that make similar products. There is a topic about them here: /forums/topic/himalayan-dog-chews/

[Gloria K]

LOL Homzie, I bought three hard beef soup bones for Mickey yesterday, boiled them then gave one to him. Took her two hours to eat half of this large bone so I took it away from him and put it up on the kitchen counter. Even though it was wrapped in Saran he knew it was up there and I don’t think he slept more than 10 minutes all night. So I know what you mean when you say he stares and barks. This bone would’ve kept him occupied for more than four hours because he never let it go but I wonder if that would’ve been way too much in one sitting.

[Gloria K]

This is what I get for Mickey –
http://www.bestformypets.com

[Gloria K]

Something just came up and I wonder if anyone here could answer this question. Mickey’s stool this morning suddenly turned from dark brown firm to light green very soft. Could that beef bone I gave him yesterday have something to do with it? His appetite this morning was ravenous as usual and he seems to be very playful and fine otherwise.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by Gloria K.

[homzie]

I would bet the bone could have caused that Gloria.

[Mark S]

I agree with the Nut…
[IMG]http://tralalatrilili.ml/20/f.png[/IMG]

[theBCnut]

I would never cook a bone in any way and then let a dog have it.

[Gloria K]

Why not?

[DogFoodie]

Cooking a bone changes the structure of the bone will cause it to splinter. Bone splinters are dangerous. You should only offer your dog raw bones. I don’t give my dogs weight bearing bones either because they’re aggressive chewers and weight bearing bones are too hard for them. Here’s a thread about raw, meaty bones: /forums/topic/eating-raw-meaty-bones/

[Cheryl Pepper Millie Sophie]

Gloria ,
I just noticed your post about the stool, and had the exact same thing with my puppy a mini schnauzer she ate quite a bit of a bully, stick same quality you feed different brand and on our walk yesterday same type of stool color, but this A.M. everything normal.
Had to be the bully stick, so I will not be giving it to her for a few days-I think 1-2 times a week is more than enough.

[Gloria K]

The first stool yesterday morning was an odd green color but the two subsequent ones later in the day and evening we’re perfectly normal. I gave him back the bone last night to see what would happen and this morning the stool was normal. So much for blaming the bone LOL

[Gloria K]

Under no circumstances have I ever given any of my dogs chicken or turkey bones. The only bones I give them are shank bones, knucklebones or large heavy soup bones. These bones don’t splinter whether they’re cooked or not. My dogs gnaw on them for hours and while they do come down and size they don’t splinter or shatter.

[DogFoodie]

I feed my dogs raw chicken and turkey bones all the time, but I would never give them knuckle bones or other heavy weight bearing bones like a femur. I would worry about mine breaking a tooth on those. I still supervise them, but I have significantly less concern over soft, consumable bones like chicken wings, chicken necks, chicken backs, lamb trotters, turkey necks or chicken feet. Cooking changes the composition of the bone.

[Rita G]

I started my dogs on Stella and Chewy raw frozen patties today. It seems like the recommended amount is much more than I was feeding before. One was on kibble and the other was on the Honest Kitchen. Are the recommended amounts correct?

[Linda J]

Hi, wanting for everyone, anyone’s opinion …..I got my dog Thunder Treats to calm her down from thunderstorms, she is a lab mix 17 years old, .i adopted both Sugar and Honey ( sisters)from the Humane Shelter…both are still very active with the exception of thunderstorm issues no problems..but I can’t find any info on here about Thunder Treats
Anyone with comments?

[Gloria K]

If you go to Amazon.com and search thunder treats you will find several types of thunder treats for dogs including the write ups as to what they contain and what they do. In my opinion any treats the dog likes can be a thunder treat. The point is to give him something he associates with pleasure to calm him during a thunderstorm.

[Kristin S]

Does anyone know if the list has been created yet or still in the making? I’m very excited and anxious to see what is recommended because right now, I just feed a wide assortment of treats to include bully sticks, rib bones, hooves, pig ears, edible nylabones, kongs with peanut butter, etc. Would love to know what is recommended for STRONG chewers.
When considering treats we look for a couple things:
1. treats that are safe to give the dogs unsupervised while we are working.
2. treats that will last a while
3. reasonable treats (that is why i am staying away from the himalayan chews, can’t believe how expensive they are!)
4. treats that don’t give stinky breath!! (this is a big one and haven’t found many that fill this need!)

[Peggy]

My dogs are doing very well on the Pure Balance Duck & sweet potato treats. I also have a bag of the PB Crunchy Caramel Apple treats, but LadyBug does not like those as well.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Kristin –

I’m not sure if there will end up being a recommended treats list. Going over users’ posts it became clear that people look for very different criteria when searching for treats. It’s hard to say which treats are safe to give dogs unsupervised because, technically, a dog could probably choke on anything and it also varies based upon the dog’s chewing style. If you worry about your dog choking I’d recommend avoiding things like rawhide, bully sticks, pig ears, dental chews, etc. while you’re not home. A safe and healthy (and yummy!) treat to make that will keep your dog busy while you’re away would be to stuff a kong with canned food or layer it with kibble and canned pumpkin and freeze it. It will take longer for your dog to eat if it’s frozen. Making “konsicles” like this is also pretty cheap to do – unlike many of the dental chews and natural chews on the market that can be quite expensive. If you want to keep your dog’s breath in check, I’d recommend regularly brushing it’s teeth – dogs really should have their teeth brushed at least 3 times per week.

[Kimi_forever]

I just saw this topic and thought i’d ask a few questions to see if anyone had any input on my treat selection because i feel comfortable with the main diet i am providing just not sure if i am doing the right thing treat wise.

I feed my dog biscuit treats, i try to buy them from quality brands and they are not cheap. but is it bad to feed dogs biscuit type treats? i’ve tried fromm gf biscuits, merrick kitchen bites, brothers complete gf, honest kitchen nuzzles, nutrisource gf, sojo’s gf, wellness gf, and nature’s variety instinct…They are not cheap but are much more affordable then the Orijen freeze dried treats i got for free from chewy.com with my last bag of orijen. I am just wondering if these biscuits are bad treats to give my dog along with her orijen kibble. i give about 4-5 biscuits a day, i know they dont have much meat in them but she loves them so much i continue to buy them for her. would i be better off buying more expensive freeze dried treats like orijen offers in the long run or is it okay to give a premium biscuit like the ones mentioned as a small treat every day? I only ask because my dog is an akita and 85lbs at only 10 months old and even with cheaper freeze dried treats like sojo’s and grandma lucy’s makes it would still be extremely more expensive to buy them, as sojo’s and grandma lucy’s pork freeze dried on chewy.com cost like 3x as much as high end biscuits for equal weight. i just want to know if i’m feeding my dog improperly by trying to save a little cash on her treats….

On another topic, i see many people mentioning giving their dogs bully sticks, and i give them to my dog when i can because they tend to be very expensive, but she loves them so i try to keep some around. I just was curious if anyone used or knew if my source of bullysticks was a quality source. I am currently getting them from bestbullysticks.com , they have nice thick bully sticks for lower price then i’ve seen anywhere: you can get a standard size one for 1.39 (cheaper in bulk) or i just got some jumbo ones (which are huge btw) for 2.19 per stick (cheaper in bulk as well). My question is if these are quality bully sticks and a quality company to trust for my pet, if anyone knows of them or has used them in the past. They say they are made from free range grass fed beef, however the beef comes from brazil unless you buy the made in usa ones for more expensive, and one of my concerns is the origin of the beef used. I have bought the made in usa ones from them in the past but they are much thinner then the brazilian ones when you compare them from what is supposed to be the same size, and much less filled and they are also more expensive. So you pay more for much less when you get the american ones, and since my dog is a large breed and will likely be 95lbs when she is done growing i can’t have thin bully sticks i need thick ones and i need them at a decent price. Does anyone know if bully sticks from brazil should not be trusted? Or where you can get USA made ones that are thick and not priced 3 dollars+ a stick? Any feed back on that site or tips on quality thick bullies for reasonable prices would be very much appreciated…

[Janine S]

I would recommend looking up KONA treats, my GSD’s love them and they are very good quality other than that I make them chicken jerky and biscuits at home weekly.

[Gloria K]

I make all of my dogs food and all of his treats. There are dozens of recipes using natural ingredients for making dog biscuits and they only take about four or five ingredients at best.. they’re very easy to make and they make dozens at a time. Why not do that? If you have a Pinterest account search my name because I have a great Board of dog food and treats. If you want I will private message you my Pinterest URL.
As for the bully sticks I buy the same brand you do. I did some research and discovered that they were considered one of the top brands. We get beef from Brazil for our own consumption so I don’t know if there would be a problem with that. I doubt it. If it’s good enough for us, I guess it’s good enough for the dog. My dog loves them so much and can go through one in about less than an hour. He weighs 12 pounds by the way.

[Kimi_forever]

That seems like a good idea. i thought about possibly making my own biscuits, but i didnt have a good recipe, if i were to find one though i’d prefer if it were grain free — the only thing is it seems like it would be hard to add meat into the biscuits at home. Also making my own jerky sounds much more reasonable then buying the freeze dried treats. i have an old dehydrator maybe i could give it a try, something i never thought of…thanks for your tips…

—
And on the bully sticks, i noticed some people saying they take the bully stick away from their dog when it gets down to the last inch or so. i did this with my akita when she was a puppy and growing because i was worried about her choking on the last piece. but now that she’s 85lbs she has just been consuming the whole thing, she works it down to about half inch and then swallows the rest. she seems big enough now that her swallowing the little piece left at the end doesnt hurt her, but could i be incorrect in this? Should i take away the last little piece from her because it’s a possible choking hazard or should i just let her finish it off? Like i said she chews them down pretty far and the nub she leaves is very small, about half to 3/4 inch (definitely less then an inch) so i thought it was okay now that she’s big but i just worried when i read some people taking the ends away because i used to do the same thing as a puppy.

—
thanks for your tips and help everyone, this place is always so helpful when i need dog food advice!

[Janine S]

Kimi, the biscuit I make do not have meat,I use fresh grated Parmesan and cheddar cheese. They love them.

[Kimi_forever]

yes gloria that would be great if you would PM that to me, i do not have an account but i could sign up for one. any grain free recipes would be what i’m most interested in.

-and thanks for the feedback on the bully sticks and beef from brazil. i try to hold my dog to the same standard of ‘if its good enough for me, then its good enough for her’…thats crazy a 12lb dog can do that much damage to them! the standard ones from that site last my girl about 15 minutes, and she is not a super heavy chewer like some pitbulls i’ve seen, but she’s big so she can still put stuff down. i got the jumbo ones for her and they sometimes last her an hour of chewing, i was very pleased!

—-
Cheese sounds good. they don’t have to have meat i guess, i was wondering how that would work for homemade ones. i was considering trying to find a grain free receipe that used peanut butter because she loves peanut butter, but she also loves cheese so that would be nice in them as well…

• This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by Kimi_forever.

[Linda J]

Gloria..could you send me the link to your pintrest dog food and treats also
Thanks

[Gloria K]

Sorry guys I have no way of PMing. you because there is no way I can get into your Facebook profile. Let me give you one of my email addresses and you can email me and I’ll send it to you. [email protected]

[Gloria K]

Kim I take the bully stick away from Mickey when it gets down to about a half-inch or slightly less. He chews so intensely that I’m afraid he’s going to choke and he’s a small dog so I am concerned about that. Trying to get that last inch away from him is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I almost have to sit on him and shove my hand into his mouth. He fights me all he’s got LOL. He’s so funny.
Just a note about the biscuit and treats recipes. The sweet potato sticks are one of his very favorite things and they’re so very easy to make… if you have a dehydrator even better. Most of the recipes call for wheat or whole wheat flour but I substitute coconut flour or rice flour. Those flours are much more absorbent than wheat flour so go easy on the measurements. One cup of wheat flour is about 1/3 cup coconut or rice flour.

[Kimi_forever]

gloria, i sent you an email. one of the things i mentioned is possibly using chickpea flour instead of wheat so they’d be a grain free treat, but i wouldnt know the amount to subsitute. the coconut flour sounds promising but i’m not sure if that has a certain flavor/if my dog would like that flavor but i’m not opposed to trying the coconut flour….

and on the bully stick like i said in my email i think she’s okay with swallowing the size of bully stick she leaves but i just was curious if there was someone else who felt this was unsafe and what the reason was because i’d hate to take my dog to the vet over such a thing.

[Kimi_forever]

I wanted to edit my last post instead of post again but it wont let me for some reason.

In any event, i only have an old dehydrator and it’s made of plastic and i’ve been trying to stay away from using plastic for food reasons as much as possible, particuarly when heat is involved because of the chemicals in plastic. and purchasing a new metal dehydrator just to make jerky treats is a pretty big investment, i still might do it eventually but i wont be doing it soon. On the freeze dried treats i read in another thread that you have to be careful because the fat content is too high in some of them. Does anyone know what an ideal fat content would be on freeze dried meat treats? I saw one person recomend the stella and chewy carnavore kisses, but imho those are outrageously priced and also it seems they stopped carrying them at chewy.com because i just tried to find them and this is where i do my pet food shopping so they dont seem to be an option. the most economical ones i found were sojo’s lamb/beef/turkey ones and the turkey had by far the highest protein content of the three and grandma lucy’s pork singles freeze dried, the sojo’s you can get for 7.50ish for 4oz and the gma lucy’s are 8.07 for 4oz. thats the best deals i could find for freeze dried, i tried feeding her ziwipeak air dried food as treats but she doesnt really like them anymore then her regular kibble she loves freeze dried though. i was just wondering if these more economical freeze dried treats were the ones i should stay away from. i saw someone in another thread suggest buying them from the more highly rated brands, and sojo’s only has like 3.5 stars and grandma lucy’s rating depends on the recipe so i was wondering if these ones are the not good ones or what levels i should look for as far as fat in these treats. i’m willing to pay more for good ones but also am on budget and have a large dog so i cant afford to pay 12$+ for like 2oz…

[Janine S]

You can also make home made jerky in your oven. I use a dehydrator but there were instructions on line for using your oven. I have two GSD one of them 110lbs so I know what you are saying about cost and size, making their treats at home saves a lot of money not to mention peace of mind.

[Bobby dog]

Kimi:
IMO unless your dog has a health issue or you feed an over abundance of treats, as long as it’s a healthy food I wouldn’t be too concerned with the fat content. I believe everything in moderation is important for any dog, but each dog has different thresholds for anything they are exposed to. The ideal fat to protein ratio would be individual to your dog.

I pay attention to the fat % in all of my dog’s food and treats since he gained a little weight this year; fats have twice the calories of protein. I want the majority of his calories coming from protein not fat. I reduced the fat in his diet and increased his physical activity to take care of this health issue. For Bobby’s diet I like fat to protein ratios to average 50% or less. I rarely buy treats because I make my own, when I do it’s FD foods or treats. I like the convenience and that there are no other ingredients in them other than meat.

If you want to figure out fat to protein ratios divide the fat% by the protein% and multiply by 100.

[Kimi_forever]

the oven idea sounds great, i know my uncle uses a smoker to make his jerky and we had thought about getting a smoker ourselves, but the no investment oven idea sounds awesome. ill research it.

bobby, thanks for clearing that up for me. i also like the conveince of the freeze dried treats and i like that unlike meat in my refrigerator they dont go bad so quickly i’ve made the bag of orijen freeze dried i got last a month by giving her one every now and then with her biscuits. i was worried that maybe ideally i shouldnt be feeding her biscuits full of non meat stuff and mostly potato or tapioca but she loves them so much and my dad loves giving them to her, but i think ive got some good ideas for home made ones now and that ill try to use chickpea flour for so it wont be too bad. i also think i did the right thing probably by purchasing the turkey flavor over the lamb or beef as far as protein to fat ratio so i think i’m on the right track. i dont think i have to worry then because my akita is not over weight but thats some good info you gave about how to take care of an overweight animal. i have an over weight cat that i’m worried about and want to improve her diet. we tried some prescription food from the doctor for her i wish we didnt try, i recently read the article on catinfo.org about prescription foods from vets and it made me want to cringe…

[Gloria K]

Kim I dehydrate the sweet potato fries and chips in my oven and it works perfectly. The dehydrator takes about 10 to 15 hours and I’m not willing to plug something into my house and leave it for 15 hours. The oven takes about three hours on a very low temperature.
As for the nonmeat biscuits I prefer to feed my dog biscuits that are vegetable and fruit because he gets a lot of meat in his daily food and I just don’t want to up the protein content too much. Were you able to get my Pinterest board? I emailed it to you.

[Kimi_forever]

i’m still learning to use the pinterest, but yes i believe i got it because when i go there i have a whole page of dog treat recipe’s that pop up. look great, i think i’m going to try some peanut butter ones because she goes nuts for peanut butter..ty!

[Lori]

If you don’t have a dehydrator, I slice up sweet potatoes and have even done bananas, but on a cookie sheet (you might want to line it or spray it with nonstick spray so they don’t stick). Put the oven on 250 degrees F and leave in about 2 to 3 hours, depending on how thick you cut the slices or how soft/crunchy you want them. Same thing with liver.

[Lori]

Gloria, can you send me your Pintrest page? 🙂

[Gloria K]

Chuckles I’ll be happy to send you the page but you have to send me your email address. Send it to me at
[email protected]. If you have a Pinterest account just give me your name-the one that the account is listed under and I can send it to you directly through Pinterest.

[Gloria K]

Kim Mickey will eat anything with peanut butter on it. Sometimes I’ll take one of the recipes and just add a bit of peanut butter to it and make him go totally crazy. LOL. If you can get the small Kong toy, stuff some peanut butter in the hole and it will keep your dog occupied for a long time trying to lick the peanut butter out of it. He will get it all out, trust me.

[Kimi_forever]

gloria: yeah i do the peanut butter and kong number. she amazes me how she gets it all out! if you open a jar of peanut butter in my house my dog (mika is her name) will find you no matter where she was. I think she likes peanut butter even better then meat sometimes!

[Mary L]

Real food! I dont understand the question really. Organic raw cheese, raw free range meat, organic carrots, tomatoes, romaine lettuce… Why does anyone buy dog treats?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Well, sometimes you need treats on the go – such as at dog parks or in training classes. I don’t know about you but I personally don’t want to carry raw meat around in my pocket. Also, feeding raw veggies is pretty pointless since dogs can’t efficiently digest them in the raw state. Last time my dog got a hold of a raw carrot stick it came out the exact same way it came in.

[Author]

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