Are You Feeding Healthy Dog Treats? Or Are You Just Making Your Dog Fat?

Pet owners are becoming more educated as they feed the best healthy dog food to their pets.

This is certainly a major step in the right direction.

But some of these people complain when their pet later gets sick and has health problems.  Still other pets gain weight.  Obesity is becoming a very serious problem for our pets in this country.

Some pet owners blame the high quality dog food for the problems the pet is experiencing.  They feel the pet food was not as nutritious as they were led to believe.

If these people are truly feeding the best healthy dog food, chances are that the food is not the reason for the health problems. Most likely, there is another reason.

Here is something to consider.  What kind of treats are you feeding your dog?  How many treats do you give your pet each day?

Some of the treats you buy in a pet supermarket or grocery store are very unhealthy for your dog.  Some could actually kill your beloved pet.

In addition to giving your pet the best healthy dog food, you must feed your pet healthy dog treats.  

The treat should not be something that just fills up your dog and reduce their appetite.  Giving your pet unhealthy treats doesn’t do your dog any favors.

Instead, the treat should be functional.  It should have a nutritional purpose.

You can see my dog, Romeo, on the top of this page.  He is just a mutt.  We brought him home from the pound 6 years ago.  We love him, he is very healthy, and he is probably the best dog we have every owned.  

He gets the best healthy dog food.  He also receives very functional, healthy dog treats each day.  

He has a dental treat in the morning about one hour after his breakfast.  He gets his second treat, an anti-oxidant treat, in the evening about two hours after his dinner.  Once a week, he gets a pork-hide chew.  These are nutritious, easily digestible, and great for cleaning his teeth.

He knows when it is time for his treat. He follows me around the house to make sure I don’t forget to give it to him.

He obviously loves his healthy dog treats.  He would be happy getting several each day.  But he only gets two.

Too many treats lead to obesity.  This is very important.

Here are a few quick pointers on inappropriate treats:

1.  Avoid rawhide bones.  These are very difficult to digest.  Rawhide has been known to contain harmful chemicals.  Pork hide is a great alternative.
2.  Don’t feed your pet table scraps.  Your dog may love you for feeding it “people food,” but you are not doing your pet any favors.  Table scraps can be high in fat, sodium, sugar, and carbohydrates.  Do not ever feed your dog chocolate.  A high quality dog food should be properly balanced in protein, carbohydrates, and fat.  Table scraps throw that ratio off that balance.  
3.  Take product claims with a grain of salt.  Check for unhealthy ingredients such as artificial preservatives, artificial colorings (such as FDC Red#40), and artificial flavors.  Look for high levels of salt, sugar, saturated or trans-fats are very unhealthy.  Cereal and by-products are often used as fillers and add no nutritional value for your dog.