Natural Dog Treats

Like humans, dogs have certain nutritional needs. To keep up their health, these needs must be met in their daily diet.

Many dog foods commercially sold in the market claim that they contain all the necessary nutrients that your dog could ever need. And for the most part, they are telling the truth: that dog foods do contain nutrients that your dog would need. However, these same dog foods may also contain chemicals in preservatives that can cause diseases, such as cancer in dogs.

Of course, this is not to say that all dog foods are bad for your dogs. However, if you want to be certain that your dog is eating only healthy, wholesome foods, then what safer way than to go all natural?

A natural diet comprised of natural dog treats may just be what you are waiting for to give to your beloved canine friend. As the name itself implies, natural dog treats contain no harmful chemical additives and preservatives that may adversely affect your dog’s health. Moreover, natural dog treats come fortified with vitamins and minerals to enhance your dog’s well-being.

But What Are Natural Dog Treats?

Natural dog treats. All natural dog treats. Natural dog treat recipes. What do all these words mean? Are they the same? Different? What are they?

When someone mentions “natural dog treats,” the first thing that often comes to mind is beef bones. But while beef bones are “natural” in a way, you must remember that if you bought it from a commercial pet food store then it must contain some type of preservative. Unless you made the beef bones yourself from fresh meat that you bought from the market, those are not natural.

An all natural dog treat means that the food contains no preservatives, additives, or any other chemical used in commercial processing. Instead, what it contains are ingredients that are edible and safe for human consumption.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IT IS “NATURAL?
If you rely solely on the label saying that the product is “all natural”, chances are you are making a mistake. Before you buy a product that claims to be “all natural” be sure to thoroughly check the list of ingredients and the guaranteed analysis at the back of the label. That is usually where you find out whether the product is indeed all natural or contains many hidden chemicals that are potentially harmful to your dog.

How To Read Dog Treat Labels
Ultimately, the trick to making sure that your dog eats healthy is to learn how to read labels. As mentioned above, the label contains the list of ingredients that were used plus a guaranteed analysis of all the nutrients that went into its production – that is, the percentage of protein, carbohydrates, fats, oil, nutritional value, etc.

But it doesn’t stop there. Reading dog food labels involves more than just running through a list of names and figures. It requires analysis, too. For instance, what does “meat meal” mean? And how is it different from plain old chicken or lamb or beef? So at some point, you need to go into specifics.

First thing’s first, scrap out any natural dog treats that contain the word “meal” after some type of meat. You should always prefer dog treat products that contain whole meat such as lamb, chicken, beef, or pork. Anything that comes with “meal” at the end is a low quality source of protein. You want your dog to have only the highest quality meat as his source of protein.

Next, you may have noticed a corn meal ingredient in your dog’s treat. Corn is a source of protein and is often used by commercial dog food manufacturers as an alternative to keep the prices of dog treats low. However, if the dog treat contains more corn meal than actual meat, then there is something wrong. Your dog is not getting the right amount of high quality protein he should be getting.