The Best Treats for Your Dog (and Cat, too)

by Jean Mansen

Bakery counters lined with tempting pastries, brightly frosted cakes and cleverly decorated cookies catch your eye. Jars filled with little gingerbread men, heart, pretzel, and doggie-shaped treats sit alluringly on the counter. Shelves crowded with pleasing looking packages boasting exotic ingredients, and health benefits beg for your attention. Are you in a gourmet store? Yes, but not for you! This one is for your canine and feline friends. So many choices: which are beneficial. Are they as scrumptious as they sound? Will your pal love them?

On A Mission

We filled two shopping bags full of all sorts of treats fetchable from the best boutiques, pet food stores, wholesale warehouses, and feed stores. We put them to the taste test with a panel of six dogs and two cats. Anyone who thinks dogs and cats don’t have long attention spans should perform their own treat assessment test! Our favorites are listed below. We also note at the end of the article a few that we want to warn you about.

Sure, jerk me around

Two big paws up for jerky treats! Chicken, duck, turkey, beef, and rabbit jerky products are available from a variety of sources. While these are usually strips they can be broken apart for use in training, and they make a great “jack-pot” treat if used sparingly and to reinforce exceptional performance.

Cluckers is the only chicken treat made in the USA and comes from Hillbilly Smokehouse, a smokehouse for human food that recently started smoking bones and making a few pet treats. All others are made in China. Turkee Jerkee, also from Hillbilly Smokehouse, is made in the USA from 100% hickory-smoked white turkey breast. It contains no additives or preservatives. A four ounce package retails for $5.99 at Pet Food Cottage in San Anselmo.

Apart from the ones made in the USA, there isn’t much, if any, difference between jerky treats sold in smaller containers in pet food and feed stores and the jumbo bags (benni & penni) sold at Costco. All come from China and claim to be additive and preservative-free.

ZiwiPeak treats are relatively new to the US. These little meaty jerky treats are made in New Zealand and come in Fish & Venison and Venison & Green-lipped Mussel recipes. Both flavors contain parsley for fresh breath. The majority of my testers gave these at least one paw up, but some of their guardians couldn’t stomach the smell, notably that of the Green-lipped Mussel flavored treats. Both flavors retail for $5.99 for a three ounce bag at Pet Food Cottage.

How could you not like liver?

Freeze dried liver treats are hits. They are all meat with no additives or fillers (except rice, in one variety). They are lightweight, high protein, and can be broken into smaller pieces for training. Every tester gave them two big paws up. On the down side they can be pricey.

Liv-a-Littles come in four flavors and cats and dogs love them! Chicken is the most popular flavor, followed by salmon; cod and beef round out the offering. Approximately $11.00 for a two and a half ounce jar. Mitsy the cat, who is a hunter at heart, said, “It was worth fighting off five large dogs! These things are way better than mice!”

Great Life’s freeze dried treats are hormone and antibiotic free and come in Chicken Fiesta (100% USA chicken), Beef Pawte, New Zealand Lamb Liver, New Zealand Lamb & Rice, and a combination Chicken, Salmon, and Beef treat (USA). Great Life sells these for $4.99 for a five and a half ounce package. My cats went crazy for the Chicken Fiesta treats as well.

Gimborn’s Pro-Treat offers a beef liver treat that maintains the aroma, full-flavor, and nutritional value of pure beef liver in conveniently cubed reward-size treats. These make wonderful training treats! A two ounce can sells for around $5.

Etta Says! offers three flavors of meaty treats: beef liver, chicken liver, and lamb liver. Made from high quality, human-grade ingredients, produced in federally inspected facilities, these treats sell for $8.49 from the web site. I paid $9.99 for a three ounce package at a local pet food store.

Soft training treats are usually tiny morsels your dog can eat in a quick bite, and aren’t too messy or smelly. You won’t mind having them in your treat bag or pocket. Simon & Huey offer three flavors of soft training treats: Liver Mesquite, Kickin’ Chicken, and White Cheddar. The chicken treats contain (in order listed) oat flour, honey, olive oil, chicken stock, and oregano. Simon & Huey’s treats are low fat, corn, soy, and wheat free. They freeze well but my tester panel didn’t drool over these. I paid $10.99 for a one pound container at a pet boutique.

Sugar and wheat, oh so sweet

Lots of dog trainers use Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance dog food rolls. They look like long sausages and can be cut into small pieces and then broken into even smaller pieces. Most dogs love the taste (beef, chicken or lamb) but these rolls contain a significant amount of sugar. They also contain wheat and rice flours. These are best for dogs who require high calorie content foods and are not allergic to wheat.

Steer clear my doggy dear

Filled treats such as rawhide wrapped around a “sausage” filling (Rollos) aren’t great as the filling is usually made from less than dog-healthful ingredients.

Hooves are loved by many dogs, but are not well digested by most. At best you may have an ill feeling dog, at worst a big mess on your best carpet. Animal Ears are another treat that may upset a dog’s digestive system.

Rawhide, especially the hard, white, bleached rawhide rolls and treats, should be avoided as they can cause health problems for dogs. Dogs don’t digest the rawhide well, and they can lead to serious health issues or even death.