Dog Treats Top 10 Search List America July – Sep 18
Australia tends to follow American dog trends up to six months behind. This often has to do with either inertia in a trend taking traction, or the different in northern and southern hemisphere weather. So now is perfect timing to see what they were looking at around dog treats.
Google trends gives us a glimpse of what Americans are thinking, so every now and then we analyse the Dog treat trends on Google searches. In this instance the top 10 searches for each month, July, August and Sept 2018.
It is noted that every time you quiz google trends the topics change somewhat, however if you grab the top ten for any month, most of the terms stay relatively constant.
Many of these topics we have already covered. But We will go over these in summary again and why they are important to your and your dog!
DOG FOOD & dog treat types trends
LIVER
This is the major dog treat used by dog trainer and dog walkers alike. It is cheap, 100%, extremely tasty and smells very desirable by most dogs. Because it breaks off in small chunks it is great for feeding large packs too. Being a main clean offal, we use it as part of our dogs raw diet. Because he is walked daily, he gets the beef liver as a treat reward during the day, and other offal at night to make up the perfect animal based nutrition balance.
Note besides Beef liver, we now also sell Roo liver and Chicken Liver.
Coconut Oil
There are many sites proclaiming this is the new dog super-food a cure all. It is true that it has some great properties, for humans, but remember that your dog requires mainly Omega 6 and Omega 3 in its diet, in the right amounts and the right ratio. We use sunflower oil (60% Omega 6) and fish oil capsules (30% Omega 3).
The issue with adding MORE oils to your dog’s diet, is they are typically 2.5 times the Kilojoules equivalent of the energy in animal meat or grains. AND coconut oil is high in saturated fats, which are fine in moderation in dog meat, but not ideal in excess for dogs. Adding too much coconut oil means you need to pull back on your regular kibble which takes away from their protein.
Pigs Ears dog treats
A gold standard for many owner of puppies or big dogs. We sell AUSTRALIAN ONLY pigs ears, and pigs Ear strips and Aussie snouts. Lots of dogs love these, but are not ideal for dogs on low fat diets.
Oats
These are one of the main grains used in dog food by many companies. Being a grain they are just as lacking in bio availability as any plant or grain, and insufficient by themselves to provide the minimum amino acids required by dogs each day
Apple Sauce
Google knows best, and it knows for some event in the media, that Americans were searching on whether its a good idea to feed your dog apple source. In short the answer is NO. Many sites will tell you that raw apples are a great idea for your dog. That they clean a dog’s teeth, and as they are relatively low Kj and low fat a few slices cause little harm, however roo tail pieces, roo ribs and lamb necks are much better at cleaning a dogs teeth as are the meat jerkies – and as a bonus they actually add proper animal based nutrition for your dog.
As far as apple sauce goes, I have no idea why anyone would buy this for a carnivore DOG. Maybe its a way for apple growers and bad dog treat companies to make money off your dog, but as one site says “Serving too many fruits or vegetables can cause digestive upset in dogs.” The sauce no doubt is processed, has additives and maybe colouring, and typically added sugar. We recommend it be avoided at all costs, and instead use actual animal product treats.
What you should be shocked to the core about, is that we are so used to feeding a carnivore dog plant based pellets, that only TWO of the top ten searches in three months were about ANYTHING connected with Meat. Again popular press, and high margin ‘new exciting’ and typically inappropriate dog treats made the top of the American list.
ALL OTHER dog treat topics
Dog Teeth cleaning
As per the above, and we can’t stress this enough. Dogs in the wild typically have very good teeth (*unless of course they get a gum disease from fighting) That is because they eat the whole animal they have hunted, and the bones and skin, fur, hooves etc help scrap their teeth clean.
Dog food typically is made of grain or vegetables that are soft, and when ground down into flour, because grain is high in carbs (sugar) just stick to a dogs teeth and rot them.
If plants are the cause of rotting your dogs teeth, why would you use a fake green colour additive ‘tooth cleaning tool’ to clean your dogs teeth? If you want to clean their teeth and give them actual healthy nutrition, you will chose bones or meat based jerkies that do a similar task as dogs in the wild have.
Tetrahydrocannabinol
It seems that much of the population of America (and parts of Australia) are being swept away with the cannabis oil pain relief for humans. It might be legalised in some states in America, but unregulated, overuse for animals that don’t have a choice is likely to just end up with zombie dogs.
If your trusted vet (the one that recommends meat based dog treats) recommends cannabis oil for a dog with cancer getting pain relief, or a very old dog to encourage eating, we can appreciate those benefits. For the average dog that is not profoundly sick, we suggest you stay clear of this.
Food Drying, Dehydration and moisture.
The only reason we can think of that people where searching these topics connected with dog treats, is that people where trying to dry their own treats.
We are all for people feeding their dogs with quality meat products. Though we noticed that almost All recipes for dog treats online are about making some form of biscuit or plant based treat. As your dog already gets 70% grain in their dog food, why would you replace that with something that is closer to 100% grain?
If you are drying MEAT based dog treats, then the main things we realise is that usually by the time you figure in the time and effort, and cleaning up of your ovens, most people never get anywhere near the quality or price that our suppliers can provide. The other main issue is SAFETY. When you dry your own meat, moisture content is vital to reducing the chance of MOLD or fungus growth on a treat. If you can source good meats, and dry them safely then we say go for it.
Pancreatitis and Low-fat diet
We regular receive emails from clients about the special needs of their dogs with pancreatitis.
Regardless of the cause of pancreatitis, the food rule is typically low fat foods and treats. Likewise for inactive dogs, old dogs or obese dogs, low fat treats are a must. YOu also want low fat and LOW sugar if your dog has pancreatitis, so NATURALLY low fat (not rendered) meats like kangaroo, most fish and crocodile, are typically the best way to go.
So much so we have made its own category for LOW FAT dog treats on our site.
You’re welcome !
Dog Treats Trends associated terms America July- Sep 2018
