Homemade dog treats seem like a good time consuming idea
Why are Homemade dog treats & dog treat recipes so trendy?
If you look at google search trends for any year related to dog treats, you will find the main thing people are not looking for is manufactured dog treats, but homemade dog treats.
The most curious thing about this is that 98% of people in Australia buy manufactured dog food for their prize companions. Yes 98% of people go down a supermarket isle or a boutique pet store and buy a big bag of grain with 20 to 30% meat in it.
People see famous vets saying grain is good, they see bright shiny packets and they marvel at the convenience. They buy sometimes 10Kg bags at a time and often store these open in the sun outside near the bbq. 98% of people buy these bags that are little more than extruded wheat or rice, mixed with a little low grade meat and sprayed with oil to get the dogs to eat it.
Everyone would like to think they are buying it for nutrition, but really it is convenience and wanting to believe that a high paid celebrity vet has your dogs best interests at heart. There could be a few other reasons for such behaviour is not feeding your dog a raw meat diet that they evolved to eat, most dog nutritionists not paid by multinational food companies would think.
YET, when it comes to treats, people think that they can save a bit of time and money and make their own. They are not searching for dog treats made by anyone online they seriously think they can do it better themselves?
The amazing thing about this is that it rarely saves money or time, and the only common link with dog food is that people put even more grain and carbs into their dogs rather than the meat proteins the dogs crave.
Do making homemade dog treats save anything?
Dog owners think that they are doing a very sweet caring important thing for their dogs looking up a dog treat recipe online, but this is really the reason they don’t use meat. If you want to make meat treats you have to:
1 Go to a butcher or supermarket and buy expensive meat, and trim the fat
2 Cut the meat up as suggested by the dog treat recipe, freeze whatever you are not using.
3 Cut up the whole meat further or grind it, and maybe blend it with grain, cook it, wait for it to cool.
4 See if the dog will eat it. then worry about how long it will keep without a preservative and work out where to store it.
This process making real meat based dog treats takes a lot of time and money for little to gain. Decent dog treat companies who make meat dog treats buy meat in bulk and automate the process. They add a little preservative so the food doesn’t get bacteria or fungal decay. They add vitamins and maybe minerals to improve the nutrition of the treat. This is what the dog treats I sell are about.
They don’t add anything that regular supermarket dog treat makers use such as excess sugar and salt that tricks a dog into eating more than it should, and convincing the owner that it is good. In fact the dog is just loving the salt, sugar and fat sprayed on the treat – things that were not inherent in the original natural meat product.
The reason that I am taking about meat based dog treats rather than grain based ones which are easier to make in your kitchen, is that if your dog is getting a stack of grain in its dog food, then it is bad to add more grain via dog treats. A dog’s main meal should be mostly meat, but if owner’s cant change their buying behaviour and don’t want to spend time working out how to make a balanced meat based home dog food meal, then it makes sense to use meat based dog treats as a good food supplement. Adding more grain to an already carb saturated diet is the last think your dog needs !
