Top 10 reasons why meat Dog Treats are Better than raw, better than vegetable treats.
If you are a dog owner and wanting the best for your dog but cant afford high content dog food (typically extremely expensive), this might well be the perfect solution.
A recent survey of dog owners about the “health benefits and health inconveniences of Raw meat-based diets for dogs” came up with some very interesting results. If you want to feed your dog better, but shy away from a full raw meat dog diet … this news will give you the confidence to really boost your dog’s nutrition and health.
In the previous blog we discussed the Benefits raw feeders gave about feeding raw dog diets, and how Meat based dog treats can even benefit dogs and owners more. That was an easy task, but many dog owners are even more concerned with the potential downsides of feeding animal products for their dogs? Much of what you read in the mass media is intentional misinformation, so that is why we look at what actual read feeders are saying and how to OVERCOME any possible negatives.
We look at how to overcome any potential downsides those raw feeding owners report about raw diets and how healthy meat based dried dog treats can overcome these issues. And why grain or vegetable dog treats are a waste of your time and money, literally.
The number 1 inconvenient suffered by 218 dog owners was NONE.
That’s right, 119 were happy with their choice and didn’t have any negative effects.
Dog Diarrhea 53/218 and Constipation 33/218
These issues were found to be the second and third highest ‘inconveniences’ suffered by these owner’s dogs. And while these conditions are serious if long term, short term they can be managed by adding more fibre, pro-biotics etc, even charcoal biscuits can assist. But its far better to understand what is going on causing these conditions.
You should also note that almost ALL commercial dog food companies suggests that you transition from a competitor product (wet or dry) to theirs over a week to prevent loose stools. This should indicate to a commercial dog food feeder, that even in that ‘perfect world’ that changes of diet are highly likely to cause stress on the digestive system of dogs.
The reason that domestic dogs get loose stools or blocked doesn’t have to be from pathogen load, but sometimes are connected with an allergy or even something as simple as changing the proportions of the meat/ offal/ bone mix.
And here is something you really need to consider. As a human, wouldn’t you would hate eating the same meal EVERY NIGHT of your life? But that is exactly what commercial dog food companies tell you to do with your dog, or you risk loose stools! Dogs in the wild would NOT eat the exact same thing EVERY DAY, so that concept is extremely absurd and dangerous. This means that until a dogs system gets used to variety, different proteins (from single ingredient food or dog treats preferably), they might experience some natural loose stools.
The fact that a big part of many pellet/ kibble seller’s game is to provide so much grain that your dog’s stools are extremely consistent (like a fast-food franchise) and easy to pick up.
This might make you think that the convenience factor in many commercial dog foods is much higher than their desire to provide the ultimate nutrition, and you would be right. Because if nutrition was purely the priority your dog would be getting 80% plus meat and animal products and not the usual 30% meat. And they would NOT be getting 30 to 40 ingredients you typically see in commercial dog food to make up for what that grain or vegetable meal lacks.
Prolonged loose stools in any animal is bad as it reduces the health of the intestine and its ability to extract nutrients. This is where healthy meat-based dog treats can come into play.
If your dog is NOT allergic to a meat, and you buy one of our many SINGLE INGREDIENT dog treats, then you know that diarrhea or constipation should not be caused by that treat. You know that they are going to get a big easy to digest protein boost from the treat.
AND the bonus, that properly dried healthy meat-based dog treats provide OVER raw meat, is the much lower possible pathogen load. The heating process basically kills virtually all of the extremely bad bacteria.
This is one of the main reasons that many people prefer meat-based treats over raw meat diets. They get to provide the nutrition as well as playing it very safe with their dog.
Dog Owners also know that their dog already gets about 70% vegetable matter in their commercial dog food, so adding more vegetable or grain based dog treats DO NOT provide any additional nutrition to their dog. They just look pretty to the owner. Glazed ‘doggy donut’ anyone? Absurd.
The grain based treats also are likely to have a whole swathe of additives including sugar, salt, added oils, colouring or preservatives. Whereas SINGLE ingredient properly dried healthy dog treat is SINGLE INGREDIENT and hence no additives that the dog can react badly to.
DOG Vomiting 21/218
This equates to about 10% of the raw meat dog food feeder owners experiencing dog vomiting from time to time. Or maybe even just once.
Dogs can vomit for a myriad of reasons, and in fact one of the deadliest common food related deaths is from BLOAT when dogs eat too many pellets and they swell up in the dog’s stomach essentially choking them.
A raw diet or meat-based dog treats DON’T swell in size when you add water so they wont cause bloat. The raw feeders vomiting might be from a pathogen load on meat if it was stored incorrectly. Sometimes dogs will vomit on raw because the fat content of the food was too high. But you can get that in commercial dog food too.
Whatever the reason, most meat-based treat feeders report a low vomiting incidence to us. That might be because they value the treat and their dog and restrict how much the dog eats in one session, or they are sure that their dog is not allergic to the treat, or that the treat has been cooked and has a very low chance of pathogen issues.
Any way you look at it, vomiting should NOT be increased by cooking meat used in treats. If your dog vomits it is often from enjoying and eating the treat too fast. However, that rare chance is typically far outweigh by the increased nutrient value they get in meat treats (quality amino acids).
Dog Teeth damage 6/218
As you can see by the time the survey respondents get to the fifth biggest objection on the list, we are down to 3% of respondents citing this as a possible issue. Compare this to the fifth highest benefit (shown in our last blog). In the benefits list, owners experienced with meat based raw food “Odorless breath” (41/218) or this was experienced by 18% of them!
Clearly overall, raw feeding owners experience far more benefits than issues from a raw diet, but yes Teeth damage is a concern – let’s see why.
The reason that raw feeders can get this is that even raw bones can chip teeth if a dog has very strong jaws and is given a very strong bone to chew. Some dogs are given bones to preoccupy them all day, and are not walked before owners leave, and an idle dog with missing owner and over supply of energy can get quite OCD on their bone chewing.
That is why we always say in our bone product descriptions consult your vet, or observe how your dog tackles bones. Can you trust them at home to chew slowly and deliberately or will the do their best to crack it in half in the first minute? If they do this they are as likely to choke on a rubber toy. Its not the food, its often the behaviour that needs monitoring.
Teeth damage often happens to be powerful dogs who just won’t let a bone go. We have softer dried bones that people can try, or the roo bone range that has many varieties with a lot of meat on the bones to compensate for them breaking down the soft bones.
The fact is quite a few vets actually recommend the correct type of bones, like roo tail pieces, as being the BEST teeth cleaning option for dogs ABOVE any artificial factory made thing.
DOG Allergies 5/218
Again, such a low percentage of dogs showing allergic reaction to single meat treats is very low. Because it becomes obvious very quickly if a dog is allergic to a single ingredient. You don’t have to chase down the 20 or 30 ingredients that might be included in commercial dog food.
If a dog has an allergy, an exclusion diet is one of the best methods prescribed by vets to find the troubling protein.
Similar to the raw dog food diet, cooked single ingredient treats that we sell have an array of single ingredient options. If you know your dog is allergic to chicken in chicken dog food. Then avoid chicken dog treats.
Noting that Kangaroo and fish dog treats (single ingredient) as well as crocodile are considered hypo allergenic and if you buy then in small samples size packs initially you can always confirm this.
DOG Oral lesions 3/218 , Hair loss 3/218, Abdominal pain 2/ 218, Foreign bodies (bone splinters)
These last four objections on the concerns list are experienced by so few raw meat feeders, that they should really be considered as anomalies or outliers and might not even be specifically related to a specific food item.
Oral lesions and bone splinters are most likely related to dogs eating too many bones too fast, so can be avoided by avoiding that food option, for those specific type of chewing dogs.
Hair loss caused by meat is exceedingly rare. I would imagine that it might be related to an allergy condition, but could also be related to an underlying medical condition that is much more serious. If your dog has hair loss, definitely consult your vet!
Abdominal pain (if not bone related) can be related to initial digestion processes of diarrhea or constipation that we have already looked at. The pain for a dog usually comes from eating something that wont easily digest (like a large bone fragment) or gas build up in the lower intestine because they are NOT used to the new protein you are feeding them in the new meat. BTW dogs can get this from eating a new vegetable too.
Some dogs get diarrhea and abdominal pain with every new dog food, meat, or dog treat they eat. But like the warnings on the dog food sites, introducing your dog slowly to a new dog treat allows the dogs good intestine bacteria population to grow in the right proportions to enable good digestion.
Flatulence from a dog is often caused by undigested food travelling into the intestine, and the bacteria in their having to do the major work load that the stomach acid should have done in stripping the food down in the stomach.
CONCLUSIONS
If your dog is having a main prolonged negative reaction to whatever it is eating, you can either stop it eating that food, see a vet or both.
I was happy to see that the benefits in the last blog far outweigh any potential negatives of raw meat feeders shown in this blog, and how meat based dog treats can overcome these negatives even more.
The fact that main objection was NONE is impressive, because not all raw feeders are experts on nutrition. Balancing a raw meat diet can be tricky, time money and analysis abilities are required. But even novices experience a lot of pleasure from preparing meat raw meals for their dogs.
This is not for everyone, for various reasons, but rest assured that adding dried meat dog treats to your dog’s diet actually adds nutrition and benefits should be the take away from this article. You don’t have to worry about the mass of extra or hidden ingredients in many vegetable-based treats that are NEVER natural for your dog. You are adding clean amino acids that their bodies crave.
If you doubt this there are many articles discussing how grain and vegetables as the main component in a carnivores diet is a bad idea but VERY FEW telling you not to feed your dog more meat.
If it weren’t for corporate profits, that’s exactly what everyone would be telling you to do.
Raw dog diet Health inconveniences – Top ten survey results
NONE 119/218
Diarrhea 53/218
Constipation 33/218
Vomiting 21/218
Teeth damage 6/218
Allergies 5/218
Oral lesions 3/218
Hair loss 3/218
Abdominal pain 2/ 218
Foreign bodies (bone splinters)
RESOURCE
Raw meat-based diets for dogs: survey of owners’ motivations, attitudes and practices
Giada Morelli , Sofia Bastianello, Paolo Catellani, Rebecca Ricci
