The Dilemma of All Natural Soft Treats

There is a growing trend for people to search out soft treats for their smaller or older dogs. The reasons are usually "they can't chew the hard ones", "their mouth is too small", or "they don't have any teeth left", that sort of thing.

I don't know how else to break the news to you, but there is no such thing as a soft treat that is all natural. There are only two ways you can get an all-natural soft treat - bake it yourself fresh in your kitchen, or load the treat up with preservatives, glycerin, and sugar to give it a soft, gummy texture. Those treats that seem like bacon flavored gummy bears, well, thats basically what they are. Gummy bears with bacon flavoring. Not the healthiest thing you can feed them on a regular basis. Now, once in a blue moon, I'm sure they won't hurt your dog, but would you want to eat a gummy bear every day of your life? My dogs won't even eat these gummy bear treats anymore. They just get them all wet then spit them on the carpet to make a nice red stain.

The "cake" treats that are out there are really best served as the bake it yourself variety, where they are made in small batches fresh right there in your kitchen. There are lots of recipes floating around the internet for these. They can be a great option if you have the time and inclination to make them yourself, and should pretty much be a cookie recipe (eggs, milk, flour, etc) without sugar or salt so they are healthy for your dog. Add some ground meat or peanut butter and watch them salivate. You should feed these quickly or freeze them, as they can sour pretty quickly.

There is also a difference between crunchy and crumbly. We do have a treat we bill as "soft bites". They've been called that for over a decade, so I don't think I can change the name. We make these crumbly, which makes them easier to chew for older or smaller dogs. We still bake out most of the moisture, but despite that, their shelf life is still only 3-4 weeks. We'd rather throw some away then add preservatives. But they last a lot longer than the cake cookies, simply because we remove most of the moisture.

One last note: There is at least one brand of treats that are out there, that claim to be soft AND natural. The ingredient that enables this is guar gum. I guess they claim that guar gum is natural, as it comes directly from a bean. I might hesitate feeding this to my dogs, simply because it has a myriad of uses, such as a waterproofing agent for explosives. According to the wiki article, it is a non-digestible ingredient, and can actually bind with other ingredients, making them indigestible as well. I really don't like these all-purpose, one-million-uses ingredients like these. Glycerin is also one of these. It's a sugar alcohol that is used in tons of things, including soap. I think it's hard to avoid these at all times, simply because they are so prolific, but I don't want to eat them on purpose.

The Lone Ranger Gets a Partner

For those who haven't checked out www.zootoo.com yet, this is a website that is trying to build a pet owner community and knowledge base centered around user experiences for different pet services, retailers, animal shelters and rescues, products, you name it, it's probably there. Their goal, I think, is to become the number one destination if you want a review of a pet product or service, and they are doing a good job building it up with a million dollar makeover contest for your local animal shelter.

Anyway, my point is, as I was perusing some of the reviews for some of the dog treats on this website, I started out mildly disappointed. After all, I own a dog bakery, and my whole mantra is healthy, natural, no sugar, no salt, no preservatives. Some days I feel like I am on a crusade to improve the diets of all of those disbelievers out there. With the humanization trend of pets, we can compare our dogs to our children in many cases. We wouldn't dare feed our kids nothing but sugar, salt, and artificial coloring all day, would we? They need to eat their vegetables, the food pyramid, good stuff in the tank, right? But so many of the treats you buy in the store is contrary to that stance. Sugar and salt help all the other nastiness go down easier - make the dog want to eat it.

Sorry for the digression - back to my point. I started off mildly disappointed, as I read one mom after another quip how these treats must be yummy, their dog "wolfed them down". Ick. Then, the tide turned. Someone actually mentioned that they should look at the ingredients of these treats. Too many chemicals - 1 out of 5 stars. Then another low review - look at all of the sugar. Look at all of the artificial coloring. These colors can't be natural.

Now, I know that I am not personally responsible for these readers opinions, but I don't feel like I am the lone ranger trying to help your dogs live longer and healthier. These women get it. If you are reading this, then I think you are getting it too. And that makes me proud. Most people don't know that the pet food industry was born to dispose of the people food waste. Fancy marketing was used to lull us into a sense of complacency of what we feed our pals, our best friends, our park play buddies, and our sappy movie snugglers. Even if you don't buy your treats from me, just read the ingredients. Just because it's cute and looks like a mini spare rib doesn't mean it's good for your dog. Thats all I ask. Oh, and vote for your local shelter at zootoo.com. I guess thats really two things.