Homemade Dog Treats – What You Need To Know

Homemade dog treats can be a great way to save money, have greater control over what your dog eats, and pamper your pooch, all at the same time. Here’s what you need to know about homemade dog treats.

Treats Don’t Have to be Unhealthy to be Delicious

Unfortunately, commercially available treats are too often crammed with ingredients that, while they may taste good, are not necessarily good for your dog. Sugar, fat, and preservatives are undesirable in your dog’s treats.

It can be easy to assume that when you make your own treats, you need to include ingredients like sugar and fat to make them appealing to your dog. In fact, it is not at all necessary to include unhealthy ingredients to create a treat that your dog will absolutely love.

Natural ingredients like apples are full of natural sugar that make them extremely appealing to dogs and perfectly healthy in moderation. Lean meats like chicken and even fattier meats like salmon are extremely appealing to dogs and are also perfectly healthy in moderation. Don’t feel the need to include extra fat like bacon fat or sugar to make your dog love their treats.

Be Careful to Not Unintentionally Destroy the Efficacy of Ingredients

One of the reasons that people enjoy making treats for their dogs themselves is that they can incorporate supplements and healthy ingredients at a reduced cost compared to purchasing treats with these kinds of ingredients already incorporated. Does your dog benefit from fish oil? You can put fish oil directly into the dog treat instead of purchasing expensive treats with fish oil.

The expense isn’t the only advantage. You can also use your dog’s favorite ingredients to make treats more palatable to them than they would have otherwise been.

However, you must be very careful not to destroy the effectiveness of ingredients when you make homemade dog treats. For instance, heating CBD too much can destroy the active ingredients in it, rendering it less effective or ineffective for your pet.

Therefore, it may be a good idea to purchase treats pre-made when you’re dealing with delicate ingredients like CBD. If you would like to purchase a very high-quality and reasonably affordable CBD treat for your dog, go now.

Consider How You’ll Use The Treats

If your primary goal in making your dog treats is to make it easier to give them their daily supplements, you just need to create a treat that your dog is willing to eat. However, if you would like to make training treats, think carefully about how to construct the treat.

It is best to be able to break or rip treats into smaller pieces so that your dog doesn’t end up getting too much. However, you want to be able to break or rip treats as you use them so that you can use larger pieces for bigger rewards when your dog completes a challenging command. If treats are too crumbly or hard, you may not be able to use them in this way, making them less useful as training treats.

Simpler is Better if Allergies Are Suspected

Unfortunately, food allergies can be quite common in dogs. No one is quite sure why they develop, but they may exist from the time your dog is a puppy or suddenly occur later in life. Sometimes food allergies come up when dogs change their diet and other times they appear spontaneously when dogs have been on the same diet for a long time.

The most common food allergies are to dairy products, beef, chicken, lamb, chicken eggs, soy, or wheat gluten. However, food allergies can occur to practically any type of food.

If you suspect that your dog is suffering from a food allergy, one of the best ways to find out what is causing the problem is to put your dog on a limited ingredient diet. Because so often commercial dog treats are processed on the same equipment as treats containing different ingredients, making treats yourself at home is the best way to be sure that they contain only the ingredients you want them to contain.

In order to eliminate the potential causes of food allergies, make treats using only one or two ingredients at a time. If your dog is on a limited ingredient diet from their veterinarian, make treats only from the ingredients included in that diet. You can also use the food itself to make treats. For instance, canned food can be baked into crispy treats that your dog will love.

Enjoy Treating Your Dog to Homemade Dog Treats

Homemade treats can make your dog healthy and happy, and they can also save you money and be a lot of fun to make. Keep these tips in mind and you will likely find that you have a wonderful time making treats for your dog and that your dog loves eating them.