Home made dog treats should be made of …
If anyone guessed MEAT, they are 100% right !
If you feed your dog a raw diet (that should mostly be meat) then you understand why you are doing it. For the other people who have been lied to by the dog food manufacturing monopolies … why would you risk feeding your dog more grains (via their dog treats)???
If your dog already gets 80% grains (carbs) in its main meal, what is the point of feeding it more grains?
Homemade dog treats and safety
The trick with homemade dog treats is that they are made at home. That means you are using your oven and guessing how to safely handle meat and how long it will stay safe once cooked, then stored.
Most dog treat manufacturers, unless they are using 100% meat, add preservative to stop your dog getting sick.
Meat in a home-made dog treat will stink your house out, your family will hate it, and there is a good chance that you can’t make it much cheaper than you could buy a meat based dog treat from a store or the internet.
The reason you will buy a grain based dog treat is because it is well marketed or cheap.
The reason you will make a grain based homemade dog treat, is because it is much easier than handling meat.
But when you understand that most dogs don’t get sufficient protein in their meals (because grains aren’t anywhere near the quality or quantity of amino acids (what protein is made of) – THEN you will realise that you should only make homemade dog treats out of meat !
Is it difficult to make meat based dog treats safely at home. Yes. Is it worth it? Only you can answer that question.
if you make it yourself, you will know what goes into it. If you can get a cheap meat source, then it might be worthwhile.
Note some people use road kill as their main dog food source. Don’t use this kind of meat in your dogs diet unless you are sure of how safe that meat is going to be.
You will probably find that most people just give their dog some chicken or steak that they cooked the night before, and that is fine, if you are only going to keep it a few days. it wont be a recall training treat, but at least it is meat.