What are the safest homemade dog treats

A lot of people seem to like to make wheat based biscuits for their dogs.

Since most dog food is 75% wheat why would you bother? Unless you are actually going to put meat or offal in the biscuit, then nutritionally its a waste of time for your dog.

So what can you safely make using meat for a homemade dog treat?

Well since combining meat and wheat products in anything but a hamburger style treat that can last only a few days – unless you know what you are doing with preservatives, your options are rather limited.

This really means going to a butcher and buying slabs of meat and oven or air drying the meat to give to your dog. if you go to your supermarket you might be paying $8 or more per kilo of beef. When you dry it you are paying up to $25 a kilo (meat being 75% water). And since you mightn’t dry it enough and it might go mouldy, then it might be false economy.

Why bones are the best homemade dog treat

The above issues with meat based dog treats, pretty much leaves bones that you can give your dog.

You can’t dry small bones too much and feed a dog as they will splinter. You have to buy big bones. But if you dry them too much they can also splinter and be just as dangerous. Don’t dry bones enough and they will go mouldy just like meat treats made at home.

So a lot of people buy raw bones and just wrap them in plastic and freeze them.

This is probably you best bet for buying meat based treats you don’t have to make a grain recipe with and will not make your dog that sick. But bones have a lot of fatty marrow and they can present a choking hazard to some dogs. Bones can also wear down a dogs teeth a lot if they are strong chewers causing big vet bills.

If you already feed your dog a lot of bones and you have never had a problem, I suggest you stick with it.