Why You Should Stop Buying Dog Biscuits For Your Pet

Dog biscuits have long been a collective favorite or just an easy go-to pet treat for pet parents. They are cheap, easily available, and the dogs seem to like them. But in the times of online ordering, doorstep delivery, and far healthier treat alternatives, it is time we consider dethroning the dog biscuits from a seat they have undeservingly held for so long.

Anyone and everyone who has a pet knows the value that treats hold in their lives. Giving your dog a well-deserved treat is a display of affection that they appreciate. Given that treats play such a vital role in your pet’s life, it is important to ensure they are not adversely impacting their health.

Let’s try to understand why the impact of dog biscuits is questionable, and why you should stop buying them for your pet.

• Why Are Dog Biscuits Problematic?
  • Unsafe Ingredients In Dog Biscuits
• Why Does It Matter If Your Dog Eats Unhealthy Treats?
• Jerky Treats: A Safer Alternative To Dog Biscuits

Why Are Dog Biscuits Problematic?

Dog biscuits are a hard & dry dog food product and consist of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber. Dog biscuits are made like biscuits made for human consumption- just with worse ingredients.

Dog biscuits are packaged to be attractive to pet owners and are usually given cute or tasty names like calcium bones, dog cookies, milk bones, and healthy treats. Behind these glossy packages with pictures of happy dogs are many potential health threats.

Frequently these biscuits will contain synthetic additives, go through harmful processing methods, and be loaded with cheap quality ingredients that can be indigestible by your pet at best and unsafe at worst.

Unsafe Ingredients In Dog Biscuits

There are only a few other treats that come close to being as full of unsafe ingredients as dog biscuits. Let us go over a few of these ingredients that your pet just does not need, but could be consuming through dog biscuits.

1. Chemical Preservatives

Most commercial brands heavily process their treats. During this processing, the nutrients of the ingredients are extracted and their chemical composition starts to alter. Chemical preservatives are hence added to these treats to give them a long shelf life.

Chemical preservatives, however, can introduce many harmful toxins in your pet’s body, which can then lead to various short-term or long-term health problems. 

Butylated hydroxyanisole or BHA is one such common chemical antioxidant used as a pet food preservative. The U.S. National Institute of Health has even listed BHA as carcinogenic (cancer-causing). 

2. Food Dyes

To make the dog biscuit treats look more appealing, they are often dyed in bright colors using artificial additives. Colors are usually added to conceal discoloration in less-than-fresh food and make them easier to sell.

Let’s face it, dogs cannot visualize the same spectrum of colors as we can, so the colors are added to appeal to naive pet owners.

Food coloring additives like Yellow #6, Blue #1 and #2, Red #3, and Green #3 are linked with cancer in animals. These dyes can even cause numerous allergies.

3. Sugar or Artificial Sweeteners

Added sugars cause a host of issues for dogs, like tooth decay, diabetes, and obesity. With growing concerns about the quantity of sugar in pet treats, manufacturers have now decided to switch to artificial sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners are cheaper than sugar and allow manufacturers to save costs while putting your pet’s well-being on the line.

Artificial sweeteners like sorbitol and xylitol are commonly used. Consuming sorbitol can cause stomach problems, and can lead to severe weight loss. On the other hand xylitol is toxic for pets.

4. Rendered Meat and Fat

Rendered products usually have the terms “meal” or “by-product” in front of them on the ingredient list. They can comprise the remains of diseased cattle, expired meat from grocery stores, or even euthanized animals from vets and shelters.

In addition to this, rendered ingredients are considered unsafe for human consumption. There is absolutely no reason why you might not want to buy them for your pet too.

Rendered fat can also be a potential source of salmonella and toxins, either of which can cause severe damage to your pet’s health.

In addition to these, some common ingredients you can find on pet treat labels include wheat gluten, soy, salt, milk, vegetable oil, corn syrup, or monosodium glutamate (MSG). These ingredients offer no additional nutritional value and should be avoided at all costs.

Why Does It Matter If Your Dog Eats Unhealthy Treats?

Contaminants that are often present in dog biscuits have obvious adverse effects on your pet’s health. Good treats are meant to provide your pet with a nutrition boost and cause no harm while doing this. The ingredients in dog biscuits, when consumed continuously, can pose a serious risk to your pooch’s health.

One of the biggest issues that commercially prepared, over processed pet treats can cause is obesity due to their high-calorie content. As dogs grow old, being overweight can lead to numerous health issues including arthritis, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and even a shortened life.

The pretty packaging can be misleading, but reading the ingredients list offers a more truthful look at what goes in your pet’s stomach. The lesser the ingredients, and the familiar their names, the better the quality of the treat.

Jerky Treats: A Safer Alternative To Dog Biscuits

Jerky treats have become an increasingly popular snack for pets in recent years. If made from quality meats, they can be a very healthy and highly recommendable treat for dogs.

Jerkies are essentially thin slices of meat dehydrated to prevent spoilage. As most of the moisture is removed during drying, meat jerkies become naturally shelf-stable and can be conveniently stored or carried. 

Unfortunately, not every dog treat labeled as “jerky” contains real jerky. Many times, such products are made filled with additives, fillers, or chemical preservatives like the infamous Chinese Jerky Treats.

Premium jerky treats are easily identifiable and are usually made up of single or limited ingredients of the highest quality while being entirely free of any chemicals. These jerky treats are nutritious, high in protein, and low in fat.

Due to the low moisture content, jerkies can be chewy and support the removal of plaque and tartar build-up. As they are also made with limited ingredients, jerkies are a great treat for dogs on a diet or those with food allergies.

Dehydration, being a low-temperature process, preserves vitamins and temperature-sensitive nutrients better than other food processing methods like baking, cooking, extrusion, etc. Dehydrated meat is also a highly dense source of protein. All-in-all, jerky treats make for an extremely healthy and far superior snack than dog biscuits for dogs of all sizes and life stages.

Are the dog biscuits in your house going to say hello to the dustbin? Replace them with some of the meatiest jerky treats made from the highest quality, locally sourced ingredients.

Pawcrafted’s preservative-free, all-natural products are carefully designed to delight your pooch, without negatively impacting their health. This makes them the perfect choice for your little one!

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