Even in the grocery store, where I know I will not find dog food I'm willing to give Elka, I still go down the dog aisle. I look at the treats, and the ingredients of food, squeeze squeaky toys and look for tennis balls that I have not bought before. I'm sure I must have an interesting look on my face, depending on the object of my attention; horror or disgust when it comes to the food ingredients, amusement when it comes to the durability of the toys (or lack thereof). I do buy things, once in awhile.
I do occasionally buy the Rachael Ray Just 6 treats, because they do, in fact, have only six ingredients (which could be worse), and Elka seems to like them well enough. There's apparently a "Just 6" kibble now as well; it has many many 6's of ingredients. I will not buy it.
Recently, I bought a bag of chicken flavored "Soup bones" for Elka. It's doggie junk food, I'm not fooling myself, but every once in awhile, I look for something to give her that I think might occupy her for a little while, or interest her.
Ingredients, per Amazon.com, are :
Wheat Flour, Rice Syrup, Glycerin, Potato Starch, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Wheat Gluten, Ground Peas, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Carrots, Gelatin, Natural Chicken Flavor, Monosodium Phosphate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Sorbate (a preservative), Calcium Carbonate, Titanium Dioxide (color), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sulfur, Iron Oxide (color)
Not so great, really. Kind of garbage. At least there's chicken, and peas and carrots. Also, they're made in the USA. I won't be buying them again, likely, but Elka does, in fact, like them. Which brings me to the other claim on the bag: "long lasting."
Now, I know Rachael Ray has a pit bull, named Isaboo. I don't know what counts as "long lasting" in the Ray household, but in mine, I want more than 5 or 10 minutes. 30 is nice, but not really expected. Guess which category the "soup bones" fell into?
The accusing face of somebody whose treat is done already:
So yeah. If you don't mind junk once in awhile (I eat junk once in awhile. So does Elka. I'm trying to narrow my margin. Her food tends to be better than mine.) I guess I could, say, give her a real bone, but then there's the worry of fracturing teeth, and things along those lines.
It could be a lot worse, there's no anti-freeze components, euthanized cats and dogs, or known carcinogens in it. If you want something that will last more than ten minutes, take a bucket and fill it with water and a bit of beef broth, a couple of toys, carrots and other solid healthy goodies, and freeze it. Present her with the resulting block of ice outside and let her have at it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of the bucket technique, but not yet used it! It seems like it would either be a lot of fun for her, or she'll be all "Oh, forget this" and bark at it.
DeleteI've never understood what all those chemically sounding ingredients are for, both in human and dog food. It's hard to avoid them.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to avoid them! I guess they're just cheaper than real food to produce in that quantity, but it doesn't mean I want them.
DeleteI would buy the Rachael Ray treats too, if we could get them here!
ReplyDeleteThe Just 6 ones I don't mind implicitly, and Elka likes them. The Soup Bones, I don't know that I'll be buying again. She seems to like them just as well, however.
DeleteIf they didn't last very long for Elka, they probably won't last for Shiva either. I never trust those words anyway until I test them out myself.
ReplyDeleteHave you had trouble with bones and antlers hurting Elka's teeth? I've never really thought about such a thing before and Shiva has chomped her way through dozens. Until the more recent elk antler that she just can't destroy, her teeth seemed stronger than any store-bought bone. Is this something I should be worried about?
She once had one of those "Peanut butter flavor filled" marrow bone things (my aunt got it for her) that she licked all of the "peanut butter" out of and didn't much chew on the bone. Once she started chewing on the bone, it made her mouth bleed (chafed her gums?) so I threw it out. Had the same problem with a nylabone. I haven't gotten antlers for her.
DeleteReally, I have heard about dogs breaking teeth on the "weight bearing" bones, so femurs, etc. But raw-fed dogs theoretically consume intact raw bones (turkey necks, ribs) all the time. So I don't really know.
How big are they? I always worry that my doggies will not chew smaller hard treats and choke on them.
ReplyDeleteWe give antlers, (a new fav here), but we limit chewing time. Puppy can chew as much as he wants due to teething, but big dogs only get it for a bit at a time. There is a chance they can break a tooth, but it does clean their teeth nicely and lasts a decent amount of time.
They are (I don't have a ruler handy) longer than a soda can is tall? They're big enough that I was okay giving them to Elka, though I think the Chessies are bigger.
DeleteNever heard of soup bones over here in the UK.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that I want to after reading about them.
Thanks for the honest review.
Love and licks, Winnie
It's funny how much more seriously we take our dog's nutrition than our own.
ReplyDeleteI share your pet aisle obsession. And you're right. There's an awful lot of dreck.
But I've started feeding Honey Fresh Pet which is refrigerated in the pet aisle. It's high quality and got good reviews from the Pet Food Advisor. It would be nice to see more high quality food in grocery stores.
Fresh pet is all i feed my dog. Www.freshpet.com.
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