Paws up? Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part II
In previous entry titled "Paws up? Paws down? Behind the scene at Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen", I took you to a tour behind the scene in Yassy's Gourmet Dog kitchen Part I, and showed you some of the treats that did not make it to our store, and gave you some tips and suggestion to find good treats for your furry friends.
Here, I would like to continue the tour behind the scene in Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen as tour Part II.
So,what other treats did not make it to our online store?
** Product A. Take a look at a picture bellow.
This is the picture of Oven roasted Duck fillet treats. This is apparently "best seller" at some online stores. Its description goes.. "100 % meat, slow roasted to maintain the original flavor no additive, no preservatives, just real meat. etc etc"
Looking at ingredients, which is single ingredients: Duck meat,it looked good. As birthday gift, I got her this treats. Palette seemed to be attracted to the smell of this treats. I have cut to small pieces with scissor and used it in training for her. Ingredients looked good, Palette loved it, BUT 2 hours later.. she went for potty and watery poop (diarrhea). I had more than 20 fillets in the bag, but no more duck fillet treats with this brand for her.
I see Duck is fattier than chicken,Turkey,Ostrich etc but she gets real Duck meat with bone in her diet now and then and she does good on it,so I did not think it was caused by choice of protein source. Turned out, it was made in China. The website I got it from had no country of origin information.
In the past, about 3 years ago, chicken Jerky made in China was on headline in news causing problems in dogs:vomiting,diarrhea,lack of appetite etc. If you were not familiar with the news, American Veterinary Medical Association made aware of several complaints on dog jerky treats made in China and pet supply stores pulled Jerky treats made in China from shelf. From my understanding, dog Jerky treats made in China is with very reasonable price, and if you just look at ingredients list, it looks good.I have seen dog jerky treats made in China in variety of rabbit meat, duck fillet, and chicken fillet.
Our suggestion to you is to make sure the country of origin when you buy treats for your furry friends. At our store, all of the treats offer to your furry friends are not from China and you can find where they were made for every single treats on the web site.
** Product B. Take a look at a picture bellow. Guess ingredients for this treats.
That looks easy to answer, doesn't it? BUT, this sweet potato treat has more than sweet potato in ingredients list. Don't make the appearance fool you.
These days, I see more treats made with extra something added supposedly for health benefit in mind such as Jerky treats with glucosamine/chondroitin for healthy joint, or omega3 treats, or treats with probiotics. Are they really effective?
For example, this sweet potato treats ingredients goes..sweet potato, egg, salt, bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is explained in company's leaflet as probiotic. Common probiotic ingredients in many digestive aid products is acidophilus, not bacillus substilis. I had given probiotic powder that contains Bacillus substilis in ingredients along with acidophilus in the past but Palette did not do good on that particular probiotic powder. It made her digestive upset worse. So, when Palette gets diarrhea and need probiotics, I give liquid probiotic that has no bacillus substilis in it and she does great on it.
This treat was sent to me with back ordered products for our store to try out. I do not understand why company just simply dehydrated the sweet potato if they liked to offer sweet potato treats. What eggs and salt are for? Is it to make treats more appealing to dogs? I have got dehydrated sweet potato treats nothing added with other brand as sample from other distributor. Palette turned the nose up.So, without taste testing, it went to trash. With this sweet potato treats with probiotic, Palette dances for it. If egg, salt were added to make the treats more appealing to dogs, the company is succeeding.
Leaflet says this treats is coated with bacilus substilis and slow roasted. So, I think probiotic coating can contact with heat and may dry out. I am not sure if the method leaves any effectiveness of probiotic coating after heating process. Probiotic survive the heat?
I feel the same way to treats fortified with glucosamin/chondroitin for healthy joint. Those glucosamin added to treats can survive the heat? I personally prefer to offer Palette natural source of glucosamin/condroitin such as gullet,trachea, poultry feet as such rather than via treats fortified with glucosamin.
Other than ingredients issue, heat with probiotic issue, there is digestive issue for this treats.
Vegetable has cell wall that dogs cannot break down good enough to digest well. If you were to give vegetable, you need to break the cell for them. Some people gives raw whole carrots as treats, but it would not provide nutrients utilize well by dogs' body because of this vegetable cell. Dogs utilize nutrient better provided by animal source ingredients such as meat,organ etc. Giving whole raw carrot is only good for fun,not good for purpose to give them nutrient through raw whole carrots.
I do not feed vegetable to Palette in her diet because what vegetable can offer as nutrient can be delivered through much more digestible animal source menu such as beef,lamb,buffalo,elk, ostrich,fish,egg, organs etc, and only when human got something left, I give it to Palette as variety of cool down treats. When I do, I steam the vegetable over homemade broth made for Palette. Then, mash/puree them and scoop into ice cube tray and freeze them up. I give this as treats after walk sometimes.
For example, we got pumpkin more than I would use for cooking and I steamed some for Palette's cool down treats. I made it with goat broth (steamed over water that had goat rib in it) so, this pumpkin treats has goat flavor Palette adores. She really enjoy this cool down treats, and has no digestive issue.
Goat broth flavored frozen steamed pumpkin cool down treats
She gets one of these as cool down treats after walk sometimes.
Home made broth is easy to make. Here is how.
Pour water into large surface pan, add raw bone such as ribs. Cook on stove top and take bone out and you have just made home made broth! You can put any type of bones to it, but remember to toss the bone. Cooked bones are dangerous for dogs to consume and cooked bone can splinter sharp, and become rock hard cement-like in the gut and not good for dogs.
Some people use store bought broth for human but it got so many ingredients including onion,which is toxic to dogs and if you need to use broth,make one yourself. It is better ingredients-wise, and easy to make. If you steam vegetable like I do, just place steamer after dropping bone in the water and place vegetable and steam them.
So, backed to sweet potato treats, Palette did dance for it, but texture was very very chewy, hard to bite off to chunks. Imagine caramel. It is like the texture.Her teeth sank slowly in to bite it off but when she tries to put teeth back up, it stuck to teeth, hard to come off so, what she did was bite a couple of times on one side of molars teeth, spit out, lick more. She repeated this over and over.
Remember, dogs' saliva has lubricant material, and this is the reason why when your dog lick the dog bowl, it feels slimy on surface. To cut the slimy touch on dog bowl, I sprinkle kosher salt and scrub good and then rinse off, wash it with dish soap, and I can feel squeak under my fingers.
Palette tried couple of times to chew with both side of molars back and forth but no success, and she decided to swallow it whole. As a result, it came out from other end as it went in. Since sweet potato is orange color, it stands out very good in her poop to identify the undigested sweet potato treats. Her poop was very soft with soft serve consistency. I did not change anything she gets to eat on the day for diet wise so, this can be another thing to tell me she does not do good with this kind of treats.
Word of caution on this treats other than 3 issues: ingredients,probiotic with heat, digestive issue, it gives you gassy dog. After 1 hour from consuming this treats, she starts farting very often. Very gassy dog. It probably is other sign of not being able to digest the treats?
This is tour behind Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part II, and we will take you more tour in the future.
I hope it helps you to see many treats from different angles and to pick better treats for your furry friends!
Here, I would like to continue the tour behind the scene in Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen as tour Part II.
So,what other treats did not make it to our online store?
** Product A. Take a look at a picture bellow.
This is the picture of Oven roasted Duck fillet treats. This is apparently "best seller" at some online stores. Its description goes.. "100 % meat, slow roasted to maintain the original flavor no additive, no preservatives, just real meat. etc etc"
Looking at ingredients, which is single ingredients: Duck meat,it looked good. As birthday gift, I got her this treats. Palette seemed to be attracted to the smell of this treats. I have cut to small pieces with scissor and used it in training for her. Ingredients looked good, Palette loved it, BUT 2 hours later.. she went for potty and watery poop (diarrhea). I had more than 20 fillets in the bag, but no more duck fillet treats with this brand for her.
I see Duck is fattier than chicken,Turkey,Ostrich etc but she gets real Duck meat with bone in her diet now and then and she does good on it,so I did not think it was caused by choice of protein source. Turned out, it was made in China. The website I got it from had no country of origin information.
In the past, about 3 years ago, chicken Jerky made in China was on headline in news causing problems in dogs:vomiting,diarrhea,lack of appetite etc. If you were not familiar with the news, American Veterinary Medical Association made aware of several complaints on dog jerky treats made in China and pet supply stores pulled Jerky treats made in China from shelf. From my understanding, dog Jerky treats made in China is with very reasonable price, and if you just look at ingredients list, it looks good.I have seen dog jerky treats made in China in variety of rabbit meat, duck fillet, and chicken fillet.
Our suggestion to you is to make sure the country of origin when you buy treats for your furry friends. At our store, all of the treats offer to your furry friends are not from China and you can find where they were made for every single treats on the web site.
** Product B. Take a look at a picture bellow. Guess ingredients for this treats.
That looks easy to answer, doesn't it? BUT, this sweet potato treat has more than sweet potato in ingredients list. Don't make the appearance fool you.
These days, I see more treats made with extra something added supposedly for health benefit in mind such as Jerky treats with glucosamine/chondroitin for healthy joint, or omega3 treats, or treats with probiotics. Are they really effective?
For example, this sweet potato treats ingredients goes..sweet potato, egg, salt, bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is explained in company's leaflet as probiotic. Common probiotic ingredients in many digestive aid products is acidophilus, not bacillus substilis. I had given probiotic powder that contains Bacillus substilis in ingredients along with acidophilus in the past but Palette did not do good on that particular probiotic powder. It made her digestive upset worse. So, when Palette gets diarrhea and need probiotics, I give liquid probiotic that has no bacillus substilis in it and she does great on it.
This treat was sent to me with back ordered products for our store to try out. I do not understand why company just simply dehydrated the sweet potato if they liked to offer sweet potato treats. What eggs and salt are for? Is it to make treats more appealing to dogs? I have got dehydrated sweet potato treats nothing added with other brand as sample from other distributor. Palette turned the nose up.So, without taste testing, it went to trash. With this sweet potato treats with probiotic, Palette dances for it. If egg, salt were added to make the treats more appealing to dogs, the company is succeeding.
Leaflet says this treats is coated with bacilus substilis and slow roasted. So, I think probiotic coating can contact with heat and may dry out. I am not sure if the method leaves any effectiveness of probiotic coating after heating process. Probiotic survive the heat?
I feel the same way to treats fortified with glucosamin/chondroitin for healthy joint. Those glucosamin added to treats can survive the heat? I personally prefer to offer Palette natural source of glucosamin/condroitin such as gullet,trachea, poultry feet as such rather than via treats fortified with glucosamin.
Other than ingredients issue, heat with probiotic issue, there is digestive issue for this treats.
Vegetable has cell wall that dogs cannot break down good enough to digest well. If you were to give vegetable, you need to break the cell for them. Some people gives raw whole carrots as treats, but it would not provide nutrients utilize well by dogs' body because of this vegetable cell. Dogs utilize nutrient better provided by animal source ingredients such as meat,organ etc. Giving whole raw carrot is only good for fun,not good for purpose to give them nutrient through raw whole carrots.
I do not feed vegetable to Palette in her diet because what vegetable can offer as nutrient can be delivered through much more digestible animal source menu such as beef,lamb,buffalo,elk, ostrich,fish,egg, organs etc, and only when human got something left, I give it to Palette as variety of cool down treats. When I do, I steam the vegetable over homemade broth made for Palette. Then, mash/puree them and scoop into ice cube tray and freeze them up. I give this as treats after walk sometimes.
For example, we got pumpkin more than I would use for cooking and I steamed some for Palette's cool down treats. I made it with goat broth (steamed over water that had goat rib in it) so, this pumpkin treats has goat flavor Palette adores. She really enjoy this cool down treats, and has no digestive issue.
Goat broth flavored frozen steamed pumpkin cool down treats
She gets one of these as cool down treats after walk sometimes.
Home made broth is easy to make. Here is how.
Pour water into large surface pan, add raw bone such as ribs. Cook on stove top and take bone out and you have just made home made broth! You can put any type of bones to it, but remember to toss the bone. Cooked bones are dangerous for dogs to consume and cooked bone can splinter sharp, and become rock hard cement-like in the gut and not good for dogs.
Some people use store bought broth for human but it got so many ingredients including onion,which is toxic to dogs and if you need to use broth,make one yourself. It is better ingredients-wise, and easy to make. If you steam vegetable like I do, just place steamer after dropping bone in the water and place vegetable and steam them.
So, backed to sweet potato treats, Palette did dance for it, but texture was very very chewy, hard to bite off to chunks. Imagine caramel. It is like the texture.Her teeth sank slowly in to bite it off but when she tries to put teeth back up, it stuck to teeth, hard to come off so, what she did was bite a couple of times on one side of molars teeth, spit out, lick more. She repeated this over and over.
Remember, dogs' saliva has lubricant material, and this is the reason why when your dog lick the dog bowl, it feels slimy on surface. To cut the slimy touch on dog bowl, I sprinkle kosher salt and scrub good and then rinse off, wash it with dish soap, and I can feel squeak under my fingers.
Palette tried couple of times to chew with both side of molars back and forth but no success, and she decided to swallow it whole. As a result, it came out from other end as it went in. Since sweet potato is orange color, it stands out very good in her poop to identify the undigested sweet potato treats. Her poop was very soft with soft serve consistency. I did not change anything she gets to eat on the day for diet wise so, this can be another thing to tell me she does not do good with this kind of treats.
Word of caution on this treats other than 3 issues: ingredients,probiotic with heat, digestive issue, it gives you gassy dog. After 1 hour from consuming this treats, she starts farting very often. Very gassy dog. It probably is other sign of not being able to digest the treats?
This is tour behind Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen Part II, and we will take you more tour in the future.
I hope it helps you to see many treats from different angles and to pick better treats for your furry friends!
Posted by yassy at 4/13/2010 8:20 AM 
Categories: Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen
Tags: sweet potato treats yassy's gourmet dog kitchen duck treats
Categories: Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen
Tags: sweet potato treats yassy's gourmet dog kitchen duck treats
I found this information to be very interesting. Our dogs eat raw carrots all the time and they also love raw yams that I slice into 1/2 in. wide slices for them. The vet told us that these would be good treats because they were filling without to many calories and since corgis have a tendency to be overweight, this has worked out pretty well. Lots of chewing and bulk/fiber without the calories.
I think that different dogs have different food issues that you have to figure out. Our Border Collie can't have much corn at all or she gets that summer itch. Since we started her on a lamb and rice diet, she no longer has that problem.
So many people take the word of the ads and don't test it out on their dogs carefully to see if there will be a problem. You have made some great points to think about in this post!
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I agree that each dog reacts differently to food.
Now and then, I come across the pet supply store website that states such such treats are hypoallergenic treats. I personally think that even though there are things like corns,wheat etc that are known as things that might cause reactions for some dogs, protein source itself would not be like this thing is allergenic protein source or that thing is hypoallergenic protein source.
It just that the novel protein source that each individual dog may not be exposed to often is less likely to cause the reaction for some dogs. So,I think that for each individual dog, novel protein source can be different and such so called hypoallergenic treats are different from a dog to dog.
Also,if the novel protein source treats made from novel protein source that dogs are not exposed to before had corns,wheat,soy, or maybe readily available chicken etc,then, I do not think that might less likely to cause reaction for some dogs.
Often times, you would find the word "Hypoallergenic treats" with treats like Kangaroo,Ostrich,Emu etc, but Palette eats them in diet often and exposed to them often so, IF Palette became allergic to some of those protein source, even if some store websites state they are hypoallergenic treats, they are not hypoallergenic treats for Palette. It is an amount of exposure to protein source and individual reactions.
Like you said,dogs react differently to food and,even if you give supposedly hypoallergenic treats, some dogs may react them still.
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