# Dos and Donts of Food and Treats?



## Madeleinesmommy (Nov 30, 2012)

I was reading in another thread about owners not be well informed about their pet's food with previous pets and what not. And I realized that I'm probably not giving the right food and treats to Maddie. For the first couple of years we had the dogs I had no input on what they could and couldn't eat because I'm still in college and at home with my parents. Whenever I would go and buy the top of the line treats ( the only input ) I really had the next day I would find new treats that were worse quality than ones from Walmart or wherever.

Maddie is now 4 and it's time to get serious about her health and what is going into to her body.

What are some basics dos and donts of food and treats that I should be following?

I've been reading online that Milkbones are bad? Dentasticks by Pedigree are not great.

Please someone help me and tell me a food I should consider and treats.


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

My general rule is made in USA is good. Beyond that, ingredients I can pronounce is also better than chemical sounding stuff, though that's not always applicable. 

Before I buy any new treats I do a search on this forum and Amazon to read reviews. I also keep an eye out for threads here about recalls. 


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

Oh, and here's all he gets. Sorry, I am lazy and don't want to type all these names. 








































































For food he eats Fromm kibble + the Honest kitchen. 



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## hoaloha (Jan 27, 2012)

All of the treats above that Aastha posted are great  Obi REALLY loves Fruitables and his CET dental chews! I think the EASIEST and probably the most healthy treats are human (but dog-safe) veggies and fruit and plain Cheerios. It's by default "human-grade"  Sugar snap peas, bite-sized cucumber, apple, watermelon, plain boiled chicken breast, etc... are Obi's favorites. I just give him whatever safe produce we eat! and... he goes crazy for a few grains of sticky rice (which he runs over when he hears me open the rice cooker). Hope this helps  Everything in moderation too!


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## eiksaa (Jun 8, 2012)

That's right!! Forgot about veggies and fruits. My food prep time = Gustave's favorite time in the evening. He knows there's veggies coming his way. 


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

Fruitables are one of my girls' favorites. One of the others they like that you can find at PetSmart are Wet Nose Little Stars - very tiny so they don't load up on treats.


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## nwyant1946 (Jan 2, 2013)

*Thanks for the tips....I'm going to make a grooming appt for her for Thursday (I hope)...and while they do that I will run to Petco and grab several bags if healthy treats. I bought her mini milkbones when I first got her and I'm really wondering if they are contributing to her scratching and redness of the feet. They come in different colors in the box, so I'm wondering if the dye is doing it. She also eats Blue Bits.:ThankYou::goodpost:*


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## babycake7 (Jan 30, 2012)

nwyant1946 said:


> *Thanks for the tips....I'm going to make a grooming appt for her for Thursday (I hope)...and while they do that I will run to Petco and grab several bags if healthy treats. I bought her mini milkbones when I first got her and I'm really wondering if they are contributing to her scratching and redness of the feet. They come in different colors in the box, so I'm wondering if the dye is doing it. She also eats Blue Bits.:ThankYou::goodpost:*


I was actually just having a discussion about Milk Bones with my vet this morning and he was saying that they are not good for dogs at all because among other things, they are ridiculously high in calories. Bella loves the Fruitables, the Blue Buffalo and Sam's Yams. I also just received an order from Chewy.com today and in it were some new things to try - Fromm treats grain free (sweet potato and also one called parmesan cheese and Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits.) 

Surely, I am not the only person that gets this excited about deliveries of food and treats for the dog??? LOL!


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## hoaloha (Jan 27, 2012)

babycake7 said:


> I was actually just having a discussion about Milk Bones with my vet this morning and he was saying that they are not good for dogs at all because among other things, they are ridiculously high in calories. Bella loves the Fruitables, the Blue Buffalo and Sam's Yams. I also just received an order from Chewy.com today and in it were some new things to try - Fromm treats grain free (sweet potato and also one called parmesan cheese and Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits.)
> 
> Surely, I am not the only person that gets this excited about deliveries of food and treats for the dog??? LOL!


Oh! I forgot about the Fromm- the Parmesan one is one of obi's favorite since he loves cheese. I break it into small pieces since the are a bit bigger.


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## jenna123 (Aug 13, 2012)

I buy fruitables, fromm, zukes, and a lot of other kinds that are natural from Global pets. Only made in USA or Canada ones. I seen milk bones at dollarama, so not too sure how good they are :blink:


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## Madeleinesmommy (Nov 30, 2012)

Thank you everyone for the helpful tips! I'm so excited to go out and buy some new goodies. 

Thank you especially to Eiksaa for providing all of those pictures. Now I know what I'm looking for. Those pumpkin/blueberry ones sound yummy!

First I'll start switching the treats and then move to switching her food.


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

With many of us having smart phones, I say try to look up company info, if it says distributed in USA, made from imported ingredients but made in USA... beware....
All you can do is research, google complaints or deaths on anything... 

Any more it's not enough to look for made in USA since many things are repackaged in the US and the only thing made in the US is the packaging!


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