No matter whether you’re talking about treats for your dog, cat, rabbit, ferrets, hamster, bird or any other pet it is important to know what ingredients are good or not good for them. Just like with us an occasional non-healthy treat isn’t going to cause irreparable damage, but best not to make a habit of it. Reading labels can be a pain, but healthy treats are better all around. To make it easier find 3-6 types of healthy treats & stick to them (rotate so they have variety). I like to stick with treats that have few ingredients & no bi-products & only natural preservatives if any. No dyes or colors, & no fillers. For dogs, cats, or birds I recommend grain-free items. Dogs & cats are carnivores & grains can cause digestive issues including weight issues, which many dogs & cats I see suffer from it, just look around or ask your Veterinarian what % of their clients have overweight pets.
These are single ingredient dog treats from pumpkin https://amzn.to/4jcznDF
These are single ingredients freeze dried liver for dogs https://amzn.to/4jcznDF
These have limited ingredients for dogs https://amzn.to/435lF0v
When I am looking at the treats ingredients, if they have fish as an ingredient, I only buy ones that it says “wild caught” on the package. I personally only eat wild caught due to the small over crowded fish farm tanks/pool they live in & many times antibiotics are added to the water “just in case” & if its in the fish it then ends up in your pet. When a treat has peanut butter I want to be sure not a top 3 ingredient & is organic, also no dairy (including yogurt) there are better ways of giving probiotics to your pet.
For birds I try & stick to treats like fresh nuts, my larger birds can hold the nuts with their claws & crack the shell, but my smaller birds can’t. I give they dehydrated fruit as treats like this: https://amzn.to/4jae4m0
For smaller birds like Finches, Canaries, or Parakeets this is a nice option: https://amzn.to/3HfC1eo
For Cockatiels, Lovebirds & smaller Conures I like Higgins Sunburst “True Fruits” as it doesn’t contain dyes or artificial items. Some of the other ones contained unsafe ingredients/additives. I don’t see it on Amazon, but Chewy sold it last time I looked.
For larger birds a skewer like this is great for hanging fruit as a treat (occasionally, don’t want too much natural sugars from fruit) : https://amzn.to/3FoRnwB
These treats can be fed to a variety of small caged pets & contain dried veggies & fruit : https://amzn.to/4kwcFrk
There seems to be a lot of treats for birds & small animals that contain dyes or colors, please beware, why would dried fruit or vegetables need dyes & colors added, makes me wonder if they are not fresh when used & this covers up the poor color? I also notice a lot of yogurt covered treats, most animals would never eat dairy in their natural environment, so I’d highly recommend you don’t feed them to your pets.
Lamb liver treats for dogs (single ingredient): https://amzn.to/4j7ME07
These are made from Turkey & limited ingredients: https://amzn.to/3SeDFiW
These are a nice training size treat made with Elk & Venison: https://amzn.to/3SeDFiW
These are wild caught herring treats (cats or dogs could eat): https://amzn.to/4k7EciQ
My dogs get these when they go in their crates: https://amzn.to/4krkVIY
If you are using treats for training it is always best to have several different treats & do a test to see which treat is the highest value. This takes a little bit of work because you need to wash your hands between categories to be sure its not the smell on your hands is where the real interest lies. You start with a treat in each closed hand let your dog or cat smell both & watch which one gets his or her interest more. Try this with several groups & using some more than once to be sure you find the highest value treat & then find the next highest treats. I probably have 6 different treats I tried & found Stewart’s freeze dried treats had the highest value to my dog Echo’s. He is reactive to other dogs, so these are the ones I use when we are working on counter conditioning & desensitization with him as he sees his trigger. Lower value treats for him can be used when teaching new things or randomly reinforcing the things he knows like sit, lay or stand. These are Echo’s favorite & yes to him the brand does matter. https://amzn.to/3H0Uhs2
These are cat or dog treats, single ingredient (pumpkin) https://amzn.to/4dpAMWf
Treats for cats from Bison: https://amzn.to/4mouOZz
Treats for cats from freeze dried rabbit: https://amzn.to/4dmIU9L
Due to many pets having allergies to chicken & many chicken farms give antibiotic to chickens whether sick or not & some are given hormones to make them bigger, I just avoid chicken & don’t take the risk. I am glad there are options out there.
I also dehydrate sweet potatoes myself either in the oven or in a dehydrator & give to my dogs, some cats like them as well. I gave you a variety of options & they vary in price. You are not usually going to find quality treats for your pets at most grocery stores or big box stores. I’m glad that being an Amazon affiliate I can link quality products I would recommend to you in my posts. Please check out my recommendations for your pets on this post as well as others.
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Echoing Great Pet Care 