I pride myself on being an earth-loving, green, crunchy, granola-type of person, and admit it – I eat humus and granola. That said, I never feed my dog certain types of table food – especially granola or trail mix, since it contains poisonous raisins (which cause kidney failure!). That said, guess what just came out – doggy granola!

 

I was pleasantly surprised to try Granola Barks, a granola dog treat specifically designed for dogs, based out of Nashville, TN. This is the first meat-based granola (which sounds initially pretty gross, when you think about it), and is pretty natural and pure. In other words, you read the ingredients, and know everything that’s in there: chicken, rolled oats, and some natural preservatives to prevent spoiling.

 

Granola Barks are approximately 1”X1” small, thin, bite-sized snacks, and are handmade with all natural, all American, human-grade white meat chicken (no chicken by-product), and old-fashioned rolled oats. So, the true test – is it palatable? These little bites actually look edible to humans. JP, my 11 year old, rescue pit bull, is a very picky eater (he even turns his nose up to pig ears), and even he seemed to enjoy them! He ate them within 15 seconds, which is a pretty good sign of palatability! Definitely 2 paws up!

Butler's Lean Treats are fantastic semi-moist, bite-sized treats that are highly palatable (even to JP, my dog, who is super picky!)! They're great nutritional rewards for dogs, and can be used as training treats (although I'd probably cut them into 4 pieces to make them even smaller). I use these to fill my dog's KONG toy, which provides hours of environmental enrichment and mental stimulation (he can play with the Kong toy, trying to free the contents for several hours while I'm gone at work) - they're the perfect size to fit in a Kong.

These are made with skinless chicken, and are a low-fat treat, which is great for all those obese dogs out there. The ingredients include (listed in order): skinless chicken, chicken liver, corn, chicken by-product meal, high fructose corn syrup, wheat flour, glycerin, propylene glycol (to maintain the semimoist texture - it's a small amount!), phosphoric acid, salt, potassium sorbate and calcium propionate and BHA and citric acid (preservatives), iron oxide. Overall, I'm OK with these ingredients, and JP seems to enjoy them!

It's not every day that you learn about a great product and solid company that makes you want to quit your job and join them, right? Well, I discovered Zuke's, a "bone brokering," performance pet nutrition company based out of Durango, Colorado that makes treats so good that you almost want to eat them. I was first introduced to a sample size of Zuke's "Hip Action" treats, and questioned how "natural" they really were. With the melamine-induced pet food scare back in March of last year, I've been much more discriminating (as a vet) in what I feed my pets (as a pet owner!) and always make sure to read the ingredients on any treat or food product.

Being that JP, my 10 year-old rescue pit bull, has discriminating tastes (i.e., he's uber-picky and doesn't even eat pig ears sometimes!), I thought I'd put him to the test. Well, he wolfed these Hip Action semi-moist dog treats down and begged for more. JP has always been partial to soft treats, and these often contain a lot of propylene glycol (which is a humectant used to add or preserve moisture content of the treat). Upon reviewing the ingredients in Zuke's treats, I was impressed that I understood all the ingredient names and they were quite natural after all! Keep in mind that "natural" is different from "organic" (which must be certified organic). "Natural" means that no additional ingredients are added into the product, and I was glad to hear that all of Zuke's ingredients are natural by definition of AAFCO. I also loved how all the ingredients are sourced in the USA, as we know we have tighter regulations (USDA, FDA, AAFCO) than other countries (hence, the pet food poisoning last year). Zuke's only exception to this is their lamb and venison, which are imported from New Zealand. Apparently, even the salmon in their treats are wild-caught! (Remember, we green-crunchy types always want to promote that people eat WILD salmon, as farmed salmon has quite a severe, unhealthy effect on the environment).

Hip Action: Ahhh... my favorite. Well, actually, JP's favorite. As a 10 year-old dog, JP is fit, lean, and well conditioned... but he still is slowing down from arthritis. I have him on Cosequinn DS (double strength), which contains 500 mg of glucosamine and 400 mg of chondroitin (GAGs) in each capsule. Unfortunately, I have to pill JP each time (by hiding it in a meatball of canned food) to get this medication into him. Zuke's provides a tastier option in these Hip Action treats (dog), which contain 300 mg of glucosamine and 50 mg of chondroitin. These are very similar in size, appearance, and ingredient to the Jerky Natural treats - with the added benefit of these cartilage-protecting, safe products and some blueberries, apples, carrots, and flax seed to boot. That said, keep in mind that most of the veterinary research that has been done has only evaluated Cosequinn (we vets know that this brand of GAGs works), so I can't vouch for the anti-arthritis properties of Hip Action. That said, it's likely the same and is benign enough to be a safe, healthy treat for your dog. For you cat lovers, fear not. Zuke's has this in cat form too. Your average cat likely doesn't need it, but if your cat is diagnosed with arthritis, has had a fracture before, is stiff getting up in the morning, or is grossly overweight, it might be worth trying this treat for Kitty. With only 2 calories per treat, these cat Hip Actions contain 50 mg of glucosamine and 15 mg of chondroitin.

You really can't go wrong with a dog treat that only contains one single ingredient: 100% pure chicken breast. No confusing big words like tocopherols and ascorbic acid to confuse you on what's in this treat. This product is also made in Canada, our friendly northern neighbor, and being that they have one of the toughest government regulation agencies around (equivalent to our EPA and FDA), I'm trusting this food source! I'm finally excited to see my normally finicky pit bull dive passionately for a dog treat! This one gets 2 paws up from JP!