02nd Oct 2008
Pet Treats
Pet treats are food products which are supplemental to a pet’s regular diet. They are given as reinforcement during training, as rewards for particularly good behavior, or just to cement the human-animal bond. However, treats should not only serve as rewards for your pet, they should also provide healthy nutrition.
In general
A healthy pet treat is natural in its composition and should not contain sugars, artificial additives, colors, preservatives or synthetic flavors. The ideal pet treat is made from whole food components that supplement your pet’s usual diet with nutrients he or she doesn’t normally get. Some commercial treats are supplemented with a premix of isolated synthetic minerals and vitamins that, in our opinion, are less-than-ideal for supplementing regular diets. Pet treats should be made from ingredients that supply a variety of natural nutrients, and should not contain any artificial ingredients that came from a chemistry lab.
The ideal
The best natural treats are those in which foods supply the nutrients. These foods should contain what the animal, given a choice, would normally eat. Natural pet treats should therefore be formulated specifically for particular kinds of pets. Herbivores, such as rabbits, would enjoy predominantly plant-based snacks, whereas most omnivorous rodents would find grain-, seed-, and/or nut-based snacks particularly tasty. As obligate carnivores, cats would naturally enjoy animal-based treats; however, some felines would also enjoy the occasional vegetable and/or herbs snack, given a choice. A particularly unusual snack, such as the occasional insect that a cat might catch, could really stimulate the senses and provide a great deal of fun as well. Dogs enjoy an even wider variety of fruits and veggies in addition to their animal-based staple. Although unprocessed raw fruits and vegetables may not always be fully digestible by carnivores like cats and dogs, the textures and smells of these treats can make for an invaluable contribution to an animal’s sense of pleasure, and this in turn can benefit the animal’s wellbeing via an enhanced immune system. At a fundamental level, the gut bacterial populations, which are of crucial importance to a healthy immune system, will get a special boost from supplemental plant fibers.
The reality
Most commercial pet treats don’t even come close to being healthy. These treats are produced as almost an afterthought to the main pet food varieties. They do more to supplement manufacturers’ earnings than any animal’s diet or overall wellbeing. Cheap, often unhealthy, ingredients are often processed using excessive heat, which renders the resultant treats little more than calorie-dense, nutrient-poor blobs at best, and outright unhealthy or highly allergenic at worst. Baked treats for cats and dogs that are based on white flour are a far cry from what these animals should actually eat, even if given only occasionally as rewards. Most pet treats are composed of refined ingredients, such as white flours, which are now clearly associated with the epidemic rise of such chronic diseases among pets as obesity, diabetes, and heart problems, to name a few.
To make matters worse, some manufacturers now recognize that supplementation with certain addictive ingredients can bump up sales significantly. Some of these addictive ingredients include sugars, sweeteners, salt, and synthetic flavors which are as unhealthy for animals as they are for humans. If you think that this is simply unsubstantiated exaggeration, please rest assured that the addictive properties of sugars, for example, have been clearly demonstrated many times in animal experiments. Some treats include such an extensive mixture of unhealthy additives (e.g., artificial colors and flavors, preservatives, etc.) that it’s difficult to identify a single ingredient with any nutritional value whatsoever.
Why would manufacturers produce such clearly unhealthy treats? In a nutshell, it’s the profit angle. Many pet food companies get away with this because, first, their marketing budgets can more-or-less buy consumer trust and second, the lack of available information on nutrition and diet-based preventive healthcare leaves some major detective work concerning quality of food ingredients and processing methods entirely up to the consumer.
Is your pet”s treat species appropriate?
Any truly natural treat should be formulated to take into account specific aspects of an animal’s constitution. For example, animals like cats do poorly on dry diets simply because they may not drink as much as they should after eating dry food, and dehydration can cause a variety of health problems (this is not the case for dogs, birds, or rodents). Therefore, for cats, a good natural treat would be something moist, like certain vegetables, some grass, or even fruits. Such treats can have great health benefits, even if felines can’t digest them entirely. On the flip side, one of the worst examples of ignoring the importance of formulating pet food composition for specific species are those products that are clearly marketed for herbivores, yet contain animal-based fats and proteins.
The formulation of natural prepared pet treats should always take into account these seemingly obvious facts. The ingredients in any natural treat should be healthy, which simply means that they should present no problem for the pet (i.e., they shouldn’t include any known allergens) and are formulated specifically for the constitution and dietary needs of the animal that will eat them.
Even treat ingredients should be healthy and safe - Best bet: Choose certified organic
In general, the best ingredients to be found in pet treats are those that have been certified organic. Such certification guarantees that no agricultural toxins (e.g., pesticides, fertilizers such as sewage sludge, herbicides, or insecticides) are present in the food ingredients. Furthermore, certified organic ingredients must be verifiably free of genetically modified organisms (GMO-free), hormones, antibiotics, or synthetic food additives. Since GMO-based ingredients have been implicated in such disorders as allergies and growth and reproductive problems, sticking to certified organic food products could actually help your pet avoid such problems later. Organic certification also guarantees that no toxins were used during the manufacture of a given treat and that neither the treat nor its ingredients were sanitized by gamma irradiation, the effects of which on food qualities and health are currently in dispute. Toxic chemicals, such as corrosive sanitizers, pesticides (which are routinely used to fumigate food and ingredient storage areas to prevent insect infestation), and detergents, are routinely used in the manufacture of conventional (i.e., non-certified organic) food products for both pets and humans; these are strictly forbidden in the production of certified organic products.
Is my pet”s treat organic?
When a label for a particular pet food product states that some or all ingredients are organic, you need to make sure that the claim is substantiated. This is simple: just look for both the USDA organic seal and the name of the certifying agency on the label. These are the only indications that a product is indeed certified organic. Keep in mind what a compliance officer at CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) said in September 2008: “ … It is a buyer beware of any pet food product that does not show that it is certified by one of the NOP [National Organic Program] certification agents.” Why? Because, in the pet food industry, only organic certification guarantees that organic (GMO-free, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free) claims made by manufacturers are actually true.
Organic alone doesn”t make a treat healthy - Consider how the treat is manufactured
But consider this: even treats that have been manufactured using all certified organic ingredients can be rendered less than nutritious through a variety of processing methods. For example, no matter how cute a treat looks (i.e., little mouse-shaped biscuits for cats), over-processing at high temperatures, such as employed during baking or most extrusion processes, can render the best organic ingredients lifeless and diminish the nutritional value of the treat for your pet. The treat might look appetizing, but looks can be deceiving. Why would manufacturers do this? Again, to increase sales – somehow cute shapes seem to have a big impact on consumers’ buying habits. And processing using high-heat methods such as baking or extrusion allow for large-scale production, which can save a lot of money. This is also true for artificially colored pet foods and pet treats. Whether or not artificial coloring is implicated in health problems is almost beside the point; what is clear is that consumers often choose unusually colored products over untreated, naturally colored pet food products. But if animals such as cats or dogs were to choose, they’d go for virtually any shape or color as long as the treat tastes good and is healthy. Indeed, studies have shown that pets tend to choose foods made with organic ingredients over those made with conventional varieties.
In a nutshell
The best natural treats are those made from high quality, certified organic ingredients that are whole food-based, minimally processed, and finally, treated without heat. For a cat, the best choice for a processed natural snack might be a certified organic frozen treat, particularly if the treat can’t be prepared fresh at home. The same applies for other animals (e.g., treats for dogs, birds, and rodents); but since these animals tend to drink more water after eating dry foods, they may also do well with high quality dehydrated treats. Unlike high-temperature baking or drying, low temperature dehydration leaves most vitamins and nutrients such as fiber, proteins, and enzymes, intact. The preservation of the molecular structures of many nutrients usually means that these nutrients pose little or no risk of allergic response in your animal.
Here’s the bottom line:
If your pet isn’t the kind who catches his or her own treats, or if you can’t provide or prepare fresh natural treats for him or her, always choose natural, certified organic, whole food-based treats which are fresh, frozen, or dehydrated (i.e., processed only in low heat). These treats will truly satisfy and reward your pet, help contribute to his or her physical and psychological well-being, and, down the line, should help stave off the kinds of disorders that have become far too common among our animal friends.
