Healthy dog treats that won’t break the bank
It’s becoming much easier to get tasty, natural and healthy treats for our dogs, free of any preservatives and additives. While this is great news for our dogs, it’s not always great news for our bank balance!
Tasty (and generally smelly!) treats are often the key to recall training and we can find ourselves spending a small fortune on finding out which ones our dog deems worthy enough to come back for (and those that hold no interest). Then, once we’ve finally discovered the magic treat, we go through them like they are going out of fashion.
So is there a more cost effective way of doing it?
Dehydrating
Dehydrated and freeze dried are two very popular buzz words in the pet food industry. These are natural treats which have been preserved in a way that doesn’t include adding any unwanted chemicals to them. These treats also tend to be on the more expensive end for a relatively small amount of treats.
You can pick up your own dehydrator relatively inexpensively. Once you have one, treats become a whole lot cheaper! And the great thing is that you know exactly what your dog is eating. Even better, it’s really easy, just pop them in the dehydrator and leave them to it!
Top treats
- Diced ox heart – dehydrate at 70°C for 10-12 hours
- Sliced beef liver – dehydrate at 70°C for 10-12 hours
- Chicken/turkey jerky – half defrost a chicken breast and cut into slices. Dehydrate at 70°C for 8-12 hours. Place on a baking tray and oven blast for 3 mins at 150°C
- Mussels – dehydrate pre-cooked mussels at 70°C for 10-12 hours
- Sprats – dehydrate at 70°C for 24-36 hour
- Sweet potato chews – thinly slice sweet potatoes and dehydrate at 50-55°C until crispy
- Whole chicken hearts – dehydrate at 70°C for approx 12 hours
- Apple crisps – thinly slice apples and dehydrate at 50-55°C until crispy
- Rabbit ears – dehydrate at 70°C for 14-16 hours
Most of these ingredients can be found in your local supermarket or butcher (although you’ll find it easier to get frozen rabbit ears online from a raw food supplier!)
