1. Where are your dog treats made?
Our dehydrated beef treats such as bully sticks, tripe, gullets, etc, are sourced from India and Brazil, both countries which are deemed by the European Commission and Scientific Steering Committee to be unlikely a risk for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, aka Mad Cow Disease. None of our treats come from China.
2. Are your treats USDA and FDA approved?
Yes. All of our beef treats have passed both USDA and FDA inspection and are made from cattle which have been issued a certificate of health from the department of agriculture of each respective country.
3. Are you treats made from natural ingredients?
Yes, our beef treats are made from completely natural, 100% beef ingredients. There are no preservatives or chemicals added.
4. What kind of cattle do your treats come from?
Our beef treats come from naturally raised cattle with no hormones or antibiotics and fed a vegetarian-only diet.
5. What makes your natural treats better than rawhide and pig ears?
Rawhide is not digestible, and pig ears are high in fat. Our beef treats are low in fat, high in protein, and are generally completely digestible.
6. How often should I give my dog a treat?
That is a personal preference. Some people treat their dogs multiple times a day, others a few times a week. It's up to you and your dog.
7. Can your treats be fed as a meal?
Although our beef treats contain only beef, they are not intended to substitute or even supplement your dog's regular diet.
8. Which treats would you recommend?
Unless your dog suffers from food allergies, our personal belief is that feeding a variety of foods is one of the keys to health, just as it is with a human diet. We like to give a little of each of our treats to our dogs and do so sparingly, though we do give a piece of dried green tripe to each dog daily.
9. Can your treats cause stomach upset in my dog?
Theoretically, any food can cause stomach upset in a dog, depending on your dog's individual tolerance for that particular food or the general health of your dog's digestive system at the time he ingests that food. However, our treats are baked at 3 different temperatures and then irradiated in order to kill any harmful bacteria. If your dog experiences gastrointestinal abnormalities after consuming one of our treats, it is possible he swallowed too large a piece (as can often happen with bully sticks when they get to the end) or wolfed it down too quickly. If this is a continuous problem, your dog may not have a tolerance for that specific treat and you should stop feeding it.
10. How can I prevent my dog from gulping down the last couple of inches of the bully stick end?
One creative customer suggested connecting one end of the bully stick to vise-grip locking pliers. You can also consider buying longer bully sticks to feed in multiple sessions, then discarding the last inch or so of the stick before your dog has a chance to gulp it down. For example, if you normally buy 5" sticks and your dog swallows the last inch, an alternative would be to purchase 12" sticks instead. Give the longer stick to your dog to chew on, and put away it after he has finished 5" of it. Then next time you want to give him a treat, give him the remaining 7" to chew on. You can discard the last inch. This cuts down on waste if you choose to discard the ends.
11. Why don't you sell individual bully sticks like the pet stores?
This would greatly increase the price of the treats, one reason being that shipping on an individual piece would likely double the overall cost.
12. Why are some of the bully sticks I received thinner than others?
Our beef treats are natural and as such, naturally come in a variety of sizes. It would be impossible to make each bully stick the identical thickness. We hand sort them into 3 general sizes: standard, thick, and pencil thin. However, thicknesses will still vary within each category. To ensure you are getting what you pay for, we guarantee a minimum net weight on all our treats. That means some of the bully sticks you receive will be thinner while others will be thicker, but regardless, you are still getting the same overall amount of treat.
13. How do the sizes of your bully sticks compare to those offered by other stores?
Perception of size is very subjective. What one person may consider "thick", another may consider "thin". It is not possible for us to have knowledge of the sizes of sticks offered by every other store out there. Our weight guarantee is the best method we have to standardize sizing.
14. Why is "natural" so important to you?
Because of the direction the pet food industry has taken in the past several decades, feeding our pets highly processed foods, conveniently packaged in a bag or can has become the norm. While the importance of variety and freshness is touted in our own human diets, we often fail to use the same common sense with our pets' diets. About 10 years ago, I really started to think about what I was feeding my dogs at the time and made the switch to natural feeding. Having seen first-hand the difference it made in my dogs' health, I've never been tempted to go back.
There is no such thing as the perfect food or the perfect diet, whether it pertain to humans or pets. But there are certainly some that are better than others. If you are feeding kibble or canned, you may want to skim over this list of how to select the best commercial foods. If you scroll down on that page, you'll also see the top recommended commercial brands by Whole Dog Journal. You might be surprised--many of the brands that are advertised as "premium" or even recommended by our vets actually rank among the lowest in quality.
15. What other healthy treats can I give my dog?
You don't need those unhealthy milkbones or expensive treats. There are any number of easy-to-make treats you can give your dogs.
Whole fruits & vegetables - Fruits & veggies have an outer cellular wall that a dog's digestive system is not capable of breaking down. To be digestable, fruits & veggies have to ground, blended, or steamed in order to break that outer wall. So your dog won't get very much health benefit from whole fruits & veggies, but they are still far from unhealthy and will also help to fill your dog up. Fresh whole carrots, broccoli, apples, zucchini, and cucumber are just a few examples. Our dogs enjoy the occassional whole frozen banana as well!
Frozen filled kongs - Peanut butter isn't the only thing you fill your kong with. Try low-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, canned pure pumpkin, veggie mush, or a mixture of all of it. Just be sure to first plug up the bottom hole with a piece of bread to prevent leaking. Fill and freeze, and you have a healthy treat that will take your dog a while to go through.
Oven-dehydrated treats - You can make your own low-fat, dehydrated treats at home. Boil some chicken liver, small boneless cuts of chicken or any other type of meat until cooked, then dry on very low heat in the oven. Beware: dehydrating liver is not a pleasant odor and will fill your home, so you may want to do it in a small toaster oven or dehydrator in your garage. You can also slice up some fruits and veggies like apples, bananas, zucchinis, sweet potatoes, and peaches to dehydrate.
