Suggestions for healthy dog treats

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m going through a bit of a scare with one of my pugs right now. She started throwing up last week, and the subsequent vet visit revealed that her esophagus is, at the very least, inflamed, and she may have a condition called megaesophagus, where the esophagus expands and never goes back to normal. Now, we’re really hoping that’s not the case, because it’s a very serious and potentially life-threatening condition, and it’s certainly NOT presenting in the normal way the megaesophagus presents. In fact, after a lot of rest and a bland diet and hand-feeding, the greater portion of her esophagus has gone back to normal. We’re hoping the rest of it will follow shortly.

Anyway, it’s probably a long shot, but there’s a small chance that the doggy treats we’ve been feeding her could have caused some nerve damage and started this whole thing. She gulps them down without chewing them, and regardless of whether or not it caused this, we’ve decided that it can’t be particularly good for her to be doing that. And the things are expensive, doggy treats in general have had a lot of scary press lately, and overall we just don’t want to be feeding either of our dogs mass-produced doggy treats anymore.

Of course, we can’t just NOT give them treats, so we need some healthier alternatives. I’m willing to cook them if I can find some good recipes. What we’re looking for is something healthy, relatively soft, and that the dogs would like.

Alternatively, I’m wondering if I should just rely on plain ol’ lean meat. We’ve been feeding her cooked chicken breast as part of the bland diet, and last night as I diced up chicken breast, both doggies came running. I gave them small pieces and heck, they love it. I don’t find chicken breast particularly expensive or hard to cook - maybe I should just keep that in the fridge for treats?

Anyway, any suggestions are welcome, I just want something that’s both “treaty” and “healthy.” I’d like something they could chew on for a while, but honestly, even the “chewy” treats like I linked above don’t get chewed - they get gulped - so I’m not sure that’s possible or even desirable.

Obligatory picture of pug in question.

2

I buy turkey livers from a nearby turkey farm. They are dirt cheap. I cook them, then dice them. The diced pieces I use as rewards when training. Larger pieces are added to meals.

3

We have a pug and an olde english bulldogge and we’ve been making them homemade Frosty Paws treats for a while now. They’re simple to make, have healthy ingredients, and they will sit there and lick and grunt for 10 minutes instead of just a quick gulp.

How we make 'em:
Throw into a blender:
4 bananas
2 quarts of plain yogurt
1 cup of peanut butter
2 tbsp honey

We pour the mixed mush into small paper cups and then freeze them.

4

Glad your dog is making some improvement.

If you do the math, pound per pound skinless, boneless, chicken breast may be cheaper then canned dog food.
You can buy a big box of chicken legs cheap, boil them up and keep then in the fridge. Although they are higher in fat (therefore more delicious) because of the skin, and it’s messy taking the meat off the bone.

I only get things like beggin strips as rare, pure junk food treats.

My dog goes nuts over dried apricots. He thinks that’s a fantastic treat. I had another that liked baby carrots.
I’ve also seen dogs that love green beans and pea pods, which are good treats, but frankly some dogs are garbage disposals that will eat anything.

5

I like the idea of the frozen treats, but aren’t they a mess? I can’t see that they would go over well on the carpet, and our house isn’t set up where we can easily keep them off the carpet when they eat treats.

I’m thinking the chicken or liver for now, but keep the suggestions coming!

6

I had a dog that loved apples, and another that went crazy over bananas.

I don’t know where the recipe is but I had one for making soft dog treats using baby food.
I’m sure a web search will find some good ones.
They have to be refrigerated, I made mine about the size of a marble. The recipe called for meat flavored baby food but you can use whatever flavor you think your dogs will like.

If I can find it I will post it.

7

Cut up raw carrots
green beans (no sodium if using canned)
apple chunks
cucumber

Mine love veggies. Just don’t feed onions, grapes or raisins.

8

I started giving my little guy Zuke’s mini bake treats. He likes the Turky & Taters flavor best (potatoes are his favorite).

They’re cheap, small, low-cal and crunchy. Zuke’s is all natural and made in the USA. Worth a look, anyway.

9

Carrots! Malamute Jack was almost 140 lbs. when we adopted him. He’d been moved from shelter to shelter before we found him, and the vet from our town shelter had put him on a diet where he wasn’t allowed any regular doggie treats whatsoever, just carrots. He adored them. We continued the diet, and he eventually got down to a svelte 120 lbs :slight_smile:

He also loved apples (especially the cores), raw broccoli, green beans, and canned pumpkin mixed with his kibble. Pumpkin is a great way to bulk up without the calories, btw.