According to the latest statistics, there are about 90,000,000 pet dogs in the USA! Dog food is a huge business, but beware of the ingredients in your pet's dog biscuits because many are filled with chemicals and ingredients designed to keep those biscuits edible for a LONG time. Here are the label ingredients from 3 popular brands:
Ingredients: Beef, Meat By-Products, Soy Grits, Sugar, Liver, Salt, Propylene Glycol, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color, Natural Smoke Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (Used As A Preservative), Sodium Nitrite (For Color Retention), Red 40, BHA (Used As A Preservative), Onion Extract.
Ingredients: Chicken, Corn Syrup, Soy Flour, Wheat Flour, Corn Starch, Water, Propylene Glycol, Animal Fat (BHA Used As A Preservative), Animal Digest, Calcium Sulfate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Sugar, Beef, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Phosphoric Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Sorbic Acid (Used As A Preservative), Red 40 Lake, Garlic Powder, Natural Smoke Flavor, Iron Oxide, BHA (Used As A Preservative), Citric Acid (Used As A Preservative).
Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Wheat Gluten, Lecithin, Chicken By-Product Meal, Animal Digest (Source of Liver Flavor), Lamb Meal, Oat Fiber, Mono and Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Garlic Powder, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6. I-5051
As a healthy alternative, you can have family fun making your own dog biscuits using your own ingredients. There are many recipes available that are tailored to help address specific health issues (overweight, diabetes, joint pain, anxiety, etc....). Here are a few SIMPLE recipes with known, healthy ingredients which you can easily modify as needed to best suit the needs of your pet.
BASIC DOG BISCUITS:
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup of water (add more as needed to form your dough)
We mixed the ingredients in our EZ DOH mixer for about 3 minutes to achieve a nice ball of dough. We used a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1/4" thickness, and then cut the dough into various shapes (if you don't have any cookie molds, just use a drinking glass or pizza cutter). Keep re-rolling the 'leftover' dough from the cut-outs so there is no waste. We made 40 biscuits from this recipe.
Place your biscuits on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.
Even with no preservatives, these will keep fresh and crisp for at least a week (store them in a cookie jar or paper bag).
SIMPLEST DOG BISCUITS EVER:
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 jars of baby food (4 ounce jars/container). The possibilities are endless.
1/4 cup water (add more as needed depending upon the baby food)
Mix the ingredients in your EZ DOH (or another mixer), adding water as needed to get the right dough consistency. We used the blueberry/banana baby food, but nearly all baby foods have only healthy ingredients clearly listed on their labels. Again, we rolled the dough out to a 1/4" thickness and then cut it onto various shapes using cookie cutters, and repeated the process to use up all the dough.
We baked them for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F. When they turn brown and are crispy, take them out and let them cool down.
NOTES: Few if any baby foods contain onions, grapes, or raisins (which are not good for dogs!!) It's always a good idea to double-check. Consult with your vet or do your own research to determine what ingredients are best for your pet.
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