They Might Be Tasty but......
No one expects the things they buy at the pet store or your fav treat supplier to be unsafe. After all, they wouldn’t sell them if they weren’t right?
Unfortunately, this isn’t always true or not all the dangers are explained.
It often takes thousands of complaints before there is a recall for a product or before people pay attention. Until then, harmful items and treats with hidden dangers remain on the shelves for unsuspecting pet owners.
Chicken, Turkey, Duck and Croc Feet are a very popular treat that appeared a little while ago. Your pet loves the taste and smell right....but should they have them???
Most still have their nails is attached. Have you spared a thought for what these animals use there nails for ?
They use there nails to dig, fight and rip prey and climb , so they are very strong and sharp
even more so when dehydrated or cooked.
These nails can cause laceration or even puncture throat and other internal organs of your pet. So if you do feed these as part of your pets diet, please be wary and in my opinion if you want to feed either remove ( this can be done with dog nail clippers ) the nails or buy those that have no nails.
Most of us have at least once received the well-intended advice to never give bones. No matter how often repeated, this advice is only partially correct. It is true that the bones cooked, boiled or fried should not be given to your pet. The high cooking temperatures turn bones into hard, glass like structures, which break into sharp and pointy splinters if dogs chew on them. These splinters can cause serious injuries. Raw or dehydrated/dried bones, are both considered safe. In contrast to cooked bones, their texture is brittle and soft. When chewed, they will crush, but not break into pointy objects like cooked bones. There are tiny bones in these treats which in themselves can cause issues such as chocking. These feet treats mostly consist of skin, connective tissue and cartilage and some treat makers use them for making bone broth pre drying for treats, which we have seen some popular treat makers do and they have even uploaded videos of this on their social media pages. This makes them the same as cooked bones even though dried later.
Our theory has always been, when giving chew treats, they should be ...to big to swallow in one mouthful or small enough to go down without gagging and straining to get down. This we believe will aid in avoiding choke issues. So have this in mind when choosing any treat.
Many of the cute pics we see on social media of pets in particular dogs, eating small croc feet in the medium/large dog or dogs such as brachycephalic breeds (French Bull Dogs, British Bull Dogs, Pugs etc), are in our opinion to small and could be attempted to be swallowed whole. Posing a real choke hazard and in addition with nails intact a high risk to lacerations occurring.
There are a lot of benefits on paper in these feet treats. But did you know Chicken feet contain 4.96 grams of fat 6.6 grams of protein 29 grams cholesterol 23 grams of sodium ! Are pet parents taking this into account when looking at their furbabies diets ?
So please look carefully at your pets treats make sure you are aware of not only does my pet like this treat ? and all the other pets are eating them.... but health benefits and any possible lurking dangers.
If unsure ask your vet, pet nutritionist or any qualified person in the Pet Industry.
