Before making our very first dog treat, the girls and I researched and I mean RESEARCHED recipes, ingredients, foods that are good for dogs, foods that aren’t so good for dogs, what dogs like, what constitutes a high value treat, etc. While we are not expert dog nutritionists, we have learned the basics of formulating treats that are healthy and highly desirable by our pups.

As per the Department of Agriculture, all pet food, including pet treats, must have a food label showing a Guarantee Analysis, or the product’s nutrient content. Treat manufacturers obtain this analysis by sending their treats to the a lab for analysis. We currently have eight recipes with a Guaranteed Analysis, and by the looks of it, we should be adding four more before the end of the year. The Guarantee Analysis for our treats can be found on the back of our treat packaging. Our state requires our labels to indicate minimum crude protein, minimum crude fat, maximum fiber, and maximum moisture.

In our journey, we focused on using healthy ingredients. Among our favorite are pumpkin, bananas, applesauce, and sweet potatoes. Depending on the recipe, we bake with either whole wheat, unbleached, coconut, rice, or oat flour. Because there is a peanut allergy in our family, we substitute all natural peanut butter for sunflower butter.

While most our treat recipes include five to six ingredients, we also offer single ingredient, high-value dog treats. Our pups LOVE these treats. These include chicken feet, chicken heart, chicken liver, chicken necks, cinnamon apples, bananas, and sweet potato chews. Single ingredient treats are our favorite!

We hope this brief post gave you a glimpse into some of the ingredients we use to make our dog treats. In our next post, we will share the process of creating our pup’s favorite treats.

The Paws and Moonlight Team