Of course, you want to treat your dog occasionally with something extra delicious! Or you are training him and want to motivate him further. Although a few pieces of his daily food are most responsible, they are usually not enough to make him put his best paw forward. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy and tasty dog snacks and cookies! Pharmacy4pets is here to help you choose.
The Snack Guideline for Dogs
To prevent obesity and not to disturb the balanced composition of the diet, it is recommended not to let more than ten percent of the daily calorie intake come from dog cookies or snacks.
Healthy Snacks for Dogs
There are so many snacks on the market that it's hard to see the forest for the trees. What's important to realize is that almost all snacks contain a lot of fat and protein, which dogs find the tastiest. And fat and protein provide calories. With a cookie after every walk and a chew stick in the evening, you quickly reach (or exceed...) the recommended ten percent.
Choosing a 'functional' snack is best. So, a snack that, in addition to a delicious taste, also does something else. The longer your dog is engaged with a snack, the more 'satisfaction' he gets from it. You can prolong this mental stimulation by 'hiding' the snack, for example in a Kong or a lick mat. Chew snacks designed for dental cleaning, such as Bogadent Dental Clean Bones, also keep your dog busy longer. Veggiedent is a low-calorie chew strip with purely plant-based ingredients for dogs allergic to animal proteins. The 'Zen' variant with green tea extract also helps your dog relax!
Vegetables contain a lot of fiber and hardly any calories, so they can also be a very responsible and light snack. Many dogs actually find cucumber, zucchini, or pumpkin quite tasty! Be careful, though, as fruits or potatoes do contain a lot of sugars and therefore calories.
Dog Snacks and Diet Food
For certain conditions for which your dog is on diet food, giving snacks is not wise. For example, if your dog is on a special diet for bladder stones, he really shouldn't have anything else to avoid changing the composition of the urine. Also, with food intolerance, a small trace of a protein your dog is allergic to can be enough to cause diarrhea or itching. Fortunately, Sanimed has delicious hypoallergenic dog cookies: Skin/Sensitive functional treats. If your dog is prone to (or has) overweight, it's really better not to give him any snacks. Sometimes putting his own food in a special tin helps, making it feel special for you and your dog when he gets something from this tin. Many dogs also like cucumber or zucchini, and they really contain very few calories!
The Holidays
The holidays are 'dangerous' days for dogs. The chocolate letters in the children's shoes, wreaths in the Christmas tree, the house filled with the delicious smells of the Christmas meal... Sometimes it's hard to restrain... Around the holidays, vets see a lot of dogs that have eaten something they shouldn't have, like chocolate, which is really very dangerous for dogs. To let your dog enjoy the holidays too, Trixie has developed special dog chocolate (without real chocolate!).
Snacking is tasty, can help your dog relax and supports training, but must be done in moderation. If you have a question about our products or about snacks in general, please contact us.