IMPORTANT Lots of Dog Treats Recalled!

[SearchingForRainbows]

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-f...erous-brands-of-dog-treats-due-to-salmonella/

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks Jo for letting us know.

 

[TeDo]

Thank you for sharing. Good thing I don't buy those particular brands.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Very thoughtful of you...thanks.

 

[witzend]

Thanks, Jo. Our brand isn't on there, thank goodness. I can remember as kids there was always someone who "ate the kibble" to freak the other kids out. I think our dog's stomachs are much more able to handle bacteria than ours are. I mean, I know what Oscar eats, and to be honest it's often something Mandy ate yesterday, if you know what I mean.

I did see a news report a while back that said that dog for just really isn't safe, especially around children. It can have salmonella or other bacterias in it and kids play on the floor and touch the dog food crumbs, etc. The food shouldn't be left out, and of course we should always wash our hands after touching it.

 

[donna723]

You have to be REALLY careful about buying dog treats. I just don't buy them anymore because there have been soooo many recalls. The manufacture and marketing of dog food and treats is not regulated and monitored nearly as closely as it should be. Contamination of ingedients can occur very easily and foreign matter may find its way in there too. And usually more than one brand is affected because a manufacturer will sometimes make several brands in their facility, just different labels, and cross contamination happens all the time. Some of these treats are imported from other countries where their health regulations are not as strict as ours. But even buying treats labeled "Made in the USA" is no guarantee. Pet food manufacturers are allowed to label their products as "Made in the USA" even though many of the ingredients are imported from foreign countries and are more likely to be contaminated. And something else I've noticed ... they are often v-e-r-y slow to recall these products when a problem occurs. There have been many instances where rumors of certain products causing illness and even death in pets were going around for months or even years before the product was actually recalled and removed from store shelves. You just can't be too careful ...

 

[DammitJanet]

My treats arent on there either. Whew. I have tried making the sweet potato tater chips for the dogs and boy do they love them! If you want to try those, all I did was cut the sweet potatoes really thin and bake them on cookie pans at 200 degrees until they looked like chips. Then I took them out and let them cool and they were the consistency of a chip and the dogs gobbled them up just like chips...lol. I tater made about a sandwich baggy.

I think I am going to make some homemade ones with the oatmeal and peanut butter. I have to find a recipe for a birthday cake because Abby's birthday is coming up in March...lol. I know Tony is going to think I am nuts. I will just make her one big enough for her and Buddy.

 

[Hound dog]

I wouldn't mind making homemade treats for Maggie..........but then there is the issue of using them before they grow moldy. I did think of a solution........use a canning jar for storage and vacuum seal the lid. But then I'd have to buy a vacuum sealer with the attachment for jars because I'd have to do it each time I opened it to give her a treat. Otherwise I'd just borrow easy child's vacuum sealer deal. So my making her homemade treats in any volume is going to have to wait until I can save up for one of those gadgets.

My main issue with Maggie is she will tend to snitch and eat things in the yard. Now what those "things" are necessarily I don't know........but it's been giving her tummy troubles of late. ugh

 

[donna723]

That's the problem I ran in to also when I tried to make homemade treats. I don't know if I didn't bake them long enough or if they were too thick, or what caused it. I have a glass cookie jar that I always kept dog treats in and the homemade ones molded very quickly. Whatever I did wrong, apparently they never fully dried out when they were baked and were moldy a few days later. These were the ones with peanut butter in them. The dogs loved them but I ended up pitching most of them in the trash.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Anything with oil in it (peanut butter is high in oil) will not dry out.
Even purely veggie treats have to be TOTALLY dried to be shelf-stable.

Our dog trainer made her own veggie treats, really knew how to dry them out, and... still stored them in the freezer, except for the "current day's supply" (i.e. sometimes some left over tomorrow, but not much beyond that)

If you can get them as dry as Janet says she did with her sweet potato chips.. those might be shelf-stable for longer, but they will still have "some" moisture. You'd be surprised at all the "stuff" the commercial brands contain, just to make them shelf-stable.

 

[Hound dog]

I wonder if donna could find a recipe without peanut butter that would dry out better.

I didn't think about using the food dehydrator on them, bet that would work........maybe enough to get Maggie through a batch before it molds anyway. Maybe roll them out thinner too before cutting them out of the dough. hmmm

 

[BusynMember]

OMG! Thank you very much. We usually special order the treats, but not always. This was so kind of you...but you know how much people love their furbabies because you love yours so much, those here and waiting for you on the rainbow bridge.

You should make your avator a pix of one of your pets

 

[donna723]

Here's some sites I found that have lots of recipes for homemade dog treats. I haven't tried any of these but they sound good!

http://www.dogtreatrecipes.org/

http://www.all-natural-dog-treat.com/homemade-dog-treat-recipes.html

 

[donna723]

If you have a dehydrator, you can also make homemade meat jerky treats for your dogs. I know a girl (online) who makes her own homemade dog treats, including jerky treats from chicken and beef, and sells them online through her website. She also makes and sells custom order "pupcakes" that she will decorate for your dogs birthday! I know she uses a lot of yogurt (instead of icing) and carob (instead of chocolate).

 

[InsaneCdn]

I didn't think about using the food dehydrator on them, bet that would work........maybe enough to get Maggie through a batch before it molds anyway. Maybe roll them out thinner too before cutting them out of the dough. hmmm

Thinner does help.
Dehydrator should work.
And... if you get "close" to really dry, you can stick your "current batch" in the fridge instead of freezer.

 

[Marcie Mac]

I have always been leery of dog treats after so many dogs have died from products made over seas. Mine are fed with Milkbones - we buy a hugh carton of them at Sams Club and break them in half. They love them. Jamie has gone to Petco and bought them different kinds, but they won't eat them. All three have a tendancy to stand there and bark at you till you give them a Milkbone.

I have a receipe book and cookie cutters for dog bones, but find myself pressed for time to even get the human food cooked and on the table for us so despite my good intentions, dog treats will never get made

Marcie

 

[donna723]

I've gotten so paranoid about what I feed my dogs! Honestly, there is only ONE brand of treats that I will get for mine now and they absolutely LOVE them! The Old Mother Hubbard brand of treats aren't sold in grocery stores or Walmart but Tractor Supply stores stock them and you can buy them on Amazon. They have all of the good wholesome stuff in them and none of the bad yucky stuff you don't want to be feeding your dogs. Even my Ragan, with all her allergies, can have these. They're little biscuits, different sizes and flavors ... mine like the peanut butter flavor best. I always get the smallest size and give them to them as treats. They're a bit pricey but worth it. There's only one other kind that I trust enough to give them and they're only sold in a big pet store 50 miles from my house so they don'tget them very often. They're cute little grain-free homemade treats, different colors, shapes and flavors like bacon or cheese. They have them in big glass jars like the old fashioned penny candy. You just get a little paper bag, load up as many of each kind as you want, then they weigh them at the checkout and charge you by the pound. Very reasonably priced and very good.

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/product-selector.aspx

 

[DammitJanet]

The sweet potato chips only baked for about an hour and were very crispy. Tony cut them himself but if you have one of those gadgets that cuts potatoes or even a food processor to slice them up evenly it would be good. They were about the size for potatoes au gratin. I was going to save some in a baggie but Tony left the baggie on the back of the sofa and the dogs found it and tore it open and helped themselves....lol.

I did find a recipe for a treat that is oatmeal, pumpkin and water mixed together and you roll it into little balls and bake. Oh you squash the balls down with a fork to look like oatmeal cookies.

You can also make those PAWS ice cream cups using yogurt. I might try that because my dogs hated those Paws things...lol. I might try making peanut butter paws. Or cheese paws. They hated the commercial ones...or Abby did, Buddy will eat anything. They say they can eat carob too. I may get some of that at the health food store because my dogs seem to love chocolate and its bad for them. I bet they would love a chocolate ice cream.

 

[TerryJ2]

Thank you! I haven't purchased those, although I have been tempted to buy Nature's Deli.
So far, so good.

 

[buddy]

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-f...erous-brands-of-dog-treats-due-to-salmonella/

and they added...Kasel dog treats recall EXPANDS

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/kasel-dog-treats-recall-expands/