Treating your pets is an important part of training, and is fun for both pet parent and pet because it’s a nice way to show your love. However, a lot of treats out there are the equivalent of potato chips and chocolate for us. They taste great, but they really serve no purpose besides empty calories. And to top it off, those treats are expensive! Whether or not you can step away from your yummy snacks, you should probably learn to say no to your pets once in a while OR make your own treats for pennies.
A quick easy trick that I like (especially considering I have four kittens and they hoover through any treats or any treat bags they can get their paws on) is to take wet food cans—especially the big value size cans—portion out small bites and freeze them. My kittens like the cold and the flavor, and I like that I can keep them safely in the freezer without worrying that they’ll go bad or get eaten. Another option is chopped up bits of cheese sticks.
For dogs, you can do the same thing with wet food, yogurt, peanut butter, chicken broth, cheese stick or a myriad of other things if you’re not in the mood to mix and bake. Having not had a dog to myself yet, I haven’t been able to experiment, but I’ve heard from others that anything cold and tasty is a winner. Other easy, ready-made treats include chopped up bits of hot dogs (be careful not to overfeed because this can cause vomiting) or cheerios (the plain variety).
Things to Avoid When Making Treats:
- Chocolate
- Grapes & Raisins
- Raw Eggs & Meat
- Raw & Cooked Bones
- Large amounts of Garlic & Onion (even powdered)
- Milk
- Raw Yeast Dough
- Alcohol
- Macadamia Nuts
- Avocado
- Caffeine
- Large amounts of Sugar
- Artificial Sweeteners
- White Flower
Below are some websites to reference with all kinds of tasty recipes for dog & cat treats, but really anything small and tasty will do:
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