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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The first thing I do whenever I get any pet treats is checkout the back of the bag. There are a few warning signs that stand out immediately for me about this product:
1 Ingredients are all grain or additives. Zero meat, only flavoring comes from byproducts or "flavorings"
2 Zero "Country of Origin" information. Lots of stamps about quality control and about how the company is called "of Vermont" but zero information on where this is made (note: "Distributed By" is not the same as where its made).
3 Very prominent "for animal use only" warning (ie: not for human consumption).
Taking these one-by-one -
Meat does not need to be in this item because it's not really the dog's main meal. However, quite a few dogs do have gluten allergies, just like humans. Generally speaking, quite a few grains are known to be allergenic to dogs. If you can stay away from processed grains, it's not a bad idea to do so. Unfortunately this does essentially rule out any "biscuit" type of treat for dogs.
This is a biggie for me. Many of your major pet food manufacturers have used ingredients from China or have made the entire item there. As we all know, China currently has a pretty bad reputation for... well... poisoning our animals. Most of your pet food manufacturers who use all US-based ingredients in US-based factories are pretty proud of this fact and will prominently label their products as "Made in the USA". I think that treats fall into a separate category from actual dog food, so the manufacturers are probably not required to post this information, but again, if it's made in the USA, why wouldn't you include it? Even when made in the USA, we're not always great about keeping the salmonella away (as the latest recall in Feb 2013 proves). Knowing factory of origin is a real bonus here.
Whenever things are labeled "for animal use only," it usually means that there are non-human grade items in the product. When you're looking at feeding your pet things like probiotics, Omega-3's and so forth, often the human-grade version ends up being cheaper. Since the human grade versions usually have to pass more stringent tests than the pet variety, "spiking" treats with non-human grade ingredients just doesn't make much sense.
So about the product after using this for about a week, I haven't seen anything significant with my pups (Malamute / Shiba). They don't seem to have any digestive issues or improvements, and their stools look the same. This may be because the grade of food I use is higher, and perhaps these were meant more for people who choose bargain pet foods, but I can't say for sure. Also, even after repeated handwashings, the smell of these treats were stuck to my fingers for about an hour.
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