Petsmart Us treats

This is only thirdhand, via a Yahoo posting, but someone has reported problems with Smokehouse treats, bought from PetSmart, and small dogs. The person's vet has done research and found lots of problems, thought to be caused with the treats, claimed to be all natural, but the problem is that the product is made in China, so normal restrictions on contents don't apply. The advice is to read all the very small print on packets and reject anything from China.

Yes, I had several bags of Smokehouse products. Scout and Breeze loved the Chicken Chips. The bag read 'all natural', but I didn't realize they were made in China, my Mom told me and I through them all out. They are expensive too. I really had no idea they were made in China. Wow you have to be so careful

A vet, on another forum, warned, some time ago, that many of the colourings used in the far east are toxic and that some of the chemicals used to process items such as pigs' ears are dangerous, too. There's also a danger of their carrying bacteria.

Oh my gosh! We feed Daisy those all the time (literally every day)! She eats the breast tenders and the chicken chips. I was so happy with them because there is only one ingredient: CHICKEN. So I didn't worry about anything. Could there be dyes, preservatives, etc. when nothing else is listed as an ingredient besides chicken?

I couldn't find mention of problems with them online yet, but I'll keep looking. And yes, they are very expensive. I also just bought her the sweet potato duck treats in this brand. I will be very upset if these are problematic. We give her a breast tender every day when we put her in her crate.

I wish the U.S. would put an embargo on all Chinese imports until it is proven that they have some sort of quality control and conscientious effort to not export harmful products! I am to the point of looking at where everything is made and accepting nothing from China. They want to industrialize and enter the global economy, but they have no clue or priority for protecting people or animals from harm. If it isn't tainted drugs, it's lead paint on children's toys, or purposefully contaminated dog food ingredients. When will these people get a clue that in the U.S. and other countries in the world, we actually care about our people? I heard on the news the other night that they were planning to produce two different batches of kids' toys -- one for the U.S. with less lead, and one for their domestic market with full levels of lead. ?!!

I've done a Google and it appears that this is the original posting (part way down the page): http://www.topix.com/forum/source/newsday/TPSS8QRGJM6D4MVVA/p31

I have to tell you, this is scaring me to death! Daisy has eaten the Smokehouse chicken jerky treats since we got her a year ago! In fact, I gave her a chicken breast tender as I left for work this morning.

She had a several week period this past summer where she was really sick and wouldn't eat anything. We did all kinds of x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. to see if she had a blockage, but found no reason for her lethargy and lack of appetite. She also had bloodwork done and it all came back fine, thank goodness! She seems normal now, but it scares me that I have fed her so many of these chicken jerky treats over the whole period we've had her.

I heard about the recall of the Wal-mart brand a while back and I actually (uncharacteristically) had bought one of those packages several months ago but had never given it to her. I threw it away immediately. She has always only had the Smokehouse brand in terms of the chicken jerky type treats. I will not be giving these to her anymore, at least until we know more.

Now that I think about it, though, one other type of treat that she loves is a little dog biscuit shaped like a bone wrapped around the middle with really thin strips of chicken jerky. One jar of those I bought several months ago had mold on them and I threw them away. I just bought a new jar of them about a week ago and I've been giving them to her. (She absolutely loves them.)

I think poor Daisy will not be getting many dog treats from now on! We'll have to stick with the freeze-dried liver cubes. Hopefully those will be all right! I sometimes make treats out of chicken or turkey hotdogs by cutting them into thin strips and microwaving them until they turn into a jerky-type consistency. I read about this online. It worked really well during obedience class. I didn't want to give her too much of the freeze-dried liver because I'd read that too much could be bad for her.

I try so hard to keep her healthy. I buy her only super-premium dog food, super-premium treats with no grains, etc., and I still feel like I might have harmed her! My parents' dogs when I was growing up had cheap, supermarket treats like Jerky Treats, Snausages, etc, plus we fed them popcorn all the time. They lived till 16 and 17 years old! I may have done more harm than good with my hypervigilance and attention to detail!

First off I'd always be cautious in believing anything posted to the internet. A lot of the hoax emails circulating on the net about various products (the Swiffer for example) start out of someone wanting to get at a company for whatever reason. I'd stop feeding any treats you might be potentially worried about but I'm always skeptical of any claims til I see more evidence.

On treats: why not shift to actual meat as a treat and fresh fruit or veg? My dogs love slices of green bell pepper for example or berries or an apple slice or a bit of cooked hotdog or cooked chicken, or a cube of cheese... there are so many fresh alternatives. There's no reason to spend a lot of money on manufactured treats and you'll always know where they come from. In the Caring for your Cavalier section I've posted a few homemade dog biscuit recipes too.

Try eating fruit in my house without sharing a little bit, they love it, esp apples. Don't feed grapes remember.

My lot never liked raw vegetables, until Teddy teh Hoover came along. Now all three like a few chunks of carrot and adore melon. A few weeks ago, Teddy did his throwing things off under worktop shelving, in the kitchen, so he could climb up and steal some. Unfortunately for him, he's not very discrete about this and the noise drew my attention to him.

with all of the (documented) recent recalls in China, I don't feel comfortable feeding anything that says "made in China" on it. Even if it's a few dollars more, I will pay for a piece of mind, if nothing else.

Karlin wrote:

"There's no reason to spend a lot of money on manufactured treats and you'll always know where they come from. In the Caring for your Cavalier section I've posted a few homemade dog biscuit recipes too. "


I only make homemade cookies for Elliot and Milly (Thus I know what goes into them !!), and give raw veggies aswell. My 2 LOVE cheesey cookies (you can sub in peanut butter, bacon, turkey and cranberry) and they are so easy to make up in batches, delicious smell when they are baking in the oven too! On long walks, I have often munched one of their cookies when I hungry, and they are yummy!!!!

We do feed her apples and carrots. She doesn't love either one, but she will usually eat them if offered (not always). She does like most cooked vegetables (but not broccoli). She doesn't like cheese much and has even thrown it up once. Of course, she will eat any kind of meat we offer, but I'm never sure how much is OK to give her. She has gotten diarrhea from boiled chicken before. Small quantities seem to be OK. I should just cook some lean meat for her in advance and cut it up and keep it in the freezer, or buy some deli turkey breast. I'll definitely check out the dog biscuit recipes, too.

I guess it's just the convenience of the dried treats that I like, plus the fact that she loves them so much. I always felt good about them being all meat. So much for that. I haven't thrown them away, but I'm holding off on them for a while. I know that people always look for an obvious explanation when anything goes wrong with their beloved animals, so some of the posts blaming the dog treats are probably not valid.

I have to confess, though, that I had never looked on the package and noticed that the Smokehouse treats were made in China. I will look for an alternative source. I received a Drs. Foster & Smith catalog this week and they had similar treats in there, but they don't mention the source. I may email them and ask them where they get their meat.