My friend Kelley writes a fabulous food blog and every now and then she writes a blog for the dogs. She bought a food dehydrator and she uses it to make snacks for her dog Lillie. Since my dogs always liked carrots for a treat, I rarely gave them treats marketed for dogs and I didn’t think I needed a dehydrator to make them jerky. Whenever I bought treats for them, I always made sure they were “Made in the USA.” I need to thank my friend Wendy who posted a link to the Doggington Post study of the State of Dog Food Today where I learned that just because something says it is Made in the USA does not mean that the ingredients are not sourced from other countries. That is an important lesson, even though the final product is made here, the ingredients could very well come from China.

Dudley enjoying a butcher bone!

The State of Dog Food Today study had a link to Natura’s See Beyond the Bag where you can see where every ingredient in Natura’s products comes from. Natura manufactures Evo, California Natural, HealthWise and Mother Nature and is owned by Procter & Gamble. I feed Dudley California Natural’s Herring and Sweet Potato dry food. I’m not going to kid you, the stuff isn’t cheap. But neither was treating the constant skin irritations and “hot spots” that always bothered Dudley when he ate Pedigree. The vet said it was probably one of the “fillers” in his food that triggers the allergy. My handsome sweet boy has allergies that affect his skin and since I’ve switched to California Natural, which has limited ingredients, he hasn’t had any serious skin issues. I tried other limited ingredient food, but California Natural was one of the more reasonably priced options that didn’t aggravate Dudley’s allergies.

We love our animals and should strive to feed them the very best we can afford. It pays to research where the ingredients in your pet’s food and treats come from because there are many companies that will put profit before the safety of our pets. Instead of spending money on treats of dubious quality, why not invest in a dehydrator and make your own treats for your pets. I am going to order one online, Dudley will enjoy jerky treats from meat and maybe some dried sweet potatoes and I will enjoy dried fruit. I’ll let you know how it works!

You think dogs will not be in heaven?  I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson