Tips for your Holiday Treats
During the holidays, we all tend to eat a bit too much, and treats are everywhere you look. Excel K9 Kafè wanted to offer some advice about the best treats to give your canine and feline companions so that they can enjoy the festivities while avoiding a trip to the Vet’s office.
For those who feed table scraps, avoid feeding large hunks of fat or pieces of turkey skin. Turkey skin can be a trigger for pancreatitis. Also avoid heavily-spiced food and onions, grapes, raisins, and vegetables from the Nightshade family (like eggplant and peppers).
Many folks come into our store telling us they only give their dogs raw carrots or canned string beans as treats. Keep in mind that carrots (and fruits) have a high sugar content, and canned vegetables have quite a bit of sodium. It’s best to keep a wide variety in the diet (assuming you aren’t battling a food allergy). So try a few baby carrots one day, a couple of slices of zucchini or cucumber the next, then maybe a small piece of roasted skinless chicken meat or a store-bought grain-free treat.
Because of the growing number of overweight dogs and rampant diabetes cases cropping up, it is recommended that you maintain your dog at a healthy weight,. To that end, many companies are producing smaller-sized treats. These will help keep calories to a minimum while still rewarding your dog. The small size of the treat will not diminish your dog’s excitement at getting them. At our store, we give out a LOT of treats to our visiting clients, and a tiny piece of dehydrated meat is quite the crowd pleaser. No dog ever refuses a treat because it is too small!
For you kitty lovers: meat, meat, and more meat. Cats are carnivores and most would give you the look if you tried to feed them a carrot. There are excellent all-meat treats on the market, but if you’d prefer to cook your own, just dice up some dark meat chicken and give small rewards as you like.
Because really, who wants to go through life without dessert?
Renee Cintas is the owner of Excel K9 Kafè in Jackson
For those who feed table scraps, avoid feeding large hunks of fat or pieces of turkey skin. Turkey skin can be a trigger for pancreatitis. Also avoid heavily-spiced food and onions, grapes, raisins, and vegetables from the Nightshade family (like eggplant and peppers).
Many folks come into our store telling us they only give their dogs raw carrots or canned string beans as treats. Keep in mind that carrots (and fruits) have a high sugar content, and canned vegetables have quite a bit of sodium. It’s best to keep a wide variety in the diet (assuming you aren’t battling a food allergy). So try a few baby carrots one day, a couple of slices of zucchini or cucumber the next, then maybe a small piece of roasted skinless chicken meat or a store-bought grain-free treat.
Because of the growing number of overweight dogs and rampant diabetes cases cropping up, it is recommended that you maintain your dog at a healthy weight,. To that end, many companies are producing smaller-sized treats. These will help keep calories to a minimum while still rewarding your dog. The small size of the treat will not diminish your dog’s excitement at getting them. At our store, we give out a LOT of treats to our visiting clients, and a tiny piece of dehydrated meat is quite the crowd pleaser. No dog ever refuses a treat because it is too small!
For you kitty lovers: meat, meat, and more meat. Cats are carnivores and most would give you the look if you tried to feed them a carrot. There are excellent all-meat treats on the market, but if you’d prefer to cook your own, just dice up some dark meat chicken and give small rewards as you like.
Because really, who wants to go through life without dessert?
Renee Cintas is the owner of Excel K9 Kafè in Jackson