Reviews: Sweet Treats

This will be my first post with the new Blogger, so forgive me if it comes out looking unusual. As I mentioned in my last review, this will be my last treat review for a while so that I can work on pairing down what I already have.

Canyon Creek Ranch Yams

Ebon, wanting desperately for me to give him a yam

Ebon has had yams before, but he only got some leftovers from the little treat bags I gave as gifts this past Christmas. So, I decided to grab a bag just for him. I don't give him sweet treats very often, but a little sweetness is okay every once in a while. Ebon loves yams and gets more excited that he normally does with treats, probably since he doesn't get them as often.

I picked up these particular treats as they were the only yam treat I could find at the store I was at. I'm not as happy with them as I was with the Beefeaters sweet potato treats, mostly because of the inclusion of additional sugar. I don't remember there being added sugar in the other brand. I dislike seeing added sugar or other sweetener an any dog product that I buy, especially refined sugar so far up the list and when added to an already sweet food. Yams and sweet potatoes are pretty sweet, so I don't see the need to add more sweetness. I will occasionally give Ebon something with sugar in it, but I try to keep it to a bare minimum. I also find it odd that the yams are nowhere to be found on the Canyon Creek Ranch website.

I also purchased these treats before the brand was named in connection with the recent chicken jerky-related illnesses that have been linked to products made in China. I do not support the continued inclusion of these potentially harmful products on the shelves, even if the source of the illness has not been determined. For a company that claims to be concerned about pet health, they're being extraordinarily defensive about it and don't seem to feel the need to look into potential hazards themselves. I chose to still feed Ebon these treats since they do not contain any chicken.

Ingredients: Yams, Sugar, Sodium Metabisulfite (To Preserve Color), Citric Acid (A Preservative).

Nutrition Facts:
Crude Protein: minimum of 1.5%
Crude Fat: minimum of 0.2%
Crude Fiber: maximum of 10.0%
Moisture: maximum of 17.0%

Freshpet Wag-gurt

Fresh out of the freezer

Ebon enjoying his wag-gurt

I spotted these little sweet treats during my last trip to Petsmart and decided to pick up the Apple & Peanut Butter flavor. I thought they might be a nice little treat during the heat of summer here in Georgia. So far, I've given Ebon two of the four cups that come in the package over the last month, even though it hasn't been hot yet this year. He already absolutely loves ice and yogurt, having eating ice cubes and plain yogurt numerous times in the past, so special frozen doggie yogurt made him incredibly happy. Especially since it involves peanut butter, another of his favorite things. His tail was wagging the entire time he spent licking the wag-gurt out of its little cup.

As opposed to the yams, this treat appears to be sweetened purely using unrefined sugar, in the form of apple juice. I also expected to find added sweetener in this product, as opposed to the yams, and it's good that it's in an unrefined form. I will probably be buying these again, especially if it gets very hot this year as it did last year. In the past, I used to add ice to Ebon's water and feed him the occasional cube to beat the heat on particularly hot days, but giving more than just frozen water would make a very nice summer treat. I also might make my own canine frozen yogurt, since I already have a recipe in mind. If I do, I'll discuss my recipe and the results in a future post.

Ingredients: Organic Yogurt (Contains Lactobacillus Bulgaricus & Streptococcus Thermophilus Live Cultures), Apple Juice, Inulin, Peanut Butter, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Cellulose Gum, Salt.

Nutrition Facts:
Crude Protein: minimum of 2.0%
Crude Fat: minimum of 2.0%
Crude Fiber: maximum of 2.0%
Moisture: maximum of 85.0%