Best Dog Treats To Buy For Raw Fed Dogs!

If you’re looking for the best raw dog treats to buy, we have just what you need. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite raw dog treats on the market today. They are all made with natural ingredients and will keep your four-legged friend happy and healthy!

A dog’s diet should be as nutritious as her human can make it, which is why we want to provide a list of the healthiest store-bought raw dog treats you can buy.

if you’re feeling more adventurous (or just curious), we also give you some recipes for making your own!

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WHAT ARE RAW DOG TREATS?

Raw dog treats are different from their cooked, processed counterparts. Since they’re not cooked, they contain more of the natural nutrients that your pup needs, and they’re not padded out with any of the rubbish you find in lots of commercial dog treats.

If your dog is raw fed, like mine, you’ll know that finding suitable dog treats isn’t that straight-forward. All the usual suspects – Bonios, gravy bones and rawhide – are big no-nos for our dogs!

Having made the decision to feed our dogs a BARF diet (biologically appropriate raw food), we want their treats to be healthy too, so that usually means grain-free, high-protein treats that are free of additives and preservatives.

Raw dog treats can be raw (like chopped up pieces of fresh meat, fruit or veg, for example), freeze-dried or dehydrated.

What you give your dog as a treat depends a lot on what the treat is for. If you’re looking for a fresh, raw treat, you can simply use some of your dog’s dinner and perhaps put it in a kong or on a lickimat (get some great lickimat recipe ideas here).

However, if you’d like to give them something different, a special treat, or something to chew on for a while, I recommend these treats (all tried and tested by my dogs!)

Safety note: It goes without saying that we shouldn’t leave a dog unattended while they are chewing any food, treat or otherwise. I like to think of my dog as a 2 year old child that I wouldn’t leave a packet of gob stoppers with, lest she tries to swallow them all at once and ends up choking.

NATURAL ROOT CHEW

These tree roots are not simply a chunk of wood as you’d get if you chopped a bit off a branch. They come from the root tubers, so they are softer than branch wood.

STAG ANTLERS

Antlers are not sold whole – you can buy pieces of stag antlers in various sizes, depending on your dog’s size and chewing capacity! They are usually sold by weight. For a large, powerful dog, get a dense, chunky piece of antler that will stand up better to hard chewing. Thin antler pieces are more suited to smaller dogs who don’t have such powerful jaws for chewing.

Stags (male deers) shed their antlers every year, usually in late autumn. (Interesting fact: female deer don’t have antlers, except reindeers – it’s the only deer species in which both males and females grow antlers).

My dog goes nuts for antlers. When it first arrives, she won’t put it down. Over time she chews it less, but she still roots around in her toy box to get it out every day. She’s a large dog (a dobermann) so I toss out the antler when it gets too small, as it would become a choking hazard.

Antlers are nutritious, being rich in protein, calcium and phosphorus.

They make fantastic treats for some raw fed dogs. However, because they are such tough and durable treats, they’re not suitable for all dogs. If your dog has dental problems, or is a young puppy that still has baby teeth, choose a softer treat.

BUFFALO HORNS

Buffalo horns are pretty similar to antlers though they tend to be a little cheaper than antlers.

I’ve heard some pet parents say that their dogs adore buffalo horns, but my dogs never took to them massively. My girl will still get hers out to gnaw on occasionally, though I suspect that’s just on days when I’m late giving her dinner and she’s starving!

If your dog is a particularly aggressive chewer, go for the thickest size buffalo horn you can get. Smaller horns can sometimes break into pieces with chewing, whereas the larger, heavier horns are tougher and tend to break up less.

As with the antlers, don’t get this treat if your dog has dental problems or it just a young puppy. It is a very tough treat that is more suitable for dogs with strong teeth.

DEHYDRATED RABBIT EARS

Dried rabbit ears are another popular dog chew that is suitable for raw fed dogs. They’re nutritious and low in calories, so they don’t add any unnecessary weight to your pup’s waistline.

My girl gets a furry rabbit ear 3 or 4 times a week as part of our natural approach to reducing worm count. It helps dislodge parasites from the intestines as it passes through. You can read more about natural deworming in this article.

CHICKEN FEET

Dehydrated chicken feet are one of my girl’s favourite treats. They’re high in protein and are an excellent source of glucosamine so they’re good for older dogs who might need a little help with arthritis and joint pains.

Dehydrated chicken feet are not like cooked chicken bones. Their texture is brittle and when chewed they crush, rather than break into hard splinters. The ‘heel’ can be quite chunky on some of them though.

Again, a word of caution for those of you whose dogs wolf down their food: don’t leave your dog unattended with any food. Just as us humans can choke on our food, so can dogs.

Dogs that gobble down their food don’t crunch it up properly and that is a choking hazard. If your dog is a wolfer, it doesn’t mean you can’t give them chicken feet though. Make sure that you hang on to the claw end of the foot so they can’t just swallow it whole – instead they have to crunch up the heel first.

Try holding it with a glove if you’re worried about your hand! By holding one end your dog will have to chew the treat and not just gulp it down. My dogs have eaten hundreds of chicken feet and never had any problems, but some dogs just like to try and bite chunks off then swallow without chewing.

TRIPE STICKS

One of the best sellers when I had a dog treat business was tripe sticks. Tripe – also known as offal – is the stomach lining from farmed animals like cows, pigs or sheep. It’s usually just discarded by us humans because we don’t know what to do with it, but dogs loves this stuff!

If you’re thinking of buying fresh trip efor your dog, don’t buy the stuff you get in the butcher. It iwll most likely have been bleached. For dogs, you need unprocesed, green tripe. It still hass all the essential amino acids your dog needsTripe is incredibly nutritious, rich in protein and high in key minerals and vitamins.

Tripe sticks are dehydrated pieces of tripe. They are chewy, rather than crunchy, though the thinner pieces can be crunchy. Unless your dog is an aggressive chewer a large tripe stick should last a good few minutes.

There is really only one drawback to this marvellous raw dog treat: it positively honks. However, if you like the idea of doing some fun nose work activities with your dog (see how in this article), get some tripe sticks. Your dog will love these stinky sticks!

DEHYDRATED TRACCHEA

Trachea is an animal’s air pipe. Usually you can buy beef trachea, though other animal trachea is also available. It is a great source of protein, low in fat and it’s not smelly. They tend to be chewy rather than brittle.

YAK CHEWS

Strictly speaking, yak chews are not raw dog treats since they are essentially dehydrated cheese, made from heating milk.

However, since they are grain-free, free of preservatives, and made from just a couple of natural ingredients, many of us pet parents who feed a raw diet are happy to compromise with this particular dog treat for our dogs.

They come in different sizes, so if you plan to get one for your dog, get the right size. Get a larger, thicker yak chew for a larger dog and a smaller one for smaller dogs. Yak chews are very hard, so if your dog has broken teeth or other dental problems, a softer, chewier treat would be better.

After your dog has been chewing it for a while, when there’s just a little bit left, don’t throw away the last bit. Instead, make a puffy cheese treat for your dog with it: soak it in warm water for 5 minutes, heat it for 30-45 seconds in the microwave until it puffs out and let it cool for a couple of minutes. You should now have a soft, cheesy puff you can treat your dog with!

Yak milk chews are quite pricey, so if you’d like to try making your own, follow this recipe.

RAW DOG TREATS FOR TRAINING

All of the above goodies are great for giving them a special treat, but what about raw treats for dog training? This can be more challenging because you need treats to be tiny for effective training.

You can’t feed large treats that take longer to eat when training or you lose the benefit of that quick repeating action of whatever you’re training them to do.

You could just use chopped up bits of raw meat for your training of course, but this makes for really dirty, sticky hands! If you don’t mind that, fine! Training treats for dogs on raw diets don’t have to be wet and sticky though.

I prefer to use something I can put in my pocket or treat bag and not have it fill with flies straight away!

Also, fresh, raw treats have a very short shelf life whereas dried treats last for months.

These next few raw dog treats are great options to solve these problems – they either come in smaller, bite-sized pieces, or, you can easily snap and break them up into smaller pieces.

DEHYDRATED LIVER

Liver treats are incredibly nutritious. They are low in fat and high in protein. There are lots of choices when it comes to liver – you can get liver from almost every animal source, and they come dehydrated, freeze-dried, in strips, in little chunks… it’s a very versatile option to use as training treats.

If you’d rather prepare dehydrated liver treats yourself, it’s not difficult. Follow this step-by-step tutorial. I make liver strips which are very easy to break into small pieces with your hands – this makes it perfect for dog training without getting messy hands!

CHICKEN JERKY

Chicken jerky is a fantastic low fat option. It is also high in protein. The strips break up easily into little pieces, making it the perfect training treat for dogs.

However, make sure you check the ingredients for any chicken jerky that you buy. I make my own chicken jerky, and when I came to compile this list, I was amazed to discover that most chicken jerky for dogs is NOT single ingredient. Some contain pea protein, glycerine, even sugar. There is no need for any of that stuff in chicken jerky!

The link below IS just 100% dehydrated chicken, no other ingredients!

Again, store bought raw dog treats are quite expensive, so if you want to watch the pennies, try making your own chicken jerky – you can find full instructions here.

DEHYDRATED FISH

Raw, dried fish treats come in all shapes and sizes, from dried fish skin to tiny, whole fish. Both offer great levels of Omega-3 fatty acids, and are very nutritious.

Dehydrated fish is very easy to digest. The dried fish skin chews tend to be very hard and crunchy, making them great for dogs that enjoy chewing. They’re also useful in scouring the teeth, helping to keep your dog’s teeth free of plaque.

Whole fish treats tend to be softer, so if your dog has a sore mouth, or fewer teeth, these treats are probably more suitable. They can be broken up into little pieces easily. They are also eaten more quickly than the crunchy fish skin, so make better training treats. I like to give my girl both, as they each have different benefits.

DEHYDRATED HEART

You can buy dehydrated heart pieces, which make fantastic training treats. The most common types available are beef or chicken hearts. They are high in protein and full of minerals like iron and zinc. They are also odourless.

CONCLUSION

The best dog treats for raw diets depends partly on what the treat is for – a night time ‘biscuit’ or little training treats for example. My dog is particularly fussy but she loves the rich and tasty flavours of these raw dog treats. It’s so important to give them healthy foods that will add to their well-being.

Go ahead and give them a try. Which store-bought raw treats or homemade ones will you try out?

Related articles for more natural dog treats:

We have lots of recipes to make homemade dog treats for raw diets. Check out these articles too:

Can my dog eat marrow bones?

Frozen raw dog treats