The Good: Good for dog's dental health, Good ingredients, My dog enjoys it.
The Bad: Least economical pack, My dog prefers a few other flavors to it.
The Basics: A perfectly average Booda Bone, the little chicken flavored bones were met with more indifference than excitement by our dog!
I've begun, in some small ways, to feel like I have begun writing a serialized children's novel with the continuing adventures of my geriatric cocker spaniel, Mitzie. Half the time when I am writing pet reviews, they include a little story of my wife's seventeen year-old cocker spaniel and what she is trying out now in terms of snacks or health maintenance products. The truth is, no matter how often I write "my wife's cocker spaniel," I have truly come to think of Mitzie as a part of my family and I have a very big place in my heart for her as well. So, tonight, when Mitzie came in from her nightly run around the yard - tonight it was raining, so she came in soaked - I was happy to give her a new (to her) treat, a chicken flavored Booda Bones treat.
Mitzie enthusiastically devoured this bone, which is interesting to me because each time she had the choice about what treat to eat, she chose the option I had with the Booda Bones Small Chicken Flavor treat. On its own, it seems, Mitzie is fine with this, but when faced with the choice of other flavors of Booda Bones and the Chicken, Mitzie chose the other. As an objective test, I've just given her the choice of a second Chicken Booda Bone and a Bacon flavored Booda Bone and she has pulled (politely) the bacon one from my hand. I suppose she likes the Chicken just fine, but she either prefers variety or likes other flavors more. Without any competition, she devoured the little Chicken flavored Booda Bone just fine.
Booda Bones, I learned in my tenure working at the same pet store as my partner, come in a wide variety of sizes for dogs and the little bones are intended for dogs less than 15 lbs. in size, so our old cocker spaniel still applies, but just barely (holiday snacking and all!). The Booda Bones are advertised as having dental benefits and given how Mitzie has a few each week and has very healthy teeth, this could well be part of her dental health regimen. Given that Mitzie continues to choose these treats - she does not avoid the chicken flavor - I have to assume they taste good as well.
The Booda Bones Chicken flavor treat comes individually as a wrapped bone-shaped treat three inches long by 7/8" wide (3/8" thick). This is the smallest quantity one might buy them in and there are multipacks. For my tastes and budgets, the single Booda Bone treat seems a bit expensive at about a dollar a treat. Even with my employee discount, it seems like the individually-wrapped treat is environmentally and economically not much of a value. There are multipacks of the Chicken flavor on the market.
The reddish-brown bone is designed to help fight plaque and tartar build-up by having a texture to it. The bone has bumps and the bumps agitate the build-up on teeth whenever a dog bites into them. Because the bone is too big to simply be swallowed, the Booda Bones effectively brushes the dog's teeth and tongue using friction whenever the dog bites into it to split it and swallows it, dragging the bolus across their tongue. This has had wonderful results with Mitzie, even with only eating a few of the Booda Bones Chicken Flavored treats.
One of the other key selling points of the Chicken flavor Booda Bones treats is that it is wheat-free. Apparently, wheat is used in a lot of dog products and it is not great for their digestion. For those looking out for their dog's diet, the Chicken flavored Booda Bones treat is made up primarily of modified food starch, water and glycerin, though it is flavored with the "natural flavor" of chicken. This is intended entirely as a treat, not a meal substitute or replacement. Mitzie has put on a little weight since she moved here from Michigan with my partner, but lately, we've reduced her diet some and are still able to reward her for good behavior with a Booda Bone every other day (on opposite days, she gets her Greenies treat, which she loves).
These treats are not bad for dogs and the package says that if there are any messes from the dog they clean up easily, but Mitzie not only ate the Chicken flavored treats, when given no other options, she kept them down without any problems. Still, this is basically candy for dogs and the Chicken flavor offers little to dogs that is either beneficial or a detraction. This treat has at least 1% crude protein and crude fat and no more than 6% crude fiber and 14% moisture, so those looking out for their dog's specific dietary needs, that might help.
Because Mitzie is more indifferent to this flavor, it was easier for me to consider it average (at best), but because she does like the flavor (I've seen her spit out things she does not like, so she has no qualms about doing that!) and it has so many benefits, I was more in a quandary about whether or not to recommend it. Ultimately, I opted to recommend it because it is a treat that is generally so good for dogs that it is hard to find one that tops it. Still, even with a mediocre flavor like the chicken (which has a very metallic smell), I would recommend if your dog likes it to get the bulk bags or boxes instead and do your wallet and the environment a favor.
For other dog treats, please check out my reviews of:
Science Diet Immunity Support Wafers
Mixables Colorado Cookout Dog Gravy
Bark Bars Peanut Butter And Carob Chip
5/10
For other pet product reviews, please be sure to visit my index page!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment