The Good: Good for dog's dental health, Good ingredients, My dog eats them...
The Bad: Mitzie does not prefer this flavor, Least economical pack!
The Basics: While Mitzie likes the peanut butter flavored Booda Bones little dog treat, it's not her first choice and given how expensive they are individually, that seems like too much for mediocrity!
My wife works at a pet store and since she started work there, she seems to be awfully concerned with the dental health of Mitzie, our geriatric cocker spaniel. As she picks up new and different treats for Mitzie, she tends to look more for treats that will keep Mitzie's teeth strong and her breath smelling fresh. Lately, that means she has been bringing home Booda Bones brand bones. My wife has a pretty simple way of presenting them to Mitzie: she keeps them wrapped and offers the dog a choice of two, one in each hand. My wife waits for Mitzie to pick the bone she wants and then she unwraps it. The last five times she has done this, Mitzie has chosen the Bacon flavored Booda Bone and avoided the Peanut Butter flavored Booda Bone.
This surprised me right away; Mitzie has shown a real affinity for peanut butter in real life and in other dog treats. Of course, my mother gives her peanut butter crackers, but given the way she used to devour the peanut butter flavored Kong Stuff'n, it surprised me that Mitzie would always choose the bacon over the peanut butter. So, in addition to making it clear this was not Mitzie's favorite dog treat ever, it took me a while to evaluate this treat because Mitzie simply wasn't selecting them. Now, though, that they are the only Booda Bones treat Mitzie has available, she eats them . . . but without the enthusiasm with which she attacks the bacon flavored ones.
Booda Bones, as my wife has pointed out, come in a wide variety of sizes for dogs and the small bones are intended for dogs less than 15 lbs. in size, so our old cocker spaniel still applies. The key selling point of the Booda Bones treats is that they have positive dental benefits for dogs and this has been clearly illustrated to me, even with the peanut butter flavor. As well, even though this flavor is Mitzie's second choice, she does eat them, so they must taste like peanut butter or something else she likes!
The Booda Bones peanut butter flavor treat comes individually as a wrapped bone-shaped treat three inches long by 7/8" wide (3/8" thick). This is the least 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 wife's discount, it seems like the individually-wrapped treat is environmentally and economically not much of a value. There are multipacks of the peanut butter flavor on the market.
The tan 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 Peanut Butter Flavored treats (though she had had several of the bacon flavored treats in the days before she started eating the peanut butter flavored ones). Mitzie's breath has gotten better, though now instead of smelling like old food, is smells of peanuts.
One of the other key selling points of the peanut butter 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 peanut butter flavored Booda Bones treat is made up primarily of modified food starch, water and glycerin, though it is flavored with the "natural flavor" of peanut butter (though not, apparently, actual peanuts!). This is intended entirely as a treat, not a meal substitute or replacement. Mitzie has been thin for a while, since she moved from Michigan to New York to live with me, so we did not reduce her diet by 5% to accommodate the treat (the package recommends that). She has not bulked up significantly by having one of these treats (or the Bacon flavored ones) each day for the past week.
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 ate the peanut butter flavored treats and kept them down without any problems. Still, this is basically candy for dogs and the peanut butter 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.
The Booda Bones treats are good for dogs and Mitzie liked the peanut butter flavor, but it has never been her first choice. As she moves into the twilight of her life, there's simply not enough time for her to have second-choice treats, especially when they are as expensive as these Booda Bones are. As a result, these might be great treats for other dogs, but even with the dental benefits, the peanut butter flavor is more mediocre than outstanding with our canine companion!
For other Booda Bones reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Peppermint Booda Bones
Yogurt Booda Bones
Spearmint Booda Bones
Chicken Booda Bones
5/10
For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment