The Good: Healthy, Good ingredients, Smells great, Myah loves them!
The Bad: Slightly expensive for a dog treat, Limited dental benefits
The Basics: Myah seems to truly love Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips and while I like how much she likes them, the jury is still out on how much they actually improve a dog’s skin and coat!
While my wife is away, our Siberian Husky has been getting spoiled, mainly be me. She is such a good, smart, dog that I find (more than I ever expected to in the past) that I like rewarding her and want to show her I care. One of the activities that I hope cements this idea in her mind is that I take her with me to the park on Saturdays and after we run around together, I brush her out. I have noticed some of her hair is more brittle than the rest, so to be sure that she is getting all she needs, I decided to see if there were any treats that might help her with that. Luckily for me, when I went out searching for a good treat for her with skin and hair benefits, I found Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips dog treats. The 7.1 oz. bag was (bafflingly) on clearance at a local pet shop and because Myah behaved so well for the sitters while I was at my defensive driving class, I picked her up a bag.
The real problem with the Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips is that Myah seems to recognize the bag and when I brought it to work so she would have treats there, every time I opened that particular drawer, Myah would get excited. Of course, having a dog excited about her treats is a good thing and it is a good thing for Hill’s Science Diet!
The 7.1 oz bag of Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips was on clearance for $3.00 and has a regular price of at least twice that, at least at the local place I found these. The bag contained about sixteen treats, which is not the worst value in the world, at least at clearance prices. Given that Myah will eagerly devour leftovers and a wide array of human food as well as the most basic, inexpensive dog food for big dogs, it is hard to splurge on a treat she devours so quickly. What makes it worthwhile over so many other snacks or foods is how Myah continues to be enamored with them. Myah sat pretty and did other basic tricks that she has resisted doing in order to get the Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips dog treats, this makes them a decent reinforcement or training tool!
The Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips dog treats strips of red and tan (with green and red speckles) that look and feel leathery. Each strip is approximately four inches long, 3/4” wide and 3/16” thick. The strips are flexible, not hard, and in addition to the intact ones, our bag had about five pieces that were broken up which made for bite-sized treats. Despite being Beef & Vegetable flavored, these strips smell more mealy than meaty.
The soft Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips have minimal dental benefits for dogs, especially big dogs like our fifty pound Siberian Husky. Because the snacks are so easy to eat, Myah seldom even chews them for more than two seconds. It is hard to extol the dental benefits of something that is on the lips and teeth for less than two seconds. On the plus side, Myah’s breath has not started smelling bad in the last week since she started getting these on a daily basis.
The Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips dog treats are very healthy. With at least 16% crude protein, 7% crude fat and no more than 2% crude fiber and 23% moisture, the Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips offer some decent nutrition to dogs. Made primarily of wheat flour, soy flour, and sucrose, Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips do contain actual beef and animal fats as well as sweet potatoes before the ingredients list degenerates into a chemistry lesson. The Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips have a decent shelf life – if Myah was not so committed to finishing these fast, the bag would have remained fresh (unopened, at least) until May of 2012, which makes me wonder why the pet shop was getting rid of these on clearance.
As with all dog treats, it is highly recommended that when you give your dog Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips, you make sure they have a decent supply of clean water available. Hill’s Science Diet Simple Essentials Skin & Coat Adult Jerky Strips treats are not intended to replace dog food.
With the treats Myah has eaten, there has been no noticeable change in her skin or coat, so the effectiveness of these treats on that front is still up in the air to me. Neither her skin nor hair have gotten worse since I started treating her with these, either.
Ultimately, these are good treats to buy on clearance, but they are a bit pricy for day to day treats that lack a dental benefit for Myah.
For other dog treats, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Science Diet Immunity Support Wafers
Milk-Bone Trail Mix
Dental Smartbones - Large
6.5/10
For other pet products, be sure to visit my Pet Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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