10 Bad Dog Treats You Should Never Feed Your Dog

Written by Tim Rhodes Last Updated: Dec 1 2024

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How will you know if you gave bad dog treats?

Dog treats play a vital part in our dog’s healthy life.

Therefore, we must feed our dogs healthy, reliable dog treats.

Many inferior dog treats will include maize, wheat, and food colors added in the first few ingredients.

Dog owners have to be knowledgeable of the high fructose and lactose these treats may contain.

Overfeeding could provoke a weight increase or other health-associated concerns.

10 Bad Dog Treats You Should Never Feed Your Dog

So what’s the most hurtful dog treats that you should never feed your dog?

Read on to find out.

Here are the top 10 worst dog treat that you should never feed your dog for 2021:

1. Rawhide chews

2. Basted Biscuits Dog Treats (by Ol’ Roy)

3. Milk-bones

4. Beneful Baked Delicious dog treats (by Purina)

5. Beggin’ Strips Dog Treats (by Purina)

6. Beef Flavor dog Treats (by Canine Carry Outs)

7. Dynamic Pet Real Ham Bone

8. IAMS Proactive Health Adult Chunks

9. Gravy Train

10. Cesar Filets

1. Rawhide chews

Rawhide is the most deadly dog chew ever made.

Dog owners have experienced lots of horror tales on social media about Rawhide dog chews and how terrible they are.

Few dog owners state that their dogs needed an emergency operation after eating a small amount of Rawhide, while a few state that their dogs suffocated and died in this process.

The most unfortunate thing is that Rawhide chews are nevertheless sold in many pet stores all over the roots.

They are even sold in preferred stores such as Walmart and 99c.

Rawhide is available in differing frames and volumes, and it has grown as one of the most adopted treats when you think of feeding your dog.

The most utmost of the new dog owners tend to believe that this dog treat is dehydrated meat, and dogs can eat it for man-hours without any predicaments. 

Although some dogs may bite and chew it for hours with no predicaments, buying this treat is cash wasted because sooner or later, your dog will exhibit various complexities.

Rawhide bones and other tasty chews can posture a choking and blockage danger.

In reality, this is a much more substantial risk than poisons or inflammation.

If your dog consumes large Rawhide pieces, the Rawhide can get stuck in the throat or other portions of the digestive region.

No, Rawhide behaves not soften in the dog’s belly.

In reality, instead, the Rawhide puffs up.

Typically, Rawhide chews are prepared by a chemical method that is very critical and involves a lot of poisonous materials, including glue, lead, arsenic, mercury, maltodextrin, chromium flavorings, formaldehyde, and other toxins.

Some corporations favor to benefit Rawhide chews as “created in the USA,” which may be correct, yet that doesn’t make them any safe treat toward your dog.

2. Basted Biscuits Dog Treats (by Ol’ Roy)

Basted biscuits by Ol’Roy were also found to contain the lethal drug pentobarbital, which is used to euthanize cats and dogs.

Basted biscuits are carcinogens, and according to the FDA, beef and ossein mess and animal fat have a high hazard to contain the deadly euthanasia medicine pentobarbital.

They may restrain the dead cats and dogs that arise with it.

Taking a look at the component list, we will find grain flour as the number ‘1’ component in Beef Basted Biscuits by Ol’ Roy.

Beef & Essen farina, the number ‘2’ ingredient, is a healthy protein from animal rendering.

Visualize making a big soup of animal parts and heating it so hot for so long that it wipes up.

The remaining residue is a high protein cosmetic.

Sadly, many low-end earmarks do not declare the exact animal that is furnished.

Deem about that for a moment.

It could be any creature.

Higher-end dog treats regularly state the animal being used in meat & bone spread.

Salt, synthetic colors, and flavor are also located in this low-end brand.

According to different reports, the list of ingredients used in the production of Basted biscuits by Ol’Roy includes wheat flour, wheat bran, beef & bone pieces, animal oil (dried with mixed tocopherols).

It also contains calcium carbonate, rice sugar, grain vitality, maltodextrin, beef stock, vertebrate plasma, carboxymethylcellulose, condensed chicken liver particles, and potassium sorb (to store freshness).

Another salt, actual flavors, brewers yeast, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate manganese sulfate, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, vitamin ‘A’ appendix, vitamin ‘D3’ appendix, vitamin ‘E’ appendix, niacin, just to mention a few.

Most of these ingredients cause deadly diseases in dogs, so dog owners should avoid feeding their dogs with this treat.

3. Milk-bones

This is another famous wholesale dog treat that dog owners cherish.

Nevertheless, Milkbones has been identified as one of the five most hazardous pet treats according to an online video issued by Rodney Habib.

One of the ‘Milkbones’ elements called butylated hydroxyanisole an extremely poisonous chemical and has also been recognized as a cancer-causing factor responsible for producing considerable tumors in laboratory animals.

Milk bones also include high quantities of sugar and other elements that dog treats shouldn’t bear, such as maize, grain, and soy.

The dog’s digestive regularity finds it difficult to process these ingredients, which can lead to your pet, choosing the indoor potty for themselves regularly due to severe diarrhea.

You have to cherish the reality that your pet’s digestive system isn’t the same as that of a human’s digestive system. It is a trendy dog treat among many dog owners.

This number 1 seller is packed with grain flour and meat & ossein meal.

A suspect BHA chemical is also located in the milk bone.

Dogs that require losing weight are advised to stay away from the ever so famous milk-bone.

According to a few published reports, the list of ingredients used in this treat is wheat flour, meat, and bone meal, wheat bran, milk, beef fat (filled with BHA), salt, rustic flavor, dicalcium phosphate, corn germ, calcium carbonate, brewer’s exhausted yeast, malted cereal flour, sodium metabisulfite (used as a chemical).

It also contains choline chloride, ores (ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), and vitamin (vitamin E) supplements.

Lastly, vitamin ‘A’ supplement, niacin appendix, D-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin appendix, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin ‘D3’ supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin ‘B12’ supplement).

It is advised to dog owners to keep their dogs away from this treat-food for their better health.

4. Beneful Baked Delicious dog treats (by Purina)

A class-action claim has been registered against Nestle Purina Petcare Company, claiming that some of its treat foods include elements that are competent in killing dogs.

The lawsuit petitions that more exceeding than 3,000 people have informed that their dogs became grievously ill and some even died as a result of eating Beneful baked treats (by Purina).

You will locate no meat origins within the top 5 components in Purina Baked Delight’s Beef Dog Treats.

Brewer’s rice is the number 1 element in this dog treat.

Brewer’s rice is concocted rice that originated from the tiny milled fragments of rice roots.

This division of large seeds of rice results in many missing nutrients that are normally found in whole white rice and brownish rice.

Ground yellow corn, the 2nd ingredient, is nothing more than inferior squib. 

It gives a little nutritional advantage to your dog.

Several dog breeds have a troublesome time digesting corn as considerably. 

Condensed cheese powder, oat thread, sugar, salt, phosphoric acid, animal fat conserved, sorbic drug, calcium propionate, fd&c red 40 colorings, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, yellow 6, citric, psychedelic, rosemary essence, D-4051 is detected, in a large quantity, inside this treat.

While Beneful by Purina arranges to combine chicken as a protein, it’s also full of maize, soy, and corn.

These elements can produce notable digestive and health problems over time.

It also has irregular chicken and fowl by-products.

In terms of chemicals, the prescription contains numerous artificial dyes.

So, feeding your dog with this treat is only a waste of money and making dogs sick.

5. Beggin’ Strips Dog Treats (by Purina)

It was heavily sold across the USA for ages.

Begin’ Strips treat is marketed as being “so real they will be ‘craving’ for more.”

Practicing a peek at the constituent list, the health-conscious dog owner should certainly consider an option other than this label.

Taking a glance at the ingredient list of the gammon and meat flavor, we will find ground breadstuff as the number 1 ingredient in this treat.

Bacon, what dogs certainly are, begins with being number 9 on the list.

Sugar is on the 7th on the list.

So getting off this ingredient list, there is higher sugar than bacon in this treat.

BHA, again, is also exposed to this treat food.

Spurious flavors and colors advance up the rest of these low-end dog treats.

The list of ingredients is Wheat, grain gluten feed, breadstuff flour, water, glycerin, ground yellow maize, sugar, soybean bran, bacon (processed with sodium nitrite), salt, bacon grease (dried with BHA and citric acid), phosphoric acid, sorbic acid (a chemical), calcium propionate (a preservative), natural and fake smoke tastes, red 40, yellow 5, and blue 1.

Several things are wicked with these treats.

Firstly, bacon is harmful to humans, and they are hurtful for dogs.

But let’s put that apart for now and see whether you are purchasing what the packaging seems to promise.

The bacon you see on the packaging cover?

Nowhere close to the first few ingredients.

Instead, you find ingredients that could make your dog fat and diabetic.

At the 9th ingredient, you finally see bacon, which we all perceive is preserved with sodium nitrite, a carcinogenic element.

Then you have salt and bacon fat that’s conserved with BHA, a cancer-causing agent.

Just don’t purchase bacon or anything bacon-flavored concerning your dog.

Diet colorings are also on the list, utterly useless and harmful.

6. Beef Flavor dog Treats (by Canine Carry Outs)

Chicken is found at the peak of the constituent list with this treat.

Chicken is a big reservoir of protein for dogs.

When you observe chicken as the number 1 constituent, you know you’re off in the right direction in finding the right treat food to feed your dog.

Regrettably, Canine Carry Outs disappoint to keep the healthy components in the top 5.

Corn sorghum is the number 2 ingredient.

Corn sorghum or whatever sugar is inconvenient for your dog.

Sugar leads to obesity, tooth reduction, and diabetes in dogs.

BHA is more recognized as Butylated Hydroxyanisole and is also found in products produced by Canine Carry Outs.

It’s necessary to know that BHA is a cancer-causing factor in humans.

This prophylaxis is cultivated by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a chemical known to provoke cancer or generative toxicity.

The list of ingredients is chicken, maize Sugar, Soy Flour, wheat flour, grain starch, water, propylene glycol, being fat (BHA Used As A Chemical), animal compendium, calcium sulfate, soy protein (concentrate), sugar, meat, potassium chloride, salt, phosphoric hallucinogen, titanium dioxide, sorbic acid (used as prophylaxis), red creeks, garlic coating, typical smoke flavor, alloy oxide, BHA (used in chemicals), citric acid (used as a Prevention), and propylene glycol.

Although there are lots of reliable research articles that noticed the impression that propylene glycol will generate illnesses and death is overkill.

In vague, brands that score propylene glycol into their ingredients are lower-quality supermarket store brands.

These dog treats often include various other harmful ingredients such as artificial food colors added and chemicals.

Reports also have highlighted that such propylene glycol is banned for use in dog food.

Be cautious not to feed Canine Carry Outs or any other brand of setups with propylene glycol to your dogs.

7. Dynamic Pet Real Ham Bone

In the case of this treatment product, it is innocent to say that most utmost dogs like large and juicy bones.

Perversely, this distinct dog treat has been criticized by several dog owners for several years.

Most dog owners say that this treat food causes a wide range of complexities to your dog and can even provoke death.

Thousands of dog owners have shared their diverse negative encounters with the bone, and even the FDA has warned pet owners to be careful when buying the treat.

According to the experts of this treat, the bone spreads apart when the dog eats it, forming sharp rubble that can quickly get stuck in the small intestines of your pup, which ends in vomiting, diarrhea in the indoor dog potty, and also death.

Later, various complaints, the manufacturer has added a safety warning sticker to the treat, advising dog owners to observe their dog while chewing the bone.

Nevertheless, a simple warning isn’t right, preferably to make the treat food safe.

There is already a prosecution, an online appeal, and a Facebook page questioning the FDA to pull this treat off the supermarkets’ racks.

8. IAMS Proactive Health Adult Chunks

The 1st component in this dog treat is chicken.

Though chicken is an essential item and raw chicken contains about 80% water, but when cooked, most of the water is wasted, which reduces the meat content to just a division of its original weight.

After processing, these elements would probably account for a smaller division of the whole content of the coated food.

The 2nd ingredient of this dog food is cornmeal, a coarsely milled flour made from the drained corn.

Corn is a provocative and cheap cereal grain of only low nutritional utility to a dog.

For that reason, it is not supposed to be a favored part of any dog food.

The 3rd constituent of this treat is sorghum (Milo), a starchy seed fragment with a similar nutrient form of corn.

Because it is gluten-free and requires a steadier blood sugar execution than other maize, sorghum may be considered a satisfying non-meat ingredient.

The 4th ingredient of this dog treat is chicken by-product feed, which is a dry stock of slaughterhouse waste.

This feed is made from the leftover of a slaughtered chicken after all prime cuts have been deported, which includes beaks, feet, and undeveloped eggs, anything except the wings.

But on the bright side, these portions are meat concentrates and contain protein around 300% more than the fresh chicken.

The 5th ingredient is the beet paste, which is a questionable ingredient, as it is a particular fiber by-product made of sugar beet processing.

Although this food holds all the amino acids needed for a dog, it is still rated as a lower quality dog food.

This treat is still harmful to many dog breeds.

9. Gravy Train

There is no real cooked bone marrow in this dog treat.

Accidentally for our dogs, it comes in at number 6 on the element list.

There is more breadstuff flour, meat & bone feed, sugar, natural chicken flavor, animal lard (Frozen with Bha/Bht) than genuine bone marrow.

Dogs enjoy the taste of sugar.

That’s why this ingredient is in the 5th position on the ingredient list.

They will swallow these types of treats.

The dog owners’ senses, since the dogs like it, the treat must be tasty.

But this is not the real truth.

There are many low-quality ingredients in this treat food, including wheat flour, meat & bone meal, sugar, natural poultry flavor, animal fat (preserved with Bah/Bat).

Aside from reduced bone marrow, calcium carbonate, savor, malted grain, sodium met bisulfite (a chemical), vitamin A sequel, vitamin B-12 sequel, vitamin B-13, vitamin D3 sequel.

It also includes vitamin E sequel, D-calcium pantothenate, niacin, riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B-6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B-1), and folic acid.

Many dog trainers don’t recommend this dog treat due to complications that occur after a few weeks.

10. Cesar Filets

It’s rated to be one of the worst dog food, chiefly because of its high salt (we treated the best low sodium dog food options here).

It has enough water for processing, primate liver, chicken, steak and meat by-products, corn gluten, wheat gluten, cornstarch, salt, pea thread, sodium tripolyphosphate, calcium carbonate, attached color, choline chloride, and magnesium.

This excess of water easily dissolves these harmful ingredients inside the treat food.

Here is a list of other harmful ingredients proteinate, zinc sulfate, xanthan glue, natural taste, guar resin, rustic new york strip flavor, vitamin E sequel.

It also includes d-calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B-1), copper sulfate, riboflavin (vitamin B-2).

And vitamin B-12 sequel, potassium iodide, vitamin D-3 appendix, vitamin A sequel, pyridoxine hydrochloride.

Considering those ingredients, this dog food appears below-average and not of good quality saturated dog food.

You should also agree that not only can the quality of ingredients tell the entire story, but the view of the product’s meat content in dog food is also required before discovering whether it falls in the best or worst category.

The hard stuff protein in Cesar filet is about 44%, with 22% of the fertile level and 25% glucose.

This investigation shows that this dog food includes above-average protein absorption and just near-average fat.

At the same time, the carbs are not satisfied as in opposition to a standard healthy canned dog food.

Another circumstance making it a bad food is that it has food colors added to it, which is profoundly useless and not favored in dog foods. 

Final Thoughts

Utilize your best review when determining what dog treats are best for your dog.

Master to read labels and check the ingredients.

Don’t permit treats to make up higher than 10% of your dog’s daily diet.

For instance, if your dog requires 400 calories per day (review the comfortable rate calorie counter below).

They should have no more than 40 calories from treats, with the other 360 getting from their regular food.

The quantity of meals a dog eats per day should depend entirely on the group schedule.

Make assured your dog’s overall diet is well-balanced and nutritious and avoid feeding it bad dog treats.

So your dog will be with you for a long, long time.