Banana + PB doggie treats

I've been searching for a lot of inspiration for home-made dog training treats that are cheap, easy to make, but nonetheless healthy. It's also a huge bonus if your furry friend thinks they are tasty. :D My goal is to make a collection of recipes here on the blog for easy access without having to search hours for a simple treat recipe. :)

Most of the treats we've purchased for our puppy Zoe are meat-based (i.e. chicken, beef, fish). And while Zoe is very keen on them, she has been suffering from unknown digestive issues for a few months now. Because of this, we had to swap her normal diet to something more stomach-friendly. I want to grab this opportunity to emphasize why good food (a.k.a nutrition) is so important for our four-legged companions, so try to bare with me through the following brief but science-heavy section.

Recently, scientists have shown that nutrient digestibility, quantity and quality of dietary proteins can affect gut health (1, 2). Others have discussed how certain additives in processed food can have harmful effects on the human body (3). Additionally, 75% of all (human) food sales in the world consist of processed foods (4, 5). Thus, it is not too farfetched to believe that the amounts of processed food in the pet nutrition industry would be comparable to this extent.

In order to boost Zoe's gut health, we have started feeding her a special wet digestive care diet that is easy on the stomach. In addition to this, we cut out all store-bought treats and aimed to only give her whole-food snacks. Below is an example of a simple, 3-ingredient recipe for making training bites or reward treats.

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Ingredients

1 banana

120 g organic peanut butter (should be pure PB without xylitol)

120 g organic gluten-free wheat flour, or oat flour

water

Instructions

Mash bananas, mix in peanut butter and add flour gradually. Aim for a batter-like consistency. If the mixture is too thick, add water. On the other hand, if it is too thin, add more flour. Fill 2 40x30 cm silicone chocolate/candy moulds (see picture) and spread the mixture evenly with a dough scraper.

Bake at 175°C for about 15 minutes. After baking, I spread the treats on a kitchen towel and let them dry until hardened overnight. Store in an airtight container or bag. You can also keep the treats in the freezer if you have made too many and want to use them later.

Happy training!

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References

1. Do S, Phungviwatnikul T, de Godoy MRC, Swanson KS. Nutrient digestibility and fecal characteristics, microbiota, and metabolites in dogs fed human-grade foods. J Anim Sci. 2021 Feb 1;99(2):skab028. doi: 10.1093/jas/skab028. PMID: 33511410.

2. Ma N, Tian Y, Wu Y, Ma X. Contributions of the Interaction Between Dietary Protein and Gut Microbiota to Intestinal Health. Curr Protein Pept Sci. 2017;18(8):795-808. doi: 10.2174/1389203718666170216153505. PMID: 28215168.

3. Gallo M, Ferrara L, Calogero A, Montesano D, Naviglio D. Relationships between food and diseases: What to know to ensure food safety. Food Res Int. 2020 Nov;137:109414. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109414. Epub 2020 Jun 9. PMID: 33233102.

4. Alexander, E., Yach, D. & Mensah, G. A. Major multinational food and beverage companies and informal sector contributions to global food consumption: implications for nutrition policy. Glob. Health7, 26 (2011).

5. Prayson, B., McMahon, J. T. & Prayson, R. A. Fast food hamburgers: what are we really eating? Ann. Diagn. Pathol.12, 406–409 (2008).