Organic biscuits for dogs, in tomato and cheese, from Scraps — the French maker whose whole premise is that a dog biscuit should be made of food.
Cheese is the reason these work. Dogs respond to fat and to strong smells, and cheese delivers both — which is why it is the standard bribe for tablets, nail clipping and vets. Two things worth knowing. First, most adult dogs produce very little lactase, so large quantities of dairy cause wind and loose stools; small amounts baked into a biscuit are a different proposition from a slice of cheddar. Second, cheese is calorie-dense, so cheese treats add up faster than they look like they should.
Tomato: safe, with a caveat that matters. Ripe tomato flesh is fine for dogs. The green parts of the plant — leaves, stems and unripe fruit — are not: they contain tomatine and solanine, and a dog that eats its way through a tomato plant in the garden can become genuinely unwell. So a tomato biscuit is safe and a tomato plant on the terrace is worth fencing off. It is exactly the sort of distinction that gets lost.
The five things never to give a dog, since we are on the subject and it is worth having somewhere: chocolate, xylitol (in sugar-free gum, sweets and some peanut butters, and acutely dangerous even in small amounts), grapes and raisins, onions and garlic in any form, and macadamia nuts. Xylitol and grapes are the two that most owners do not know about, and both cause serious harm quickly.
Treats are food. Keep them under about 10% of daily calories and take the difference out of the main meal. Obesity is the commonest nutritional disorder in dogs and it measurably shortens their lives — and it is assembled, almost entirely, out of small kindnesses.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.
Smart Organic
LA SABLESIENNE
LA SABLESIENNE
TURTLE
