How Much Fat Is in Dog Treats? Every Chew in Our Range, Compared

A few weeks ago I sat down to check the fat content of everything in our range, because a customer asked me a straight question I could not answer properly.

What I found was uncomfortable. Several of our own products were tagged low fat when they were not. Our pig snouts, which we had recommended for years as the lean swap for a pig's ear, turned out to be fattier than the ear. We had been repeating things we had picked up from the trade rather than checking them.

So we fixed it, and then we published the lot. Every treat in our range, with its actual fat figure, including the ones that make us look bad.

As far as I can tell nobody else in this trade does that. Go and look at the low fat collections on any of the big natural treat sites and you will find the words "low fat" and "under 10%" and almost never a number next to an individual product.

What counts as low fat?

There is no legal definition for dog treats. None. A company can put "low fat" on anything it likes.

Most of the UK trade has settled on under 10% fat. We draw our line at under 14%, and every treat tagged Low Fat in our range sits below it. Some sellers run a "very low fat" tier at under 5%. None of these figures is official, they are just conventions, and it is worth knowing that when you read a label.

Fat is one of the figures on the analytical constituents panel, measured on the product as sold, which matters more than you would think. I will come back to it.

Every treat in our range, ranked by fat

All fifty of them on one scale, leanest first, with our 14% line marked.

The tables below are the same figures, if you would rather read them than squint at a chart. Five treats sit in a section of their own underneath, because they need a word of explanation rather than just a number.

Under 14% fat (low fat)

Treat	Fat	Protein
Sweet Potato Slices	0.5%	1.3%
Buffalo Horn	1.6%	91.4%
Bladder Twist	3%	56%
Beef Pizzle (Bully Stick)	3.2%	79.2%
Cod Fish Skin Braid	4%	80%
Calf Hooves	4%	48.3%
Beef Biltong	4.29%	85.77%
Furry Buffalo Wrap	4.4%	68.8%
Himalayan Yak Chews	5.2%	59.2%
Braided Paddywack	5.3%	81.2%
Hairy Cow Ears	6.4%	54.6%
Beef Tripe Sticks	6.9%	82.5%
Buffalo Wrap	7.5%	67%
Jumbo Paddywack	7.5%	84.3%
Lamb Ears	7.8%	75.55%
Chicken Breast Jerky	8%	49%
Camel Wrap	8%	76%
Jumbo Beef Tail	8.31%	69.3%
Rabbit Feet	12.2%	57.54%
Pork Sausages	13.6%	29.9%

14% to 20% fat

Treat	Fat	Protein
Turkey Training Treats	14.3%	71%
Goats Ears	14.82%	70.56%
Pigs Trotters	16.9%	65.1%
Ostrich Metatarsus Bone	17.2%	26.7%
Beef Trachea	17.87%	72.12%
Hairy Deer Leg (Venison)	18%	66%

20% fat and over

Treat	Fat	Protein
Large Pigs Ears	20%	68.4%
Hairy Rabbit Ears	21.5%	46.8%
Chicken Necks	21.7%	53.7%
Puffed Pig Snouts	22.3%	58%
Turkey Necks	22.7%	52.2%
Braided Buffalo Collagen	25.5%	62%
Buffalo Collagen Straw	25.5%	62%
Chicken Feet	27%	53.4%
Duck Necks	27.9%	45.8%
Duck Feet	28.3%	50.1%
Turkey Wing Tips	29.3%	44%
Duck Wings	31.5%	45.8%
Duck Training Treats	31.8%	38.5%
Venison Training Treats	31.8%	38.5%
Puffed Chicken Feet	34.2%	42.8%
Hairless Rabbit Ears	34.4%	48.9%
Turkey Feet	37.8%	31.9%
Jumbo Sprats	38%	50%

The five that need a note

Our Pure Meat Sticks and Mixed Meat Medley come in four varieties and the fat varies by meat: ostrich 5.8%, rabbit 8.5%, kangaroo 11%, venison 13.8%. All four come in under our 14% line, but venison only just, so if your dog genuinely cannot have fat, go for the ostrich.

Our turkey and duck pâtés read 6.3% and 12.1%, but those are per 100g of a wet product. You cannot compare them directly to a dried chew, because most of what is in the tin is water. This is a real trap when you are comparing brands, and almost nobody explains it.

Our Rabbit Medley is a mix of hairy and hairless ears, so it does not have one figure. The hairy ears are 21.5% and the hairless 34.4%, and what you get in a bag varies.

And a word on rabbit feet, which are in the main table but with a gap. The supplier's sheet lists the moisture as 0%, which cannot be right for anything air-dried, and the figures only add up to about 91%. Rather than publish a number I do not believe, I have left moisture off that product's panel until I have a figure I trust. The fat and protein are from the same sheet and are in line with everything else rabbit.

What surprised us

Five things, and I would rather set them out than bury them.

Rabbit ears are not lean. They get listed as a low fat treat all over the place, including by one of the better blogs currently ranking for this. Ours are 21.5% hairy and 34.4% hairless. A hairless rabbit ear is nearly as fatty as a puffed chicken foot. They are still a lovely chew and still the right answer for a dog who reacts to everything else, but they are not a diet food. Rabbit feet, from the same animal, are the opposite at 12.2%.

Puffing does not remove fat. Puffed chews get sold as light and low fat because they feel light in the hand. Air has been added. The fat is unchanged. Our puffed chicken feet are 34.2% and our puffed pig snouts are 22.3%, and both are marketed across the trade as lean.

Bird feet are the fattiest corner of the shop. Turkey foot 37.8%, puffed chicken foot 34.2%, duck foot 28.3%, and even our plain chicken feet are 27%. It is worth saying that it is the bird ones, though, because a rabbit foot is 12.2% and a calf hoof is 4%. If your dog needs to lose weight it is poultry feet to walk past, not feet in general.

The leanest useful chew is a buffalo horn. 1.6% fat, 91.4% protein, and it lasts months. If you have an overweight dog who still needs something to do, that is the answer, and it is not close.

The percentage is only half the story

This is the bit I wish somebody had told me when I started, and it is why the chart above carries a line about it.

A percentage tells you what a treat is made of. It does not tell you how much of it your dog is about to eat. A 100g cow ear at 6.4% hands over more fat than a 15g rabbit ear at 21.5%, even though the rabbit ear looks three times worse on paper.

So read the two together: the percentage from the table above, and the weight from the product page. A lean treat in a large piece can easily beat a rich treat in a small one.

If you would rather not do the arithmetic, our dog treat calculator does it for you. Put in your dog's weight and it works out a daily treat allowance for every treat in the range, in pieces rather than percentages.

Does any of this actually matter?

For a lean, active dog, honestly, not much. A rich treat two or three times a week is a treat, and that is what treats are for.

It matters when a dog is carrying extra weight, and the reason is arithmetic rather than judgement. Treats are meant to stay under about a tenth of what a dog eats in a day. For a small dog that allowance is tiny, and a couple of 34% chews can fill it without anyone feeling like they have overfed anything.

That is the real problem with a wrong label. Someone doing everything right, reading the packet and picking the lean option, ends up giving something three times richer than they thought. Getting the number right on the page is the least we can do about it.

What treats can a dog with pancreatitis have?

This is the question behind most searches for low fat treats, and it deserves a careful answer rather than a product list.

Ask your vet first. I am not one, and a dog who has had pancreatitis needs an actual plan rather than a blog post. Some vets set a limit well below 10%. Some want treats stopped entirely for a period.

What I can tell you is which of ours sit lowest. If your vet has given you a percentage to stay under, the table above lets you check it yourself rather than trusting a label. If they have said keep it very low, look at the buffalo horn at 1.6%, the bladder twist at 3%, or the beef pizzle at 3.2%.

One thing worth knowing: fat is not the only factor. Quantity matters just as much. A small piece of something moderate can be safer than a lot of something lean, and a chew your dog works at slowly is easier on them than one they inhale.

Which low fat chews actually last?

This is the practical problem with most low fat lists. Lean treats tend to be small and gone in seconds, which is no use if you are trying to occupy a dog who is on reduced rations and hungry.

The ones that are both lean and long lasting:

• Buffalo horn, 1.6%. Months, not hours. The best answer we have.
• Beef pizzle, 3.2%. Dense and takes real work.
• Himalayan yak chews, 5.2%. One of the most durable things in our range.
• Braided paddywack, 5.3%. Stringy, so they have to gnaw rather than crunch.
• Jumbo paddywack, 7.5%. 84.3% protein, barely smells.
• Camel wrap, 8%. 76% protein, and camel is about as novel a meat as you will find.

All six are in our low fat range. Our goats ears would have made this list on durability, but at 14.82% they miss our line by 0.82 of a point, so they are not in the low fat range and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

What about training treats?

Training is where fat matters least and quantity matters most, because you are handing over dozens of tiny pieces.

Our turkey training treats are 14.3% fat and 71% protein, which is not low fat but is fine in the amounts training actually uses. If you want lean, break up a beef tripe stick at 6.9%, or use chicken breast jerky at 8%.

Why you cannot trust a low fat label

Three reasons, all worth knowing whoever you buy from.

There is no standard. One shop's low fat collection is under 10%. Ours is under 14%. A third has no stated threshold at all.

Natural products vary. These are animals, not biscuits. Two batches of the same treat will not be identical, and any honest figure is an average.

Wet and dry are not comparable. A pâté at 12% and a dried chew at 12% are not the same thing at all, because the pâté is mostly water. Always check whether a figure is for a dried product.

The only real fix is for sellers to publish the number for each product. So we have.

The honest summary

Twenty of our chews come in under our 14% low fat line. Eighteen are 20% or over. The leanest thing that will genuinely occupy a dog is a buffalo horn at 1.6%.

Rabbit ears, puffed chews and anything that is a bird's foot are all fattier than they are usually sold as, including by us until we checked properly.

And remember the piece size. The percentage and the weight only mean something together.

If your dog is on a diet, or has had pancreatitis, take the table above to your vet rather than trusting the word "low" on a bag.

If you just want help picking something, our treat finder asks three questions about how your dog chews, their age and anything to avoid, then shows you only the ones that suit. Or email me and tell me what your vet has said. I answer every message myself.

Keep exploring: our high protein dog treats and grain free dog treats.

Figures are from our own analytical constituents, correct at the time of writing. As natural products they vary slightly between batches. If you spot something that looks wrong, tell me and I will check it.