How Much Fat Is in Dog Treats? Every Chew We Sell, Compared
JessA few weeks ago I sat down to check the fat content of everything we sell, 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 chew we sell, with its actual crude 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% crude fat, and that is the line we use too. Some sellers run a "very low fat" tier at under 5%. Neither figure is official, they are just conventions, and it is worth knowing that when you read a label.
Crude fat is the figure on the analytical constituents panel. It is measured on the product as sold, which matters more than you would think, and I will come back to it.
Every chew we sell, ranked by fat
Here is the range on one scale, with the dashed line marking our 10% cut off. Two pairs share identical figures and are shown once each on the chart: the braided collagen and the collagen straw, and the duck and venison training treats. All four appear separately in the tables below, along with the camel wrap, which joined the range after the chart was drawn.
The tables below are the same figures, if you would rather read them than squint at a chart. Lowest first, all from our own analytical constituents.
Under 10% fat
| Chew | Fat | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Antler XL | 0.1% | 36% |
| Sweet Potato Slices | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| Buffalo Horn | 1.6% | 91.4% |
| Bladder Twist | 3% | 56% |
| Beef Pizzle | 3.2% | 79.2% |
| Cod Skin Braid | 4% | 80% |
| Calf Hoof | 4% | 48.3% |
| Beef Biltong | 4.3% | 85.8% |
| Furry Buffalo Wrap | 4.4% | 68.8% |
| Yak Bar | 5.2% | 59.2% |
| Braided Tendon | 5.3% | 81.2% |
| Cow Ear | 6.4% | 54.6% |
| Beef Tripe Stick | 6.9% | 82.5% |
| Buffalo Wrap | 7.5% | 67% |
| Jumbo Paddywack | 7.5% | 84.3% |
| Camel Wrap | 8% | 76% |
| Chicken Breast Jerky | 8% | 49% |
| Jumbo Beef Tail | 8.3% | 69.3% |
10% to 20% fat
| Chew | Fat | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Pork Sausage | 13.6% | 29.9% |
| Turkey Training Treats | 14.3% | 71% |
| Ostrich Metatarsus Bone | 17.2% | 26.7% |
| Beef Trachea | 17.9% | 72.1% |
| Venison Leg | 18% | 66% |
20% fat and over
| Chew | Fat | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Large Pig Ear | 20% | 68.4% |
| Furry Rabbit Ear | 21.5% | 46.8% |
| Puffed Pig Snout | 22.3% | 58% |
| Turkey Neck | 22.7% | 52.2% |
| Braided Buffalo Collagen | 25.5% | 62% |
| Buffalo Collagen Straw | 25.5% | 62% |
| Duck Neck | 27.9% | 45.8% |
| Duck Foot | 28.3% | 50.1% |
| Turkey Wing Tip | 29.3% | 44% |
| Duck Wing | 31.5% | 45.8% |
| Duck Training Treats | 31.8% | 38.5% |
| Venison Training Treats | 31.8% | 38.5% |
| Puffed Chicken Foot | 34.2% | 42.8% |
| Hairless Rabbit Ear | 34.4% | 48.9% |
| Turkey Foot | 37.8% | 31.9% |
| Jumbo Sprats | 38% | 50% |
The ones 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%. We keep them in the low fat range because two of the four qualify and because most people buy them as training rewards in tiny amounts, but 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.
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% furry 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.
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.
Feet are the fattiest thing in the shop. Turkey foot 37.8%, chicken foot 34.2%, duck foot 28.3%. If your dog needs to lose weight, feet are the category to walk past.
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.
Antlers are almost fat free at 0.1%. True, but read our antler guide before you buy one, because the tooth question matters more than the fat one.
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.
- Yak bar, 5.2%. One of the most durable things we sell.
- Braided tendon, 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.
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%. Another runs under 5%. A third has no stated threshold at all.
Natural products vary. These are animals, not biscuits. Two batches of the same chew 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
Eighteen of our chews come in under 10% fat. Sixteen 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 foot are all fattier than they are usually sold as, including by us until we checked properly.
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. And if you want a hand picking something, email me and tell me what your vet has said. I answer every message myself.
Figures are crude fat 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.
Treats in this guide
Everything we mentioned, ready to go.
