[top row: yes, bottom row: no]So after much research and investigation, before we brought little Tulip home, Em and I had decided to feed her as naturally as possible, with as little processed food as feasible. now don't get me wrong, we aren't feeding her a raw diet or anything, she gets kibbles; but nutritious and delightfully good for the environment and her tummy kibbles. No junk carbs or filler for our munchkin. This philosophy extends to her play toys and treats as well, mainly in our avoidance of rawhide bones/processed parts like pigs ears and animal products which can harm the dog, such as hooves, joints and actual bones. Now, one would think that finding rawhide free treats for dogs would be relatively easy these days considering the amount of research that has been published on the harmful [and frankly pretty nasty] effects on dogs. Not so. It is in fact quite difficult to find a non-rawhide/greasy pressed animal product for a dog's enjoyment. We have found a few, most of which arrive to Tulip's doorstep via shipment from her g-marm and the amazing pet stores in the great OH. Pizzle sticks, dried achilles tendons, antlers, and dried sweet potato chews have been our findings in the past 7 months of dog ownership. So this weekend, when I came across a pet store that not only sold bully sticks [not as high quality or diversity as the OH options, but still, available!] AND had a product I had never seen next to the bully sticks, I was intrigued. I inquired as to whether they were processed/rawhide and was assured they were not. Then, I decided to check the salesperson's actual knowledge of the product and inquired as to what part of an animal it was...Her reply "Oh it's a cow esophagus." I determined that Tulip would ADORE these products and purchased a few.
And then I chuckled all the way home because the items in question were clearly tracheas...those cartilaginous bands don't lie, be they in a human or cow!
And in case you were wondering, yes, Miss Tulip thinks her trachea treats are divine :)
