Does anyone use an alternate brand of dog food as training treats?

[Jennett Pulley]

We feed our hedgehog Blue Buffalo kitten food and it's quite expensive.  Even the smallest bag seems to go a bit stale before she eats it all. 

I was looking at the ingredients (we don't buy the fish based, we buy the chicken based as hedgehog poo is stinky enough without adding salmon) and the ingredients don't look very different than the puppy food.  I was thinking the size of the kibble would be great as training treats and the different taste/smell would make her think it is quite exciting.

Thoughts?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you are asking about using the kitten food as a training treat for your dog, don't. Dogs should never eat any type of cat or kitten food, as their nutritional needs are very different. Cats need much more protein and fat than dogs do, and they even need certain amino acids that dogs make themselves but cats don't. A few pieces might not hurt, but it's just not a good idea. 

 

[Jennett Pulley]

Great!  Thank you.  What about an alternate dog food?  I'm think smaller pieces and better value?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's fine to use a different dog food for treats, but I don't think there are many on our recommended list that are less expensive than the Blue Buffalo, and considering how much you have to buy even with the smallest sized bags, you're probably better off just using training treats.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Blue Buffalo makes soft treats that are not that expensive - since they're soft you can cut them with a knife into very small pieces.  Make sure you keep them in a resealable bag or a cookie jar so they don't get stale.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My dogs eat Fromm and we love the SoJo's treats. They are small enough that they could be used as a training treat and the larger ones I break in half. They seem to love all the flavors.