What’s actually in your dog’s treats - our chattanooga pet bakery breaks it down
Holly was a chocolate lab. She was also the reason Slobberbones exists. Her owners wanted to give her treats that were actually safe, treats made from real ingredients, nothing they'd have to Google to pronounce. What they found on store shelves wasn't it. So they built what they couldn't find. That's still the standard we hold every treat to today. If you'd have to look it up, it doesn't go in the bag.
So What's Actually in Most Dog Treats?
Flip over a bag of mass-market dog treats and scan the ingredient list. You'll usually find:
Meat by-products (not the same as real meat)
Corn syrup and added sugars
Artificial preservatives like BHA and BHT
Artificial colors (your dog doesn't care what color the treat is, that's for you)
Fillers like corn, wheat gluten, and soy that add bulk with little nutritional value
None of that is going to send your dog to the emergency vet from a single treat. But over time, ingredient quality matters. What goes in shows up in coat health, energy levels, digestion, and weight.
What We Actually Use
Every treat we bake at Slobberbones starts with real, whole ingredients. The kind that need no explanation. Whole wheat flour. Fresh fruits and vegetables. Eggs. Peanut butter. Real pumpkin. Ingredients you recognize without a chemistry background. We bake in-store, daily. They're made here, which means they're fresh, and you can see exactly what went into them.
Why "Natural" on the Label Doesn't Always Mean What You Think
"Natural" is one of the most overused words in pet food marketing. The FDA has minimal enforcement standards for it on pet product labels, which means it gets applied to products that still contain synthetic additives, rendered fats, and low-grade proteins. Our answer to that: skip the marketing language. Instead of telling you our treats are natural, we just tell you what's in them. Short list. Real words. Nothing hidden.
The Birthday Cake Standard
Our custom birthday cakes are where the ingredient commitment becomes most obvious. These are fully customizable, made fresh to order, and built to be safe enough that you could technically eat one yourself. (We don't recommend it, but the option is there.)
No artificial dyes. No xylitol. No shortcuts.
In Chattanooga, we've become the go-to for dog birthday cakes, not because we market the hardest, but because word gets around when a dog is genuinely excited about what's in front of them.
What to Look For When You're Buying Anywhere
Whether you're shopping with us or somewhere else, here's a quick guide for reading a treat label:
First ingredient should be a real protein
Shorter ingredient lists are generally better
Avoid: xylitol (toxic to dogs), artificial preservatives, and mystery "meat meal"
"Human-grade" means the ingredients meet standards for human consumption — that matters
If you can't picture the ingredient as a real food, think twice
Our Retail Standard: We Only Carry What We'd Feed Our Own
The treats we bake in-house aren't the only ones we stand behind. Our retail selection, every bag, every brand, goes through the same filter. We only stock what we'd actually give our own dogs.
That means a smaller, curated selection. That's intentional. You won't find 4,000 options here. You'll find the right ones.
Come see what we're baking this week or place a custom order for your dog's next birthday. Everything's made fresh, in-store, with ingredients you can actually read.
