In our hunt for the perfect and perfectly safe pet treat we wandered into Dusty’s Den today.  Scanning the shelves I spied something that looked promising:  Stella & Chewy’s Freeze Dried Surf ‘N Turf Dinner.  Now, I am personally looking for cat treats and this is a dog food.  Oh, not possible, right?  Wrong!  While cat and dog foods are NOT interchangeable due to different nutritional needs, this dog food as the occasional cat treat appears just right!  The reason…or reasons…are the impeccable ingredients.  From the Stella & Chewy’s website:

Ingredients: Beef, Whole Ground Salmon, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Turkey, Beef Bone, Turkey Liver, Calcium Carbonate, Pumpkin Seed, Potassium Chloride, Organic Cranberries, Organic Spinach, Organic Broccoli, Organic Beets, Sodium Phosphate Monobasic, Organic Carrots, Organic Squash, Organic Apples, Organic Blueberries, Choline Chloride, Dried Pediococcus Acidilactici Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Bifidobacterium Longum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Taurine, Tocopherols (Preservative), Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Monohydrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B12 Supplement. 

Raw, wild Alaskan salmon & raw, naturally raised beef
Organic fruits & vegetables
Natural with added vitamins and minerals
Healthful direct-fed microbials
Freeze-dried to lock in nutrition and flavor
Minimally processed
Made in Wisconsin

No added hormones or antibiotics
No grains or fillers
No artificial preservatives or colorings
No added sugar or salt
No compromise on quality!

You can read more on their safety here:  http://www.stellaandchewys.com/safety.php.

Cats eat salmon and turkey, while they don’t exactly stalk and take down cattle in the wild, they also like beef.  So I bought a 6oz bag from George at Dusty’s and brought it home.  I have never, ever found a treat that all my cats will eat.  BenBen is the worst – like Mikey “he hates everything.”  Walter only wants the Purina One that I feed to my outdoor cat.  Piglet looks like I am trying to poison him with treats – he’ll sniff, look at me like, “Are you kidding?” then turn around and walk away (actually, Piggy stomps. He’s the loudest cat in the walking department I’ve ever had.  You can hear him a mile away).  Cosette couldn’t care less, Tigger isn’t too picky, and only Buster and Grace will eat whatever I place in front of them.

So I busted open one of the dried discs and gave Buster a couple of shreds from it.  This stuff really stinks and when it comes to cats and their food stink is what it’s all about.  They think stink “smells like the feet of angels.”  Well, the scent must have wafted through the house on the wings of eagles.  There was a huge commotion in the kitchen not unlike when a cow falls into a river full of piranhas.  Every last one of my children ran from the four corners of the house (not a huge endeavor given the size of our house but impressive nonetheless.)  And every last one of them LOVED it.  Wow.  If you feed this disc whole and not rehydrated to a dog there are certain water intake requirements.  But I just fed a couple shreds of the dehydrated disc to each cat.  I may try rehydrating it tomorrow and see if they like that.

You all know that I am a big supporter of shopping small and local and I know many of you are not local here in Tuolumne County and cannot go to Dusty’s Den.  You can get Stella & Chewy’s online but I would really, really, really (did I say really?) encourage you to buy from Stella & Chewy directly if you must purchase online.  There are certain large clearinghouse purchasing sites (that rhyme with Hamazon) that do NOT always vet their suppliers.  China counterfeits everything (Do you buy oh, say, Crest at a 99¢ store?  It’s probably a Chinese counterfeit) and when it comes to our fur children I would never purchase treats from such large clearinghouse sites.  There are many reviews for all sorts of items that claim the products received from a third party supplier were not the real deal.  My Nana used to say, “Don’t jump over dollars to save nickels” and I would apply that to pet treats.  The money you save in “discounts” and on shipping you could end up paying to your vet and in heartache because the treats weren’t the real deal.  So shop and purchase local or direct from the manufacturer…please!