Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Another Surprise For Me: Mitzie Enjoys Yogurt Flavored Booda Bones (When There's Nothing Else)!




The Good: Good for dog's dental health, Good ingredients, My dog eats them...
The Bad: Mitzie does not prefer this flavor above others, Least economical pack!
The Basics: Booda Bones Yogurt flavored dog treats in the individual pack are a bit of a hard sell given that my dog doesn't seem terribly interested in them.


[Note: On Sunday night, Mitzie our geriatric cocker spaniel, came to rest. It is pretty astonishing to me to write with such a euphemism; death is something I am usually quite frank about and Mitzie was just shy of eighteen years old, so her death was not entirely unexpected. But over this past weekend, Mitzie took a surprising turn toward showing her age - something she seldom did as she was always giddy about being pumped full of treats, being taken for car rides and having a morning hunt for her bones. But by Saturday night, she was wobbly on her feet and by Sunday afternoon, she could not stand on her own and it was Mitzie's turn to get peace and when she began to have trouble breathing, my wife and I decided we had to be humane to our good girl who had brought so much light into our life. At 8 P.M., Sunday February 20, 2011, Mitzie Mutt Doggie Butt was able to fall asleep and stop worrying about us. She went peacefully and today, I want to pay tribute to the grande dame of our home. As many of my loyal readers know, my blog is a mix of brand spankin' new reviews and reviews I am transferring from the site I used to write for. Today, I am pulling all of the Mitzie reviews off that site and today and tomorrow, I am giving them priority here in my review blog. Mitzie was a great girl who helped teach me about a LOT of dog-related products. Let her help you make decisions about what treats, foods and toys are best for your dog in these retro reviews! Enjoy!]

My wife surprises me quite a bit lately when it comes to pet products. She has great taste, but some of the products she picks surprise me for the fact that she thinks our dog will enjoy them. Even so, she has a pretty wonderful record with picking winners, especially with the Booda Bones line of dog treats - Chicken Booda Bones are reviewed here and Spearmint Booda Bones are reviewed here! That trust in her judgment was something I had to take on faith when she brought home the yogurt flavored Booda Bones dog treat. This was a flavor I never would have guessed our dog would have enjoyed. And yet . . . Mitzie eats these bones and seems to like them.

Mitzie, our geriatric cocker spaniel, seems to like yogurt in real life. She - and our cats - lick out our yogurt containers when we finish them, but Mitzie doesn't race toward the yogurt containers the way the cats do. But as far as the Booda Bones treats go, Mitzie chose the yogurt treat last, though she still seems to enjoy them. But while Mitzie has a lot of choices, yogurt never seems to be the top choice for her. She only eats these when we give them to her, not when she chooses her treat herself (yes, my wife actually allows the dog to choose her own treats from time to time). But when she gets these, she seems to lick them more than she licks the other flavors.

Booda Bones, as my wife has pointed out, come in a wide variety of sizes for dogs and the little bones are intended for dogs less than 15 lbs. in size, so our old cocker spaniel still applies. The key selling point of the Booda Bones treats is that they have positive dental benefits for dogs and this has been clearly illustrated to me, even with the Yogurt flavor. As well, even though this flavor is Mitzie's last choice, she does eat them, so they must taste like Yogurt or something else she likes!

The Booda Bones Yogurt flavor treat comes individually as a wrapped bone-shaped treat three inches long by 7/8" wide (3/8" thick). This is the least quantity one might buy them in and there are multipacks. For my tastes and budgets, the single Booda Bone treat seems a bit expensive at about a dollar a treat. Even with my partner's discount, it seems like the individually-wrapped treat is environmentally and economically not much of a value. There are multipacks of the Yogurt flavor on the market. The picture here on the site gets the color of this specific Booda Bone wrong; these are actually a light lavender color that look like they are yogurt-covered raisins or the like.

The lavender bone is designed to help fight plaque and tartar build-up by having a texture to it. The bone has bumps and the bumps agitate the build-up on teeth whenever a dog bites into them. Because the bone is too big to simply be swallowed, the Booda Bones effectively brushes the dog's teeth and tongue using friction whenever the dog bites into it to split it and swallows it, dragging the bolus across their tongue. As well, the little bumps on the bone help get the crap off Mitzie's tongue because she does lick the bone a lot before she bites into it. This has had wonderful results with Mitzie, even with only eating a few of the Booda Bones Yogurt Flavored treats (though she had had several other treats in the days before she started eating the Yogurt flavored ones). Mitzie's breath has gotten better, though now instead of smelling like old food, is smells of milk. The yogurt-flavored Booda Bones do not seem to have a distinct smell and the result of Mitzie eating them is more of a neutral, milky smell than a sour, yogurt-culture smell.

One of the other key selling points of the Yogurt flavor Booda Bones treats is that it is wheat-free. Apparently, wheat is used in a lot of dog products and it is not great for their digestion. For those looking out for their dog's diet, the Yogurt flavored Booda Bones treat is made up primarily of modified food starch, water and glycerin. This is intended entirely as a treat, not a meal substitute or replacement. Mitzie has been putting on weight in the last few weeks, probably because she has been getting so many treats. As a result, we actually have begun to reduce Mitzie's diet by 5% to accommodate the treat (the package recommends that). She has not bulked up significantly by having one of these treats (or the other flavored Booda Bones) each day for the past week.

These treats are not bad for dogs and the package says that if there are any messes from the dog they clean up easily, but Mitzie ate the Yogurt flavored treats and kept them down without any problems. Still, this is basically candy for dogs and the Yogurt flavor offers little to dogs that is either beneficial or a detraction. This treat has at least 1% crude protein and crude fat and no more than 6% crude fiber and 14% moisture, so those looking out for their dog's specific dietary needs, that might help.

The Booda Bones treats are good for dogs and Mitzie liked the Yogurt flavor, but it has never been her first choice. As she moves into the twilight of her life, we are less likely to keep giving her these because they are a bit expensive for a neutral reaction from our dog. While these are not bad, they are in no way extraordinary or exciting for Mitzie and she (and your dog) deserve better for the price.

For other dog treat reviews, please visit Mitzie's opinions (as translated by me) on:
Redbarn Bacon N Cheese filled bone
Science Diet Immunity Support Wafers
Mixables Colorado Cookout

6.5/10

For other pet product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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