Healthy Treats Calming Puppy Treats - 50g

The Healthy Treats Calming Puppy Treats are crunchy cream-filled treats with L-tryptophan, magnesium sulphate, chamomile extract and lemon balm extract in the filling. Mark & Chappell position them for settling into a new home, training, travel, grooming and kennel stays. At around three calories each they are easy to use often, which is their real advantage. Please read the section below on anxiety and noise fear, because that is where expectations need to be set properly.

Key Features

• Calming Ingredients: L-tryptophan, an amino acid, with magnesium sulphate, chamomile extract and lemon balm extract.
• Calories: Around 3 calories per treat, the lowest in the range.
• Servings: Roughly 14 servings in the bag, depending on your dog's size.
• Age Range: Labelled by VetIQ for puppies from 4 weeks of age.
• Format: A crisp baked shell with a soft cream-filled centre, small enough to use as a training reward.
• Pack Size: 50g resealable bag.

What To Expect, And What Not To

• L-tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, and it is the ingredient most calming products are built on. The research in dogs is mixed, and the amounts in a treat are modest. Some owners report a difference and some report nothing at all.
• Where these are genuinely useful is low-level stuff: a puppy settling into a new house, a car journey, a grooming session, a vet visit, learning to be left for short periods. Being small and low in calories means you can use plenty of them, and much of the benefit is simply that your puppy is being paid for staying calm.
• Give them ahead of the event rather than during it. Nothing in a treat works fast enough to help a dog that is already frightened.

Real Anxiety Needs More Than A Treat

• Separation anxiety and noise phobia get listed on calming products as though they are mild inconveniences. They are not. A dog with genuine separation anxiety is in real distress every time it is left, and dogs with noise phobia can injure themselves trying to escape.
• Those need a proper plan: a behaviour programme, gradual desensitisation, and often prescription medication from your vet. A treat is at best a very small part of that, and treating it as the whole answer means a dog stays frightened for months longer than it needed to.
• If your dog destroys things, soils indoors, howls or panics when left, speak to your vet and ask for a referral to a qualified behaviourist. It is a treatable problem and it does not improve on its own.
• Hyperactivity in a puppy is usually not a disorder at all. Puppies need a great deal of sleep, often eighteen hours a day or more, and an overtired puppy looks exactly like a hyperactive one. Before reaching for a calming treat, check your puppy is getting enough undisturbed rest and enough to chew.

About The 4 Week Label

• Mark & Chappell label this range as suitable for puppies from 4 weeks of age. That is written for breeders: a puppy of that age is only starting to wean and is still with its mother and litter.
• What it actually tells you is that the recipe is gentle enough for a very young puppy. It is not a suggestion that a four-week-old puppy should be having treats, and it is not a reason to take a puppy off its mother early.
• Most people get their puppy at around eight weeks. From that point these are genuinely useful, because a soft-centred treat a puppy really wants is the easiest way to get house-training, handling, lead work and crate practice started.

Who Makes It

• Healthy Treats is a range made by Mark & Chappell Ltd, a British company that sells pet healthcare under the VetIQ Healthy+ name. The brand is VetIQ; Healthy Treats is the dog treat line, and Healthy Bites is the matching line for cats and small pets.
• Every treat in the range is built the same way: a crisp baked cereal shell wrapped around a soft cream-filled centre, with the active ingredients carried in the filling. That is what lets them put something useful in a treat a dog will take by hand.
• Mark & Chappell state there is no added sugar in the range and no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. The antioxidants used are vitamin E, ascorbyl palmitate and rosemary extract.

These Are Rich Treats

• Worth knowing before you buy: the cream filling makes this a high-fat treat. Across the range the crude fat content runs from roughly 23 to 30 per cent, which is higher than most dry dog foods. The calories per treat are low because the treats are small, not because they are lean.
• On a small dog that adds up quickly. Keep everything outside the main meals under about a tenth of the day's calories, and take a little off the main meal on days you use a lot of them.
• If your dog has had pancreatitis, is prone to it, or has been put on a low-fat diet by your vet, check before using these. A rich treat is exactly the kind of thing that gets overlooked when someone is being careful about the main food.

Feeding Safely

• Mark & Chappell ask that dogs be supervised while eating these, that they are fed as a snack between meals, and that fresh drinking water is always available. Sensible advice for any hard treat given to a puppy.
• Hand-feed rather than tipping a pile into the bowl. You can see what went in, you get the training value out of it, and in a multi-dog house nobody takes more than their share.
• Introduce them a couple at a time over a few days. A new ingredient in a large first helping is the usual reason for a loose stool that then gets blamed on the product.

A Treat, Not A Medicine

• This is a complementary pet food. It is not a veterinary medicine and it is not licensed to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. The VetIQ name on the bag does not change that, and neither does the wording on the front.
• The fair way to read the range is good treats with a sensible extra in them, chosen to suit a situation. That is a reasonable basis for picking one bag over another. It is not a reason to use one instead of seeing your vet.
• If your dog is already on medication or a prescription diet, mention any treat you are adding at the next appointment. Prescription diets work by controlling exactly what goes in, and extras can work against them.

Storage In The UAE

• Mark & Chappell ask that the pack be stored cool and dry, out of direct sunlight, and used within four weeks of opening. That matters more here than in the UK, because heat and humidity turn the oils in a high-fat cream filling stale faster.
• Press the resealable strip shut after each use and keep the bag in a cupboard rather than on a sunny shelf or in the car. A fridge is not needed and tends to soften the shell.
• If a treat smells of old oil or crayons, or the shell has gone bendy, throw the bag out. Rancid fat is unpleasant rather than dangerous, but dogs refuse it and you have lost the pack anyway.

Currently Out Of Stock

• This one is out of stock at the moment. Message us and we will tell you when the next shipment is due rather than leaving you guessing.

Good To Know

• Complementary pet food for dogs. Not a complete diet and not a veterinary medicine.
• Supervise your dog while feeding. Feed as a snack between meals, with fresh water available.
• Resealable bag. Store cool and dry, out of sunlight, and use within four weeks of opening.
• A high-fat treat. Keep treats to roughly a tenth of your dog's daily calories at most.
• Made in the UK by Mark & Chappell Ltd under the VetIQ Healthy+ brand.
• Not for human consumption. Keep out of reach of children.
• Contains poultry protein and wheat flour.
• Not a treatment for separation anxiety or noise phobia. Speak to your vet about those.