Shark Skin dog treats – Organic, dental chew, low fat, the full story!
The skins are from Gummy sharks that are caught under license in Australian waters for the restaurant trade and the pieces that are not for human consumption would be discarded if it wasn’t for these novel kinds of applications.
But shark skin is far from waste products for dogs. Unlike pork products, the fat is much lower, less saturated and higher in the good fats: Omega 3 and Omega 6.
Some companies will provide shark cartilage along with a chunk of meat attached, but that is more like a meal, and much higher in KJ and lower in chewing function. If you want meat, we sell flake, clean and well sliced without skin. But Shark skin is about providing a very healthy chewing option to preoccupy your dog without the big calories.
To make the skin last longer, our manufacturer cut it into thin strips then wrap it in a helix around a 20 mm rod so that the skin comes out as a hollow cylinder. These helix cylinders are usually about 100mm long but vary in length and colour, since we are dealing with a completely natural product.
This construction technique provides just enough added challenge to a dog chew but still allowing dogs of all sizes to eat them.
Why people use fish treats for dogs
Advertising companies decided decades ago that they would target cat owners with images of cats loving fish so they could sell surplus stock of off-cuts in cans to felines. However you probably realise that there are more dogs that can swim and might actually catch a fish than any cat. However the real point about fish for dogs is that they are one of the plentiful, clean, NON ADDITIVE meats from the wild that you can safely feed your dogs.
Fish like kangaroo products, are caught in the wild and should have very low pesticides herbicides or artificial growth hormones in them, unlike many livestock and poultry can have. Wild animals are the closest thing to truly organic that you will find on earth.
THAT plus dogs not usually having fish as a regular part of their diet means that fish meat and fish products are generally considered hypo-allergenic. So much so that they are used in vet exclusion diets because they have ‘novel proteins’ that dogs are unlikely to have been exposed to before.
Shark skins fit perfectly into our healthy dog treat range, because they are 100% natural products like all of our other fish range. If you can avoid any extra processing (recombination, addition of any vegetables or over-heating or added oils, sugars or salts) THAT is what we highly recommend.
Shark skin dog treat texture and mouth feel
Dogs are highly sensitive to odours. It is their strongest sense, so when they smell something they like they are much more likely to find it highly desirable. The issue with this is that the owners often find strong animal treat scents objectionable when activated by dog saliva in the house.
These shark skins only have a light smell, however they make up for this with the slightly rough sandy feel of the skin surface itself. The inside of the roll is relatively smooth, however, the outside provides an interesting natural and regular sandy texture that makes many dogs enjoy ripping it apart even more.
Big powerful dogs love pork twists and jumbo rolls, however, most mid to small dogs don’t have the jaw power to unravel these very well. This is another reason why we sell and recommend shark skins. They are like a miniature version of the pork rolls but much healthier.
the shark rolls are mostly one or several pieces of strips that make a relatively strong treat. They are not a completely disjoint box of pieces that are only stuck together with glue additives like many rawhide treats. This natural integrity of the treat means that while it is small, it doesn’t need additives to glue it together, and it will take longer to unravel, naturally.
Shark Skin 100% Australian, 100% natural highlights
- 100% Australian
- Low Fat
- High in Omega 3 & 6 essential fatty acids (helping Dog’s Joints, Skin & Coat)
- A NATURAL Dental Chew
- Environmentally friendly (meat is sustainably caught for restaurants
- hypo- allergenic
- No additives or Preservatives added