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About a month ago I bought a bag of treats for my puppy (cracker-like, bone shaped). But when I got home I discovered that the bag said it was suitable for puppies 6 months old and older.

I don't mind storing the treats for some time (until he's 6 months old) but it got me thinking:

What makes a treat only suitable for a certain age?


I would assume nothing there would be toxic, but perhaps something in the ingredients is hard to digest for a young stomach?

lila
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Roflo
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3 Answers3

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I've seen that before as well and couldn't find any significant reason that's directly obvious.

The only one I could come up with are indeed the ingredients: A puppy needs a different relative amount of calcium and phosphorus (more calcium) since the young dog's body won't be able to control the ratio as well as an adult dog.

lila
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Mario
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Other reasons could be:

  • dog needs to be old enough to eat an ingredient;
  • treat is too high in calories for a younger dog;
  • dog needs to be older enough to bite treat, rather than slobbering the cracker into a gooey mess;
  • treat is too hard for a young puppy (or old dog).
lila
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SAM A
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Because a young puppy needs a much more fat and sugar packed diet than what a 6 month old would need and so is tailored to suit the needs of different ages, similarly to an old dog needing less fat but more fibre.

user10625
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