thanks for the heads-up judith. I recently bought a big bag of chicken jerky treats for my dogs then saw a notice on another pet forum I visit about chicken/duck treats from China causing serious health problems. They're getting returned next time I'm there.

With the cost of dog treats, I'm getting ready to try something I read about, which is to take chicken hotdogs, cut them up, microwave till shriveled up, and use as training treats. Keep in fridge. At least it's human-grade food. Need to compare sodium to store-bought treats. And I'm sure the nitrates aren't good for them, but at least I won't be poisoning them as fast as with jerky treats.

Another link I found
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/chicken-jerky-treats/

Does anyone have a simple meat-based treat recipe that I can try? (Have several flour/pb type recipes already, do NOT have a dehydrator & not planning to buy one)

Here is a link that might be useful: msn story about jerky treats

I stopped buying any China made products---as much as possible. Especially for the dogs. Once spent half an hour searching the two toy aisles at PetSmart and found only three items or brands not made in China.

Kong products are USA made and I found several rope toys made in Mexico. Told the store manager---that was a year or better ago---no change so far.

I get my chicken jerky treats at Trader Joes. Made in the US.

Here is a link that might be useful: pet food recall list

thanks Caligal!!! As if I need a reason to go to TJ's, love that store. And my dogs love love love jerky treats.

I did find a 'recipe' for making sweet potato jerky treats I'm going to try- slice a sweet potato into 1/4-1/3" pieces, bake at 250 for 2-3 hrs. They love sweet potatoes already, so I'll make it tonight.

HM,when we got one of our dogs, the rescue lady strongly suggested never to let them have rawhides unless they're made in USA, she said Mexican/Chinese made have arsenic or some awful heavy metal in them. And please don't blame your local store manager for the items they're carrying, they generally have very little choice in what they stock, we have to vote with our wallets and hope it has an effect.

jomuir, I freeze sweet potatoes in ice cube trays and then give as a treat or warm a cube and add to dog food. Davis loves sweet potatoes. Let me know how those jerky treats turn out.

Last night I made the sweet potato 'jerky' recipe. Easy peasy, but the sweet potatoes are kinda hard to slice w/a dull knife!

The dogs loved them, they love sw. potatoes anyway. Roxie chewed it like jerky, Forrest gobbled his more than chewed.

Will def. try yours and let you know, I'm sure they'll enjoy them, thanks for the tip!

can you post the jerky recipe, please? thank you.

The nmajor problem has been with pet foods that contain gluten products such as corn gluten. Much of this is corn gluten from China that was contaminated with puieces of metal, etc. If you read the table of contents on Kirkland (Costco) Chicken and rice dog food, there is no corn or corn gluten products in this dog food. As a matter of fact, the first four items are chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice and cracked pearled barley.

Now, there is a confusing factor about "made in America" and "packaged in America". The "packaged" thing obviously means that some ingredients come from foreign sourses. As an example, as I mentioned, the first item on the Costco brand food is chicken, but from where. Now, I have two adult Welsh Corgis who have been of Kirkland dog food for years and are both are hale and hardy.

Remember the alar in apples scare a few decades ago where people stopped feeding their kids apples due to this pesticide? It was probably perfectly safe but at least people bothered.

Nobody is fussing now that most of our apple juice comes from unregulated farms in China. We don't even check up for people food--our pets don't have a chance!

Fori - There are plenty of people who do indeed pay attention to what they eat and what their pets eat. Consider buying local. Or at least buy from organic chain stores. And read the labels. Know what's in your food and your dogs food and where it comes from.

The chicken jerky thing has been going on for years and years. If some folks haven't figured it out by now, I wonder if they ever will. And if you base your 'food' buying on pricing - well, you get what you pay for. Cheap food is poor quality food.

caligal, were you asking me for the jerky recipe? It's super easy, just thinly slice raw unpeeled (washed) sweet potatoes, 1/3-1/4" thick. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet, bake 3 hr. at 200-250 degrees. Turn over after 1-1/2 hr.

I made another batch tonight using a mandoline to slice them, the dogs love them! They're all natural and best of all cheap. I had a second pan lower in the oven tonight, they baked up a lot faster, and they were crunching them like chips, lol.

thank you jomuir!

Ugh, my puppy has eaten half a bag of the Iams Puppy Smart to date. It's a lot more work and expensive but I may look into making her food.