Whilst the primary purpose of this website is to provide detailed information about natural dog treats, we frequently get asked for recommendations. This post explains why and how we make recommendations.
Firstly, our vet writers do not make any specific brand recommendations. All recommended products and brands are selected by the Editorial Team. This helps to ensure that the information contained in our dog treat articles remains completely independent and objective.
So how do our editors choose what to recommend? Well, it comes down to three things: safety, provenance and ethics (all of which are interconnected).
Safety
The safety of feeding your dog one type of natural treat over another is something that is covered in each individual article by one of our expert writers. When it comes to selecting a specific brand or product, our Editors will evaluate how the company approaches safety.
Product recalls and law suits can tell us a lot about how a company approaches safety.
The existence of a product recall isn’t a red flag in an of itself. Mistakes happen. Sometimes bad things happen outwith the control of a company. And it could be argued that the existence of a product recall is a sign of a company taking their responsibilities seriously.
But we definitely look at the product recall history before we make a recommendation. We would never promote a company that has attempted to cover up a recall, or reacted slowly, or clearly has a pattern of distributing sub-standard products.
We also ask companies for evidence of their Quality Assurance (QA) process as a condition of promoting any of their products.
Provenance
This is linked quite closely to safety. Because one of the main risks associated with natural dog treats is the potential for bacterial contamination.
Our research suggests that the best way to reduce the risk of purchasing a contaminated product is to purchase from a reputable brand, registered in a territory with good regulation, and capable of demonstrating excellent supply chain management.
The reality is that there are many places in the world where regulation is light touch and manufacturing processes are loose. It naturally follows that products produced in (or originating from) these places will have a higher instance of contamination.
Obviously the existence or regulation and processes does not eliminate the risk of contamination altogether. But it does reduce the risk.
And so when we make a recommendation we look for traceability, evidence of good supply chain management and evidence of QA processes.
Ethics
This is linked quite closely to provenance.
Just because we like to feed our dogs dried animal parts (let’s not beat about the bush; “natural dog treats” is very much a euphemism) doesn’t mean we don’t care deeply about animal welfare.
Poor animal husbandry is not something we want to support, even tacitly.
Again, territories with light regulation and relaxed processes are less likely to invest in animal welfare. Whereas more regulated territories are more likely to have better minimum standards.
Obviously poor animal welfare is not restricted by geography, which is why we look for evidence of good supply chain management in addition to company location.
Do We Make Money From Recommendations?
The short answer is, yes we can.
Some of the links to products we promote are affiliate links, which means if you click on them and make a purchase, we may earn a referral commission.
For the first 5 years, we ran this website without any affiliate links but the reality is that it costs money to run the site. And if we want to keep growing the site with informational articles written by expert professionals, then that costs even more money.
If you are comfortable with this, then we welcome your support!
Thank you for reading,
The Kip & Twiggy’s Team
