Milkbone Biscuits? What's Your Opinion?


Experienced Member
Missy gets deer antlers all the time... at least when she finishes one (takes her about 3 months, maybe more)... I go back to the pet store and buy a new one. :D She also loves them!


Honored Member
Tx_cowgirl is gonna be so jealous, she WANTS to get ahold of some deer antlers to train her dog to hunt. If anyone has access to copious amts of free deer antlers, they should consider contacting Tx_cowgirl, a moderator here, to see if she is interested in having them? :) (Tx might strangle me for posting that:ROFLMAO:).


Experienced Member
The other day I saw some AKC brand treats. I checked the the ingredients and there was no wheat, and meat was one of the first ingredients in most of them. They're pretty cheap and I found them at Walmart, but they may not have them in stock everywhere. I haven't tried them yet, but I will soon.

Also, I got some Wellness biscuits to try. They only use ingredients that are good for dogs (no wheat).

Oh, and I bought some Milkbone Healthy Favorites. The first ingredient in the chewy ones is chicken. They look pretty good, but I'm not sure about the crunchy ones.


Honored Member
There are tons of ingredients we wish to avoid in dog foods beside wheat.
We don't want sugar, salt, flour, byproducts, soy, cellulose, sugar, salt, spices, food dyes, animal digest,
Glyceryl Monostearate, BHT, and alllllllllll these things:

see, it's not just wheat you are watching for.
Store bought treats typically bite.:sick:
There are just so so few laws about what one can put in stuff labelled for dogs...
is a darn shame. Even feces is allowed,:poop: ("animal digest"),
and hooves and beaks, ("byproducts")
and cardboard (cellulose").
and they can still sell it as "Healthy All-Natural dog treat".

But wellness is good brand! YOu are probably safe with Wellness brand:) if you can afford them.

Worth noting, the preservatives used
in dog foods and dog treats
can be proven carcinogens, :eek:(KNOWN to cause cancer)
which ARE banned from human food.

but, carcinogens are allowed to be put in dog foods and treats. :mad:

Good also to know, items are listed by weight,
and the meat is listed PRIOR to dehydration,
meat is 80% water, and very heavy at first when listed in ingredient list...
once that "chicken" is dehydrated, it is now in powder form, and very very light!

and might not even make the top five or even ten ingredients anymore.

"Meal" is okay, if specific named meat is listed,
such as "chicken meal" etc.
Meal just means partially dehydrated meat,
and so it's place by weight
on the list is more accurate than "chicken" will be.

still, i don't think an occasional half of a flour biscuit harms a dog. :)
just wanted you to know,
it's a LOT more than just 'wheat' you are wanting to avoid........a lot lot more.


Experienced Member
The reason I said there was no wheat was because that is usually the first thing listed, while sugar and salt are usually pretty far down the list. Also, many dogs have wheat allergies, while they don't have allergies toward salt, sugar, etc.

Also, there are no byproducts, animal digest, or cellulose in these treats, or I would have said so.

Certain spices are good for dogs like cinnamon, parsley, and rosemary, so I don't consider spices a bad thing in treats. If the ingredients say spices, they usually list the spices.

These are the complete list of ingredients on the bag, in order, exactly as printed:

Chicken, brown sugar, soy flour, dried potato, rolled oats, dried sweet potato, dried apples, glycerin, salt, natural flavor, garlic, citric acid (used as a preservative), minerals (calcium propionate, zinc propionate), natural mixed tocopherols (used as a preservative), rosemary extract.

I know it has brown sugar in it, but I would rather it be brown sugar than regular sugar, and garlic isn't bad in small quantities.


Honored Member
so main ingredient is
(sugar is sugar, brown or white, makes no diff to the dog's health)
and next ingredient is
and/or flour.
all these are not good for dogs.
and there's salt, which dogs do not need, (not cuz of allergies, but for their kidneys and heart don't need it).
but, it seems free of toxic preservatives, near as i can tell. You could do a lot worse!

the chicken,
when dehydrated, and lost it's weight which is 80% water, will be way way further back on the list, not a main ingredient. It's tricky how they do that,
but, they list ingredients by weight.
if it says "chicken meal" near top of list,
that's more accurately placed then, since 'meal' is partially dehydrated, so it's weight IS accurate.
but when it says "chicken" it will fall wayyyyy back on the list after dehydration to powder form.

you can always MAKE your treats, recipe link is on previous page, is easy, and fun, and very economical, and dog just adores you as you whirr those beaters, waiting to lick them!:ROFLMAO:
occasionally, a half of flour based biscuit is not that bad for a dog, i don't think, others may disagree, but, a sugar biscuit is not too good. but, i think it is AWESOME you are interested and doing your best to keep toxins and crapola out of your dog's life! KUDOS TO YOU!!


Staff member
I'll have to agree with Tigerlily on this, the chicken, once the treat is cooked, will be the 5th or 6th ingredient... Sugar is the main ingredient in these treats.

I use the dog's food, mixed with freeze dried cheese, beef liver, chicken, whitefish and/or duck the dogs LOVE the freeze dried meats and cheese. and there's no other ingredient. I also use veggies, as my dogs love them, frozen blueberries, cut up apple (careful of the seeds) and watermelon.

You want to feed cheap treats? cut up hot dogs... dogs love'em and they're healthy (if a little extra fat). you could also bake liver in small cut-up pieces for treats. well, any meat, for that matter, but liver is a great meat for dogs.


Experienced Member
I am so happy my kids consider their Wellness everyday kibble food as a treat !

We also use CAT TREATS ... Medi Treats from MediCal - low fat & vegetarian with only 1.5 calories per treat. good shape for hand feeding too. Dogs love them just as much as the cats do. But they'll pretty much eat anything.

Brewer’s Rice, Fish Meal, Natural Flavour, Coconut Oil, Tomato Pomace (Source of Lycopene), Flax Seed, Brewer’s Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Citrate, DL-Methionine, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Taurine, Vitamins (DL-Alpha-Tocopherol [Source of Vitamin E], Niacin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Source of Vitamin C], Biotin, Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement and Vitamin D3 Supplement), Trace Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulphate, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Sulphate, Manganous Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate and Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine and Beta-Carotene. Naturally Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract and Citric Acid. Approximately 1.5 kcal/treat


Honored Member
I don't know much about milkbone biscuits, my dog doesn't consider them worth more than a half hearted sit if there is no paint drying that he can watch instead :rolleyes:. But after a bad experience with cheap store bought treats (dull coat, a skin condition and excessive drinking during training) we've often been using Tigerlily's liver cookies - these are a few variations as I am quite incapable of following a recipe:
  • I include the liver stock and extra oats because I'm a skinflint :p.
  • I cook them as a tray bake and cut them into squares.
  • A tiny sprinkling of garlic in the mix is brilliant if your dog is likely to lose a treat in the long grass, but this does have a pied piper effect with all the local dogs following me down the road :D. 100% recall of everyone elses dogs - but not my own :ROFLMAO:.
  • I also made some small liver cookie blobs that can be broken into 4 without crumbling, these are GREAT for recall games where you are throwing the treat for some distance.
!!!!!!!!!LIVER COOKIES ARE GREAT!!!!!!!!!​


Honored Member

rofl, i can so picture this! too funny!:ROFLMAO:

To Amateur, so great you are interested in what you feed your beloved dog, but that list is not good for your dog or your cat, and you can probably do a lot better.

Almost all those ingredients are not recommended for dogs. OR cats.
The main ingredient is "Brewer's Rice"
which humans think means "rice".
But BREWER'S rice, is like peanut's a filler.

Many of the other ingredients, like "fish meal" contain poisonous preservatives. (see, with dog foods, poisonous preservatives are allowed!)
You may want to compare your ingredients to this list:

I hear that my recipe for "Liver Cookies" (link on page 1 of this thread) is also enjoyed by CATS too, so if you do decide to try a batch, your cat might like those treats, too. The recipe is NOT hard to make, much like making a batch of cookies, and low cost items are in it.

and not to sound as if *i* am on a high-horse, cuz i'm not.:notworthy: I once fed my dog the absolute WORST dog food and dog treats in the world, i just didn't know any better.:notworthy:
Oh, i LOVED that dog,:love:
but, i just didn't realize companies are allowed to put such horrible stuff into dog food and i had no idea what the words meant on ingredient lists.

My point is, i'm not judging anyone, i'd be the last one to do THAT,
cuz i was once feeding my dog the most horrific dog foods you can imagine,
so i hope no one takes it personal if i am trying to tell you what really IS in these dog treats.
I'm just trying to help anyone who might be how i was--->someone who does love her dog, but just didn't realize what various ingredients even meant.

I would not have fed my dog that stuff if only i had known. He died of cancer.:cry:

i sort wish, back then, someone had told me what the words mean and how dog food makers CAN sell toxic crapola and get away with that. who knew?


Experienced Member
Oh I know it wasnt the best treat ..but at the time ( there is so much more choice now) I was more concerned with calorie intake ... and all things in moderation. And I also wonder if they have changed the formula since then - as at the time we knew the guy who originated the Medi Cal line and it was one of the best available. Its since been sold to Heinz and whom ever ...

I recently went through weeks of torment reading all the literature on dog foods before deciding on Wellness.

With the new dogs we pretty much stick to their kibble and mostly fresh human treats like banana, PB and cheese
I truly believe in Garbage in Garbage out attitude.

Yanno as bad as a dog food may have been, you can't blame yourself - sometimes things like cancer are just going to happen. Husband had a cat that lived to 19 on Tender Vittles !


I know they aren't good for training purposes, but are good to go into Kongs. Also, they are high in salt, which isn't very good for dogs, so I would try and only give them to your dog occasionally.