Homemade sweet potato dog chewy treats
To make this dog treat recipe, you'll need sweet potatoes, a sharp knife, a dehydrator, and time. The hardest part is slicing the sweet potatoes. For this recipe, I do not peel the potatoes, because the peels have so much goodness in them for my fur baby. Contrary to some beliefs, the skin of sweet potatoes is not poisonous.
My dog loves sweet potato chewy treats and I love that she does, because they're so healthy for her. They're not only high in fiber, but they're also loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, calcium, potassium, riboflavin, magnesium, and iron. Vitamin A alone helps build healthy muscles, eyes, skin, and fur.
One sweet potato makes several treats, but when I make these treats for my fur baby, I generally slice at least six to eight (depending on their size) sweet potatoes at a time to dehydrate.
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes (the amount depends on how many trays that you have to fill)
Instructions:
Wash the sweet potatoes well and slice them about a quarter inch thick (or as thin as you possibly can without the risk of cutting yourself) You can either slice them in rounds or lengthwise. Since my dog is a large breed, I make her jerky treats by cutting them lengthwise. Sometimes I cut them into one inch stick shapes, however, today I didn't. The sweet potato treats will shrink in size as the dehydrator dries the moisture out of them.
Place the sweet potatoes on the dehydrator trays and place them in the dehydrator. Dehydrate the treats for about ten hours at 135 degrees F. If you want to make crunchier sweet potato treats for your dog, just extend the time by dehydrating the sweet potatoes.
Once the dog treats are done, store them in jars.
Notes:
If you don't have a dehydrator, you can dehydrate the dog treats in the oven at the lowest temperature possible, and leave the oven door ajar (open partially).
Yams also can be used to make healthy dog treats.
If you want to save time on dehydrating, you can also use cooked sweet potatoes too by following the same instructions as above. Using pre-cooked sweet potatoes shaves off almost half of the time, dehydrating.
References:
Paretts, S. (n.d.). Are Sweet Potato Peelings Poisonous to a Dog? Dog Care - Daily Puppy. https://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/sweet-potato-peelings-poisonous-dog-7755.html
Danielle. (2022, March 3). Can Dogs Eat Sweet Potato Skin? Benefits & Risks. PawLeaks. https://pawleaks.com/is-sweet-potatoe-skin-harmful-to-dogs/