High-protein dog treats: what's in the meat, and what isn't

A treat doesn't create energy. Energy is just calories, and every treat carries some. What differs between treats is what else comes along with those calories. A piece of dried lean meat brings protein, iron and B12 because they're naturally in the tissue. Nobody had to put them there. That's the honest case for a high-protein treat: not that it will make your dog run further, but that you know what you're feeding.

Where does the energy in a dog treat come from?

Fat, protein and carbohydrate, like any food. Fat carries more than twice the calories per gram of the other two, so a fatty treat costs more of the day's budget than it looks (NRC, 2006). A dog's energy requirement is met by the bowl. Treats are extra, under about 10% of the day's food. The question is what you get with the calories you're already spending.

What's naturally in lean meat?

Protein, first: drying removes water and leaves the tissue behind. Kangaroo sits at roughly 1–2 g of fat per 100 g, one of the leanest red meats, and is a natural source of iron, zinc and B12 (FSANZ). Iron is a component of haemoglobin, which carries oxygen in red blood cells; B12 is involved in normal red blood cell formation and has to come from animal tissue (NRC, 2006). A dog on a complete diet already has these covered; a single-protein treat adds a little of the same, with nothing else in the bag.

How do you read what's carrying the calories?

Ingredients on Australian pet food are listed in descending order by weight (PFIAA, AS 5812). Read the first three and you know what the treat is mostly made of. Some treats list a cereal flour, a sugar or glycerine there — each for a reason, and each is calories. If the meat is fourth, the protein figure on the front is being shared with everything above it. On ours, the list is one word.

The lean, high-protein cuts are muscle meat, dried plain. Kangaroo jerky is the leanest we make; the kangaroo range is where to start. On a restricted diet, ask your vet before adding anything, including ours.

Every dog is different. For an ongoing issue, your vet is the first call — this is general information, not veterinary advice.

Keep reading: Iron for dogs: natural sources and why meat iron is different · Vitamin B12 for dogs: what it does and where it comes from

Sources

• National Research Council (2006). Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. National Academies Press. nap.nationalacademies.org
• Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Australian Food Composition Database. foodstandards.gov.au
• Pet Food Industry Association of Australia. AS 5812:2023 Manufacturing and marketing of pet food. pfiaa.com.au

Pudel · Reviewed September 2026 · Single-protein, naturally dried dog treats, made in Australia. General information, not veterinary advice.