Why Your Dog's Treats Have 20 Ingredients - And Why That's a Problem

Pick up almost any bag of dog treats from a supermarket shelf in India. Flip it over. Start reading.

Chicken meal. Corn starch. Wheat flour. Glycerin. Sodium tripolyphosphate. Potassium sorbate. Artificial chicken flavour.

Wait - artificial chicken flavour? In a chicken treat?

This was exactly the question Alli - co-founder of Zoomys and mum to Miles, Luna, Loki, and Teddy - asked herself when Miles started showing food allergies. She couldn’t find a treat that was simply chicken. So she made her own.

That simple question is what Zoomys is built on - and it’s worth exploring in depth, because most dog parents in India have no idea what’s actually inside the treat they’re giving their dog every day.

The ‘20-Ingredient Problem’ in Commercial Dog Treats

Walk through any pet store or browse any popular e-commerce platform and you’ll see the same thing: treats marketed as “chicken treats” or “liver bites” that, on closer inspection, contain barely any of the named ingredient.

Why? Because ingredients are listed by weight. “Chicken meal” - not even real chicken, but a dry rendered powder - might appear first, followed by nine types of fillers, binders, and preservatives that bulk out the product at a fraction of the cost.

Here’s what those fillers actually do:

• Corn starch and wheat flour: cheap carbohydrate fillers with no nutritional value for dogs

• Glycerine: keeps treats soft on the shelf - not for your dog’s benefit, for shelf life

• Sodium tripolyphosphate: an industrial-grade preservative also used in detergents

• Potassium sorbate: extends shelf life by 6-12 months

• Artificial flavours: because the ‘real’ ingredient isn’t present in meaningful enough quantities to be tasty

None of this is illegal. But none of it is good for your dog either.

Why Heat Destroys What’s Good in Dog Food

Most commercial treats are manufactured at temperatures above 140°C. This is necessary to bake, extrude, or sterilise at factory scale. But here’s what happens to nutrients at that temperature:

• Natural enzymes are denatured and destroyed

• Heat-sensitive vitamins (B, C) degrade significantly

• Protein structure changes in ways that reduce bioavailability

• The Maillard reaction creates compounds that may be inflammatory over time

At Zoomys, every batch is slow-dehydrated at 55–70°C — a gentle process that removes moisture (which prevents spoilage) while keeping enzymes, nutrients, and flavour intact. It’s the same science behind traditional jerky and dried meats, applied to dog treats.

The result? A treat that’s actually as nutritious as the meat it started as.

What ‘3 Ingredients or Less’ Actually Means

Every Zoomys treat is made with 3 ingredients or fewer. Let’s take Miles’s Chicken Crunch as an example.

Ingredients: Chicken neck. That’s it.

No salt. No oil. No preservatives. No flavour enhancers. No fillers.

The same chicken Alli buys at the local market in Kochi for her family is sliced, arranged on dehydration trays, and slowly dried over hours. That’s it. No factory. No machines. No middlemen.

The reason this matters for your dog:

• Dogs with allergies or sensitive stomachs can tolerate single-ingredient treats far better than mixed ones

• You always know exactly what’s going into your dog’s body

• No hidden triggers for skin issues, tummy problems, or hyperactivity

• High protein content since it’s not diluted with fillers

How to Read a Dog Treat Label: A Quick Guide for Indian Pet Parents

Next time you’re shopping for dog treats — whether at a store or online — here’s what to look for:

✅ Green Flags

• Short ingredient list (5 or fewer is great; 1–3 is ideal)

• Named protein source first (e.g., “chicken breast” not “poultry meal”)

• No preservatives, no artificial colours, no added salt or sugar

• Human-grade ingredients

• Made in small batches

❌ Red Flags

• Ingredients ending in ‘meal’ or ‘by-product’

• Corn, wheat, or soy as first ingredients

• BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin (chemical preservatives linked to health risks)

• ‘Artificial flavour’ or ‘natural flavour’ without specification

• Shelf life of 12+ months (real food doesn’t last that long without chemicals)

Real Reviews from Real Dogs

We’ll let the pups speak for themselves.

“Bumpy loved the treats and it lasted for so long as compared to store bought treats. My mom even mentioned that she felt like his tummy health has also improved so much.” — Bumpy’s Mom

“She loved the lamb bites and surprisingly the anchovies too while she doesn’t usually eat fish.” — Milo's Mom

“This is the kind of stuff that should be on supermarket shelves.” — Ajay

From Our Kitchen to Yours

Every Zoomys treat starts with one question: would we feed this to our own dogs?

Miles, Luna, Loki, and Teddy are the original taste testers. Alli and Rose are the original makers. And every batch that leaves our Kochi kitchen is made the same way it was on day one - by hand, with real ingredients, in a real home.

If your dog deserves real food - not a chemistry experiment in a shiny bag - we’d love to introduce them to Zoomys.

➡ Shop Zoomys Treats at zoomys.in