I normally wouldn’t pay $3.59 cents for eight slices of Purina Carvers Roasted Chicken Slices dog treats, but there was a coupon in last Sunday’s paper for a free bag.
Luckily my Fred Meyer store had a few left on the shelves, and I picked one up. They had cheese and chicken, but I chose the chicken.
Description
Purina Carvers come in a thick plastic bag with a resealable ziplock top. There is a picture of a whole chicken on the bag, which contains 3.5 ounces of treats.
The slices are quite large, say about 3 1/2″ by 2-2 1/2″, and are a bit oval in shape. They are over 1/8″-1/4″ thick. They are the color of a chicken breast, and have a multi-textured top resembling a slice of chicken.
Product Claims
* Contain more than 80% real chicken
* No artificial flavors
* No artificial colors
* No meat by-products
* Oven cooked
* Lightly seasoned
* Naturally high in protein
Purina Carvers were introduced to the market in mid 2007, and are trying to tap into the already glutted and popular market of pet treats, this time with an altogether different style of product.
These treats look similar to a slice of chicken breast, and indeed has a slight chicken smell. They actually smell pretty appealing, even to me!
Our Silky Terrier is a very picky eater. She turns her nose up to several hard treats that we have purchased for her, and she definitely has her favorites. I gave her an entire Purina Carvers slice, and she grabbed it from me and ran into the living room where she proceeded to wolf it down. It was gone in seconds, and she was looking at me with those begging eyes hoping for more.
The treats can easily be broken into smaller pieces. In fact the package suggests you can feed them whole or tear into bite-sized portions. I decided to break them up into quarters to make them go further. Since our dog is only 10 pounds, she really doesn’t need an entire slice anyway. If you have a large dog, I doubt they would be satisfied with anything less than an entire slice.
Unlike hard dog biscuits, which can break up into small crumbs, these softer chews don’t leave any particles behind because they are more of a soft and chewy treat.
I love the ingredients! I always try to avoid by-products when I can, and I am impressed that Purina does not use any by-products in their Carvers, just high quality chicken, and more than 80% is pretty impressive!
The Carvers are a great source of protein for our dog, and if she were ill and not wanting to eat her dog food, I would hope that she would be enticed to consume one of these instead, because she likes them much more than her Nutro canned dinners.
I feel good about giving our Silky the Purina Carvers treats, and she really loves them. I know when she doesn’t like a treat, because she won’t eat it, she carries it around the house looking for a place to hide it. When I give her the Carvers slices, she eats them immediately.
$3.59 is pretty expensive for eight treats, but if I break them into quarters I help them go further, making 32 pieces per pack. Even at that, I consider these expensive treats. I could break them up even further, but it wouldn’t really be much of a treat, so quartering them is as small as I would go.
Expanding on the cost a bit more, the $3.59 price only gives you 3.5 ounces, making these treats over $17.00 a pound! Twice as much as I pay for my New York steaks on sale! (That kinda puts their price in perspective.)
If cost isn’t a factor, I think these are well worth buying. They don’t have the crunch factor that helps remove tarter and keep dogs teeth clean, but those treats can be supplemented into the diet. I am keeping the Purina Carvers for special occasions.
The bottom line is my dog absolutely loves them, and they are a healthy snack (with over 80% chicken), and are a good source of protein.
