Shelf life
Best by dates, open bags and a month of treats
Updated
How long do dog treats last? Ours keep until the best by date printed on the bag, which is one year from production. Once you open a bag, we suggest you use it up inside 30 days. Keep every bag cool, dry and well sealed, and open one at a time so each gets used inside that window.
What does the best by date on a treat bag tell you?
It tells you the date the maker picked for that bag. For our treats, that date is one year from the day the bag was produced, and it is printed on the bag itself. A sealed bag in a cupboard goes by that date and nothing else.
We do not say anything about a treat after the date has passed, and you will not find a promise here about what a bag looks or smells like at any age. The date is the number to go by. If a bag has no date you can read, that is a good reason to write to us before you open it.
Dates can differ from bag to bag. Treat each one as its own clock instead of assuming a whole box shares a single date.
How long do dog treats last after you open the bag?
For a bag you have opened, we suggest finishing it inside 30 days. That figure is ours. It is not text on the label, so you will not find it printed on any bag, and we would rather say so than let it pass for something stamped on the packaging.
The clock starts when you open that particular bag, not when the box lands on your porch. Sealed bags keep running on their best by dates while they wait.
Between handfuls, close the bag fully and put it back in the same cool, dry spot. Where to keep the sealed bags in the first place is covered in storing a month of dog treats, so we will not repeat it here.
How do you pace a month of bags so none sits open too long?
A monthly box brings a set of bags at once, and that is where the 30 days gets tested. A dog who gets a few treats a day can take a long time to finish one bag, and a second bag opened early just starts a second clock. The routine is short:
- Open one bag at a time, leaving the rest sealed until you need them.
- Write the open date on the bag with a marker, so nobody has to remember.
- Finish the open bag, or close it fully, before you start another.
- Reach for the oldest open bag first.
If you run a shop towel through your engine bay once a month, you already know the habit: one job, finish it, then the next. Same idea, smaller mess. The dog box arrives monthly with a new lineup, so a rhythm like this is easier to keep than a pile of half-used bags.
Do the treats in the monthly box follow the same dates?
Yes. The same wording applies to the treats in our box: a best by date on each bag, one year from production, and 30 days as our guidance once a bag is open. What changes is the contents. They change from month to month, the product photos only show examples, and new treats may turn up that nobody announced, so read each bag when the box arrives.
Everything in the box is meant for intermittent or supplemental feeding: a treat, never the main meal. We do not give feeding advice.
More reading on living with a monthly box is in the guides hub.
Questions
Do dog treats expire?
Our treats carry a best by date printed on the bag, one year from production. For an opened bag we offer a guidance window of 30 days. Those two dates are the whole of what we say on the subject.
Is the thirty day window printed on the bag?
No. The best by date is what is printed. The 30 days after opening is our own guidance, so we never present it as label text, and you should not expect to find it on any bag.
Does the window start when the box arrives or when I open a bag?
It starts when you open that bag. An unopened bag goes by its best by date, so a box can sit sealed while you work through one bag at a time. Opening a second bag early only starts a second window.
What does well sealed mean for a treat bag?
Press out the extra air and close the bag completely after each handful. We do not name a closure or promise a feature on the bag, so use whatever method gets the opening shut. Keep it in a cool, dry place.
Can I open two bags at once for two dogs?
One open bag per dog is a sensible way to run it, and each bag has its own 30 day window. Two dogs means two boxes, one each, and dogs sharing a house get matching lineups, so the bags line up between boxes.
Do cat treats keep the same way?
Yes, our cat box uses the same wording: the date printed on each bag, plus our 30 day suggestion for a bag once it is open. We wrote a separate page on how long cat treats last, with the pacing questions that come up for cats.