What it means when a treat is not a complete diet

Intermittent or supplemental feeding means a treat is given now and then, alongside your dog's regular food, and is not a complete and balanced diet on its own. Every item in our box is meant for exactly that, so the box sits beside meals and never takes their place.

What does intermittent mean on a treat?

Intermittent means now and then. A treat turns up between meals, or as a small extra at one, and then it is done. It is not something a dog eats at every sitting, and it is not scheduled around the bowl the way breakfast and dinner are.

Notice what the word leaves out. It says nothing about what is inside the treat. It describes how often the treat belongs in a day: occasionally, in small amounts, as the exception rather than the routine. If a dog's day were a road trip, the meals are the miles and the treats are the stops.

What does supplemental mean, and what does it not mean?

Supplemental means in addition to. The treat joins what your dog already eats and does not stand in for any part of it. That is the whole definition.

What it does not mean is just as useful to know. Some people read the word the way they read a supplement on a store shelf, as a promise that the item adds something the dog needs. We make no such promise. On our box page the word only says the treat is an extra on top of the regular diet. Nothing about what a treat adds, fills or improves is being claimed, and we would rather you read the word plainly than read more into it.

Why is a treat not a complete and balanced diet?

A complete and balanced diet is a food made to be the whole diet, the one a dog eats day after day. A treat is made for a different job. Ours are single ingredient treats, freeze dried or air dried in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and some have a Greek yogurt or cheddar cheese base. One ingredient is one ingredient, so it was never built to play the part of a full meal.

For a closer look at what those two words tell you on a package, our page on single ingredient dog treats walks through the label.

There is a practical side too. What arrives in the box changes by month, and the photos are examples. A food you count on every day should not shift from one month to the next, and a treat is allowed to.

How should that shape the way you use a treat box?

Keep the treats beside the bowl, not in it. Hand one over as a reward, or break one over a regular meal as a topper, and then put the bag away. Our guide to a dog treat vs food topper covers the difference and how to crumble one by hand.

VCA Animal Hospitals puts the amount plainly: treats should stay a small part of a dog's daily food. The right amount depends on the dog and the food, and we do not give feeding advice, so ask your veterinarian how treats fit your dog's diet.

You choose dog or cat when you order, and you can name proteins to leave out. The details of the box itself are on the Modified Monthly page.

The meal is the plan for the day, and a treat is an extra inside it. Nobody should build a dog's day around the treat bag. More plain-language explainers live on the guides hub.