What's in a Dog Chew?

What’s in a Dog Chew? The Filler Ingredients Every Pet Parent Should Know

Walk down any pet store aisle, and you’ll see dozens of “healthy” supplement chews promising joint support, gut health, immunity boosts, and more. They’re soft, flavorful, and marketed like treats — which is exactly the point.

But here’s the question few pet parents ever ask:

What’s actually inside those chews?

If you think it’s mostly active ingredients, the truth may surprise you.

Most dog chews are built on a foundation of fillers — ingredients added purely to bulk up the chew, bind everything together, or create that soft, chewy, treat-like texture. Active ingredients often make up only 10–20% of the chew. Everything else? Fillers.

Let’s break down what’s really inside.

1. Starches & Flours (The Bulk of the Chew)

These ingredients make up the majority of a typical soft chew. Their job: add mass, hold shape, and provide a treat-like feel.

Common starch fillers include:

  • Potato starch

  • Tapioca starch

  • Pea flour or pea starch

  • Rice flour

  • Oat flour

  • Wheat flour

  • Cornmeal

  • Chickpea flour

For many chews, 40–80% of the formula can be made of these starches — not because your dog needs them, but because they’re cheap, stable, and easy to mold.

2. Protein Meals & “Flavors” (More Filler Than Nutrition)

Ever see “chicken-flavored” or “beef-flavored” chews? Those flavors rarely come from whole meats.

Typical flavor/binding fillers include:

  • Chicken meal

  • Beef meal

  • Pork meal

  • Gelatin

  • Hydrolyzed animal proteins

  • Broth powders

While these ingredients help with taste and texture, they contribute little to the chew’s supplement purpose. Their primary function is binding and flavoring, not nutrition.

3. Animal Fats & Oils (The Wet, Tasty Part)

To make chews palatable, soft, and “wet,” manufacturers often add animal fats. These fats coat the starches and protein meals, adding moisture, mouthfeel, and flavor that dogs love.

Common fats used in chews:

  • Chicken fat

  • Beef tallow

  • Pork fat

  • Fish oil (sometimes for omega content, sometimes for flavor)

These animal fats are often combined with vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, palm) to achieve the right chew texture. They make the chew pliable, soft, and slightly sticky — the “wet” texture that mimics real meat treats.

While fats improve taste, they also add calories without providing significant supplement benefits, making them another form of filler in terms of health impact.

4. Glycerin & Texturizers (The Soft Chew Makers)

Glycerin and other texturizers make chews soft, chewy, and shelf-stable.

Common texturizers include:

  • Glycerin

  • Guar gum

  • Xanthan gum

  • Locust bean gum

  • Agar

  • Corn syrup solids

These ingredients prevent crumbling, extend shelf life, and give the chew its treat-like feel — again, not for health, but for texture and convenience.

5. Preservatives & Flavor Enhancers

To make chews last and taste appealing, manufacturers add preservatives and flavors, such as:

  • Salt

  • Natural or artificial flavors

  • Citric acid

  • Sorbates or benzoates

These help maintain freshness and palatability but contribute nothing to your dog’s health.

So How Much of a Chew Is Actually Active Ingredient?

On average:

  • Standard soft chew: 10–20% active ingredients

  • Everything else: 80–90% fillers

That means if a dog eats one soft chew a day, they’re consuming ½–1 lb of filler per month — and 6–12 lbs per year — just from supplements alone.

Why Powder Supplements Are Different

Powders don’t need:

  • Starches

  • Binders

  • Glycerin

  • Heavy fats

  • Extrusion agents

  • Flavor enhancers

This means powders can be formulated with 90–100% active ingredients, without unnecessary bulk.

Instead of eating a cookie-like chew full of fillers and animal fats, your dog gets:

  • Fewer calories

  • No artificial flavors

  • No cheap starch bases

  • Maximum potency and absorption

You pay for what actually works, not texture or taste.

Final Thoughts: Know What You’re Feeding

Soft chews look cute and feel convenient, but behind that soft, tasty exterior is often a long list of unnecessary filler ingredients — starches, protein meals, glycerin, and animal fats — that overshadow the actives you’re buying them for.

Your dog deserves better.

This is why Breedly BreedFormula+ was formulated as a powder:

  • No fillers, binders, or heavy fats

  • Maximum active ingredient potency

  • Better absorption and nutrition

  • Fewer calories and no artificial flavors

With Breedly BreedFormula+, your dog gets exactly what they need — high-quality, breed-specific nutrition — without any of the unnecessary extras that soft chews are loaded with.