What makes a treat only suitable for a certain age range?

Question

About a month ago I bought a bag of treats for my puppy (cracker-like, bone shaped). But when I got home I discovered that the bag said it was suitable for puppies 6 months old and older.

I don't mind storing the treats for some time (until he's 6 months old) but it got me thinking:

What makes a treat only suitable for a certain age?

I would assume nothing there would be toxic, but perhaps something in the ingredients is hard to digest for a young stomach?

Answer 1

I've seen that before as well and couldn't find any significant reason that's directly obvious.

The only one I could come up with are indeed the ingredients: A puppy needs a different relative amount of calcium and phosphorus (more calcium) since the young dog's body won't be able to control the ratio as well as an adult dog.

Answer 2

Because a young puppy needs a much more fat and sugar packed diet than what a 6 month old would need and so is tailored to suit the needs of different ages, similarly to an old dog needing less fat but more fibre.

Answer 3

Other reasons could be:

• dog needs to be old enough to eat an ingredient;
• treat is too high in calories for a younger dog;
• dog needs to be older enough to bite treat, rather than slobbering the cracker into a gooey mess;
• treat is too hard for a young puppy (or old dog).