Once you have read this quite long BLOG, you will be able to buy treats safely, with understanding and intelligence and your dog’s organs will love you for it.
Welcome to “Elite” level dog ownership.
In 2020, while the world was locked down, bored, and being shown how to wash our hands properly, something dawned on me 🐶.
If we can understand what is in food, and we can understand what is in natural treats, then surely, we can understand how much, on average, a dog of a certain weight can safely tolerate.
Because this is not about marketing. Its about biology and safe nutrition.
It is about organs.
It is about what the liver can process.
What the pancreas can cope with.
What the kidneys can filter.
What the arteries can endure over time.
When we go to the doctor, nothing is vague.
A blood pressure test gives you a number(s).
A liver function test gives you a number.
A kidney panel gives you a number.
Cholesterol comes with a number.
And those numbers sit within a safe range. Outside that range, you may feel perfectly fine, but the slow drift has already begun.
Biology does not shout at first. It whispers. We, as humans, sadly never hear it.
So, we started asking a simple question. If human health is measured in numbers, ranges and tolerances, why are we throwing treats at dogs 🐾 with no idea what their biological ceiling actually is. It makes no sense and its blindly dangerous?
So, six years later, we are launching six years of genuinely hard work. Comparing figures. Cross referencing data. Testing assumptions. Getting things wrong and correcting them. And turning it into something simple. Today being February 2026 😊
A traffic light system and a score card 🔴🟠🟢.
Easy to follow.
Kind to organs.
And most importantly, a way for people to stop guessing, and stop listening to those who give confident answers that are based on nothing more than guesswork.
This system has also been built by cross referencing figures from multiple recognised organisations and published nutritional guidance. It has involved comparing numbers, safe ranges, tolerances and biological ceilings across different sources, then stress testing them against real world feeding behaviour 🐶.
Is it 100 percent accurate? No. And it never can be.
Because no two chicken feet are identical. Moisture varies. Size varies. Mineral density varies. Storage affects weight. Use by date. Interaction with passing dogs through the shop, the list is endless.
Even individual dogs of the same breed have slightly different tolerance levels. Biology is not a fixed number on a spreadsheet.
But what it is, is controlled. It is structured. And what we have here, is more accurate than anything currently available publicly as of February 2026. Because most systems do not even attempt to define a ceiling. They guess. Or worse, they assume “natural” means unlimited. Which it really doesn’t.
Most sellers scream, its packed with, or your dog will thrive, but nobody says, “This is your dogs organs limit”. Nobody.
This one does not guess.
Before we go any further, it is important to understand something about numbers.
When we talk about nutrients, they are not just “there” or “not there.” They are measured. Some are measured in grams. Some in milligrams or just “dry Matter”. Some in micrograms. And some, like certain vitamins, are measured in IU, which stands for International Units. That simply means a standardised way of measuring biological effect, not just weight 🐶.
Why does that matter?
Because toxicity, overload and deficiency are not opinions. They sit within ranges. Just like your cholesterol, your liver enzymes, or your blood pressure. Too little causes one problem. Too much causes another. And the body pays the price quietly over time.
So, when we built this system, we did not start with colours. We started with a single ingredient.
Take a chicken foot as an example.
A chicken foot is not “protein.” It contains calcium, phosphorus, collagen, trace minerals and small amounts of fat. When you break it down properly, one of those nutrients will reach its upper tolerance before the others if overfed. That is called the first limiting nutrient.
That first limiting nutrient is the one that will stress an organ system first if consistently exceeded. It may be calcium. It may be phosphorus. It may be something else depending on the treat. But one always reaches the ceiling before the rest.
That is where the point value begins.
We identify the first limiting nutrient in that treat. We calculate how much of it a dog of a certain weight can tolerate within a safe margin. Then we deliberately reduce that ceiling to build in protection. That becomes the red limit.
Then we do something most people never do...
We repeat that process for every single natural treat in our range 🐾.
Not individually in isolation, but in combination. Because a chicken foot today and a duck neck tomorrow still stack. The organs do not reset overnight. The liver does not forget what happened yesterday.
So, we checked all ingredients across all treats for stacking risk. For overlap. For cumulative load. And only then did the traffic light system begin to take shape.
So, this is how it works 🐶.
Every natural treat in our range is allocated into one of three categories.
🔴 Red
🟠 Amber
🟢 Green
Each treat is given a point value based on its first limiting nutrient and its position within the overload hierarchy.
🔴 Red treats are the most mineral dense or the most likely to reach an organ stress ceiling if overfed. These are powerful treats. Brilliant in moderation. Risky in excess.
🟠 Amber treats sit in the middle. They still contain meaningful nutrients, but the stacking risk is lower. They require discipline, but they are more forgiving.
Amber treats are often more collagen-based 🐶. Collagen is frequently marketed as a benefit because it sounds impressive and “joint friendly,” but collagen is only a partial protein.
It is rich in certain amino acids, but very low in others. When overfed, it can dominate the amino acid profile and dilute the balance of the full 22 amino acids your dog actually requires for proper cellular function.
More collagen is not better biology. Balance is.
🟢 Green treats are the lowest risk in terms of overload. That does not mean unlimited. It means the first limiting nutrient reaches its ceiling far more slowly.
Now here is the structure.
Using your dog’s weight, which we will explain shortly, your dog will be allocated a weekly points total.
For example, let’s pretend you have:
🔴 10 points per week
🟠 10 points per week
🟢 10 points per week
That means, within that week, you can use up to 10 red points, 10 amber points and 10 green points. Based on your dog’s weight.
(More on your own dogs weight further down)
Each individual treat has its own point value.
So, if a red treat is worth 2 points, you could have five of those in that week.
If it is worth 1 point, you could have ten.
But once you reach your ceiling, you stop.
It is not about using all the points.
It is about knowing where the ceiling is 🐾.
Because the ceiling protects the organs.
And that is the difference between guessing and managing.
One very important point.
These allocations are not the ceiling. And they are not the minimum.
They are genuinely a mid-range operating score that the elite dog owners we work with use as a structured target 🐶.
Why?
Because if you had 10 dogs all weighing 20kg, every single one would have a slightly different biological tolerance. Genetics differ. Activity differs. Absorption differs. Organ efficiency differs. And we must never forget, the base food contributes to your dog’s total limits, regardless of what brand you feed or how good you believe it to be.
Everything stacks.
So, these points sit around the middle. Not at the edge.
⚠️⚠️ We have to stress this very clearly. ALL, and we mean ALL, elite dog owners rarely go to the top of our points allocation. ⚠️⚠️
They understand something most people do not.
Feeding for the sake of feeding creates poorly dogs.
Discipline creates resilient ones 🐾.
The system is there to provide clarity, not permission to push limits.
Before we go any further, we must stress something else, very clearly 🐶.
These are WEEKLY numbers.
Not daily.
Not “roughly.”
Not “most days.”
Weekly.
They also assume a healthy dog. A dog whose organs are functioning normally for its age and weight. A dog whose liver, kidneys and pancreas are in good working order.
That responsibility always sits with the owner.
If you go over these numbers occasionally, you are gambling.
If you consistently go over these numbers, you are increasing the gamble.
It’s not clever.
If you double these numbers, you are no longer managing risk, you are accelerating it.
It’s cruel.
Biology does not argue. It accumulates.
🔴 The Red Treats (Weekly Allocation Applies)
🔴 Beef Cartilage Moon Bone – 60 points per week per 1kg
🔴 Chicken Feet – 1 points per week each
🔴 Chicken Necks – 2 points per week each
🔴 Cow Hooves – 3 points per week each
🔴 Duck Feet – 2 points per week each
🔴 Duck Necks – 3 points per week each
🔴 Ostrich Metatarsus Bone – 5 points per week each
🔴 Puffed Chicken Feet – 1 points per week each
🔴 Split Highland Antler (Large) – 38 points per week each 🔴 Split Highland Antler (Medium) – 24 points per week each
🔴 Split Highland Antler (Small) – 14 points per week each
🔴 Yak Chew (Extra Large) – 6 points per week each
🔴 Yak Chew (Large) – 5 points per week each
🔴 Yak Chew (Medium) – 3 points per week each
All Red allocations are WEEKLY numbers.
Not daily. Weekly.
These numbers assume a healthy dog. A dog whose organs are functioning normally for its age and weight.
🔴 What Red Means
Red treats are the most mineral dense or the most likely to stress an organ system if overfed.
They reach their first limiting nutrient ceiling faster than Amber or Green.
That is why they are controlled tightly.
If you exceed your weekly Red points, you are gambling with cumulative organ load.
If you regularly exceed them, you increase long term strain on the liver, kidneys, pancreas and cardiovascular system.
If you double them, you are no longer managing risk, you are accelerating it.
Red is powerful.
Respect it 🐶.
🔴 How to Use Red Treats Properly
Let’s take a practical example.
A Small Split Highland Antler is allocated 14 Red points.
Now remember, your allocation is WEEKLY.
🔴 If your dog has a weekly Red allowance of 10 points, that does not mean the antler is “too much.”
It simply means it must last.
If that 14-point antler lasts:
- 1 week → that’s 14 points in one week. You’ve exceeded your allocation.
- 2 weeks → that’s 7 points per week.
- 3 weeks → that’s just under 5 points per week.
- 4 weeks → that’s 3.5 points per week.
Now it sits comfortably within a 10-point weekly allocation.
Even better if it lasts longer 🐶
Red treats are not about banning.
They are about duration and control.
Now let’s look at Beef Cartilage Moon Bone.
We allocated 60 points per 1kg.
That means:
100g = 6 points
50g = 3 points
25g = 1.5 points
If your 20kg dog has a weekly Red allowance of 4.5 points, then:
- 75g in one week would take you to your limit.
- 50g would use 3 points.
- 25g would use just 1.5 points.
If that 100g piece lasts two weeks, you are only using 3 points per week.
If it lasts three weeks, you are using 2 points per week.
Again, it becomes controlled.
This is the key principle:
Red treats are not single-use numbers.
They are spread-over-time numbers.
The longer they last, the lower the weekly load on the organs.
And remember:
These numbers assume a healthy dog.
They are WEEKLY allocations.
If you exceed them, you are gambling.
If you double them, you are accelerating that gamble.
Duration is discipline 🐾
.
🟠 The Amber Treats (WEEKLY Allocation Applies)
🟠 Anco Infused Beef Braids – 4 points per week each
🟠 Anco Infused Beef Rolls – 4 points per week each
🟠 Beef Liver 100g – 6 points per week each per 100g
🟠 Braided Camel Skin 30cm – 3 points per week each
🟠 Braided Lamb Skin 30cm – 3 points per week each
🟠 Buffalo Ears – 3 points per week each
🟠 Buffalo Horn Large – 0.5 points per week each
🟠 Buffalo Horn Medium – 0.5 points per week each
🟠 Buffalo Skin Roll (Plain & Hairy) – 4 points per week each
🟠 Bull Pizzle 24cm – 4 points per week each
🟠 Camel Skin 100g – 2 points per week each per 100g
🟠 Camel Skin Roll Plain – 4 points per week each
🟠 Flat Beef Gullet 100g – 3 points per week each per 100g
🟠 Gourmet Sausages 1kg – 10 points per week. Per 1kg
🟠 Paddywack 100g – 3 points per week each per 100g
🟠 12cm Beef Trachea – 2 points per week each
🟠 Pig Ears – 3 points per week each
🟠 Puffed Pig Snouts – 3 points per week each
🟠 XL Hairy Beef Skin / Bark – 4 points per week each
All Amber allocations are WEEKLY numbers.
They assume a healthy dog whose organs are functioning normally for its age and weight.
🟠 What Amber Means
Amber treats sit between Red and Green.
They still contribute nutrients.
They still stack.
They still matter.
Their first limiting nutrient reaches its ceiling more slowly than Red, which makes them more forgiving, but not harmless 🐶
If you exceed your Amber allocation occasionally, the risk increase is smaller than with Red.
If you consistently exceed it, cumulative load builds.
If you double it weekly, you are still gambling with your dog’s long term organ health.
Amber is where drift happens.
Because it feels safer.
Biology does not see Amber.
It sees totals.
And these totals are WEEKLY.
Not daily. Not “most days.” Weekly.
🟢 The Green Treats (WEEKLY Allocation Applies)
🟢 Baltic Sprats 100g – 2 points per week each per 100g
🟢 Fish Cubes 2cm x 2cm 100g – 1 points per week each per 100g
🟢 Hairy Giant Rabbit Stick – 2 points per week each
🟢 Hairy Rabbit Ears x5 – 1 points per week each 5!
🟢 JR Pure 100% Meat Sticks 50g – 2 points per week each 50g (Box)
🟢 Olive Branch Large – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Olive Branch Medium – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Olive Branch Small – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Root Chew Large – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Root Chew Medium – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Root Chew Small – 0.5 points per week each
🟢 Training Treats 100% Meat 100g – 2 points per week each per 100g
🟢 Tripe Sticks 100g – 2 points per week each per 100g
Your weekly Green allocation is the same as your Red and Amber allocation for your dog’s weight.
Simple.
One number per colour.
Per week.
🟢 What Green Means
Green treats have the lowest overload risk within our system.
Their first limiting nutrient reaches its ceiling more slowly than Amber or Red.
But Green does not mean unlimited.
Even Green contributes nutrients.
Even Green stacks.
Even Green assumes a healthy dog 🐶
If you exceed your weekly Green allocation occasionally, the risk increase is lower than Red or Amber.
If you consistently exceed it, cumulative load still builds.
If you double it weekly, you are still gambling.
The traffic light system is not about restriction.
It is about protection.
And every colour is WEEKLY.
Not daily.
Not guessed.
Not emotional.
Weekly.
📊 Weekly Weight Allocation Chart
These are WEEKLY point allocations.
They are calculated using metabolic scaling, first limiting nutrient logic, overload hierarchy and safety margin buffering.
They are an approximation.
Because biology is not identical from dog to dog 🐶
If you had ten healthy 20kg dogs, they would not all tolerate identical loads. Genetics differ. Absorption differs. Activity differs. Organ efficiency differs. Base diet differs.
These numbers are structured mid-range operating targets.
Elite dog owners rarely operate at the top of their weekly allocation.
They understand something simple:
Ceilings exist to protect, not to be tested. Please understand this line. Please.
🔢 Weekly Points Allocation (Per Colour)
Know your dog’s weight & here is your weekly points allocation. This is where it gets exciting!
These numbers apply to 🔴 Red, 🟠 Amber and 🟢 Green equally.
5kg = 1 point per week
7.5kg = 1.5 points per week
10kg = 2 points per week
12.5kg = 2.5 points per week
15kg = 3 points per week
17.5kg = 3.5 points per week
20kg = 4.5 points per week
22.5kg = 5 points per week
25kg = 5.5 points per week
30kg = 6.5 points per week
35kg = 7.5 points per week
40kg = 8.5 points per week
45kg = 9.5 points per week
50kg = 11 points per week
These are WEEKLY allocations.
Not daily.
Not estimated.
Not guessed.
Weekly.
⚠️ ⚠️⚠️ A Critical Reminder ⚠️⚠️⚠️
If you exceed your weekly allocation occasionally, you are gambling.
If you consistently exceed it, you are increasing the gamble.
If you double your weekly allocation, you are no longer probing the edge.
You are guaranteeing discomfort and that, I am sorry to say, is cruel.
Because here are the basics of biology.
All organs have limits.
They are not machines with unlimited capacity.
The liver has a processing limit.
The kidneys have a filtration limit.
The pancreas has a metabolic limit.
The cardiovascular system has a mineral handling limit.
And every healthy dog has one thing in common:
Healthy, underworked organs 🐶
This system exists to keep them that way.
🧠 Why This Matters
In human medicine, we measure blood pressure.
We measure liver enzymes.
We measure kidney markers.
We measure cholesterol.
All with numbers.
All within safe ranges.
All with clear consequences when exceeded.
This is the same principle.
Controlled intake.
Defined ranges.
Margin below the ceiling.
📚 Built on Recognised Guidance. So, if you know more than the organisations we mention below, then we respect your opinion, no matter how deluded it might be. Especially, if, you are not qualified, we say this because someone will pipe up, purely based on owning a dog.
Well, I drive a car, have done for 40+ years, but I’m not a mechanic and wouldn’t lecture one. See my point? 😊
This framework has been cross-referenced against published nutritional standards and veterinary guidance including, but not all:
FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation), who publish nutritional guidelines for complete and complementary feeding and define safe ranges for vitamins and minerals.
WSAVA (World Small Animal Veterinary Association), who emphasise nutritional balance and the risks of inappropriate supplementation and treat excess.
BSAVA (British Small Animal Veterinary Association), who publish clinical guidance on nutrition, obesity and metabolic disease.
BVA (British Veterinary Association), the UK’s national body for veterinary surgeons, who stress the importance of appropriate diet selection, balanced nutrition and preventing long-term health consequences linked to poor feeding practices.
Organ overload is not dramatic.
It is cumulative.
And cumulative is preventable, and that is an extremely kind and loving thing to do for your dog!
There is nothing like this publicly available in the UK.
Not because it is complicated.
But because it requires discipline, comparison, scaling and years of uncomfortable number crunching.
This system is here for responsible, loving dog owners 🐾
It increases the probability your dog will live a longer life.
It definitely increases the probability that life will be healthier.
Most importantly, it allows you to make controlled, intelligent decisions that have a positive consequence for your dog’s organs.
That is the entire reason I have spent years and hours to produce this. To help your dog!
🔚 One Final Point 😊
Over the coming months and years, there will be competitors tempted to use this system.
That is fine. It is a compliment.
There will be people who copy the colours.
People who copy the points.
People who claim they were first.
People who say they’ve always done this. That is a little more insulting.
That is inevitable.
But here is the difference.
This system is not about colours.
It is not about points.
It is not about marketing.
It is about biology.
So, if you ever see someone using something that looks similar, ask them the following:
- What is the first limiting nutrient in this product?
- What is the main overload vitamin or mineral? Is it water or fat soluble? Do they know what that even means?
- What organ system would be stressed first if this is overfed?
- What is the overload hierarchy after the first nutrient?
- What safety margin have you built below the biological ceiling?
- Is your scaling (simple) linear, or based on metabolic bodyweight?
- How does this integrate with the base food’s mineral density?
- What stacking rules exist across different treats?
- What happens if I feed three different “moderate” treats in the same week?
- How does this account for individual tolerance differences?
- Where is the weekly ceiling, and why is it set there?
If those questions cannot be answered clearly, calmly and numerically, then it is not a system and it might be a supplier putting your dogs organs back into the fire.
It is guesswork, and you have just caught someone out, more interested in the profit and loss you can provide them, rather than the health benefits and improvements they could have offered you.
This is also very different from rating sites. VERY, VERY different!
I am not a fan of rating sites.
Rating sites often reward higher meat percentages.
Add more meat.
Increase a score.
But biology does not reward excess.
Organs respond to totals, not marketing.
A higher meat percentage does not automatically mean a safer mineral load.
It does not mean controlled calcium.
It does not mean controlled copper.
It does not mean moderated stacking.
Rating sites operate on opinion-based scoring systems.
It is why so many often complain on their Facebook pages that they went through lots of high rated foods, and still their dogs are poorly. Which they will be, because it follows opinion more than it does nutritional biology. On the belief that more is better.
They completely ignore the fact that each decision has a consequence for the organs. What you put in, they have to process.
This system, our system, operates on moderation.
On ceilings.
On ranges.
On cumulative load.
That is not glamorous.
It is disciplined.
People often say, “It’s a minefield.”
But when something feels like a minefield, it is usually because your mind is being driven by marketing, emotion, or someone else’s imagination. Your dog suffers.
This is driven by numbers.
Driven by limits.
Driven by organ capacity.
Driven by probability.
And that is the difference 🐶
Your dog gets healthier.
Before we finish, one final reminder 🐶
These allocations assume a healthy dog, and that responsibility always lies with the owner.
Read your dog.
Monitor stools.
Monitor exercise.
Monitor behaviour.
And especially monitor hydration. Dogs should drink a minimum of ten times a day. Consistent drinking is one of the simplest indicators that internal systems are functioning comfortably.
Above all, do not blindly throw treats at your dog.
Protect the organs.
Give some.
Observe.
If all is well and you have points spare, give a little more.
If you notice a red flag, reset.
Return to your previous level or go to zero treats temporarily until you are confident you understand what works best for your dog.
Discipline creates resilient dogs.
Treat your dogs organs like a delicate sponge.
Kindest regards,
Richard and Emma
The Delicious Dog Food Company