Meal Enrichment for Dogs

I’ve loved slow feeders since they came into my life. Gavin, not so much. My sweet boy needed a lot of love, patience, and spoon-feeding to eat.

Conversely, Mabel greatly benefits from slow feeders, and I’ve used Gavin’s old Mine Pet Platter since she blessed my life with her food-loving self. It’s just so big. The platter doesn’t fit in my freezer with all her other treat-filled enrichment toys (and my one bag of frozen berries). Plus, it’s cumbersome to take to my family’s house when we visit them during meal times.

I was super excited to try West Paw’s Feast Mat, which didn’t disappoint. On the first try, Mabel’s meal only took three minutes. However, freezing part of her eats-better-than-me ingredients added a few extra enriching minutes to my sweet girl’s dinner.

Mabel’s Meal Enrichment Feast Mat

Ingredients (makes one meal)

Northwest Naturals Raw Nuggets (varied recipes) – nine to 12, depending on how many other treats we use.

Honest Kitchen Goat’s Milk – 1/8 teaspoon (she gets this in her Toppls too)

Honest Kitchen Turkey Bone Broth – 1/8 teaspoon (she gets this in her Toppls too)

Against the Grain Salmon canned food – one spoonful (Because I’ve spent years measuring to the teensiest, tiniest amounts at the shop; I’m a measuring renegade at home, unless necessary.)

Microbiome Labs FidoSpore Probiotic – one capsule per day, powder mixed with other supplements

Earth Animal Flea & Tick Internal Powder – right now, she’s getting 1.25 tsp twice daily because we’re in high tick season.

Bark Pouch Beef & Liverwurst – I give her a squirt or two, and I use it to coat her pills so she gobbles up her supplements.

The Process

Smear canned Against the Grain dog food into large holes and freeze. Then mix goat’s milk, bone broth, probiotics, and natural flea and tick repellent with a little bit of water and pour onto frozen food.

Next, coat your pills with Bark Pouch dog treats and top with raw, defrosted food. If I wanted this feast mat to last longer, I might add fruit or veggies to the supplement powder and freeze that, too. Mabel’s not a big fan of solid frozen treats, and rather than frustrating her, I’d add some texture to make her meal time even more fun and last longer.

*This article contains affiliate links to help supplement Mabel’s lifestyle, hopefully. She was eating Dollar Store food when she came to me. We’re an affiliate of West Paw, so feel free to use our code barkpouch for 10% off orders at westpaw.com.