Nutrition question

[CSW]

I have started the habit of putting several tablespoons of low sugar/low sodium peanut butter in a puppy kong, freezing it, and then giving it to my lean 29 pound, 7 month old Border Collie as I leave for work. I do this 5 days a week. I do not see it causing any problems for the pup, but wondered if I am causing any hidden harm. She is on Wellness kibble and she does get Wellness treats when we do a bit of training each day. From what I have read, it appears that Wellness is one of the better quality kibbles. Also I have been giving her a strip of dehydrated sweet potato as an occasional snack. Since it is not pureed will she still receive any nutritional benefit?

[Maralynn]

I'd opt to mix the PB with kibble and freeze it since PB is pretty high calorie and I'd prefer that such a signifficant portion of their calories came from more than one food.

[Gideon's girl]

I agree with Mara. That's a lot of peanut butter to get every day.

 

Yes, she will get some nutritional benefit from the sweet potato. While it is true that dogs, on their own, don't digest things like that very well, if they have a healthy population of probiotics in their gut, the probiotics will do some of the work digesting the things that dogs have issues with.

[B Point]

You can stick anything in a Kong and freeze it. Why all the PB?

[CSW]

She likes the peanut butter. I could use something else, or mix it with the kibble. I just did not think the cans of Kong stuff looked healthy. The PB was easy and I saw it suggested somewhere (maybe not on this forum). I had put dog biscuits in the kong, but she either got them out quickly or not at all. I watched her with the PB in the kong and she really worked at it. Also, aside from the kong, I have seen bully sticks in the pet stores. Are these safe and a good idea? When my last dog was a pup we gave him rawhide bones, but is is not recommended so much any more, especially when not supervised. She does have nylabones. I want something I can give her when I am leaving for work. She is not kenneled during the day, but limited to 2 rooms. She is kenneled at night, next to my bed and does not need anything in the kennel other than a kennel pad as she goes right to sleep.

[CptJack]

Honestly, just use canned dog food. You know it's healthy, she'll like it, it freezes and stuffs well.

 

That's mostly what I use. I also use kibble soaked in water until mooshy, some banana mixed with PB, occasionally bits of soft cheese - but the bulk is high quality canned dog food.

[CSW]

I like that idea - canned food. I love this forum! Thank-you. I can't believe I didn't think of that.

 

~ Carolyn and Star

[moosikins]

We only let Callie have bully sticks with supervision. She gets fragments of them gnawed off and sometimes coughs...I get nervous thinking about her choking on a big piece when I'm not there to watch her.

 

Bully sticks are natural. Disgusting, but natural. I've heard that the stick ones don't smell as bad, but Cal loves the braided ones and takes longer to chew them up and untangle them.

 

We also occasionally leave Callie with a frozen rope too - Just put it in water, make sure it's nice and soggy and pop it in the freezer. It entertains Callie for hours because she'll lick the top layer of ice off right away and then comes back to it when it starts melting. I've also been thinking about dipping it in chicken broth or something and then freezing for the added excitement of a chicken-scented toy.

 

You can also freeze baby food or oatmeal (although a lot of oat meals have sugar and other ingredients meant for people only so be careful) in the Kong. You can use a tiny bit of peanut butter to close up the hole at the bottom (assuming you're using the typical cone shaped Kong), and then pour any liquid you want in there.

[juliepoudrier]

I'd beware of chicken broth on the rope toy. The last thing you want to do is encourage her to eat the rope. That could be a huge vet bill (not to mention your pup's life) at stake.

 

J.

[Sue R]

For sure! I would be a bit leery of letting any pup chew on a rope toy. My one youngster swallowed so many threads, bits of stuffing, bits of plastic, etc., that he wound up with a large wad of indigestible material in his stomach which caused him intermittent early morning vomiting. Fortunately, one day, he hacked the whole thing up before it had done him any real harm.

 

It was large, the size of a fat knockwurst, fortunately too large to pass into and block the intestine but still small enough for him to vomit up. We dodged the bullet that time and since then, none of my dogs get rope chews, stuffies, or anything else that they can chew up and swallow that isn't digestible. That sort of toy is only used with supervision as in a tug game.

 

Not all pups chew and swallow like that one of mine did - I have a real destructo-dog in Megan, but she does not swallow bits - but I just don't take the risk any more. Supervision for all chews, including bones, and no chewing on ropes or stuffies at all.

 

I'd beware of chicken broth on the rope toy. The last thing you want to do is encourage her to eat the rope. That could be a huge vet bill (not to mention your pup's life) at stake.

J.

[Sue R]

You can feed your regular kibble in a Kong with either canned dog food, yogurt, or cottage cheese (or any other moist, soft nutritious mix you'd like) to bind it together. Freeze and feed! Of course, frozen Kongs can be messy when they thaw if the pup doesn't clean them out right away and so this is best in a crate or similar easily-cleaned situation.

 

I've been lucky in that my dogs have not needed something to occupy them while we are gone but if they did (or if I decided to do it for their pleasure), Kongs are a good choice and can be nutritious without overfeeding if you just remember to remove that amount from their other mealtimes.

 

Best wishes!