Regular exercise and enrichment are the keys to your dog's happiness and health. The best mental enrichment for dogs is to stimulate their brains through problem-solving, playing, chasing, smelling, chewing, and scavenging.
Does your dog suffer from anxiety? If that's the case, you might be thinking about how to relieve their stress. In a stressful situation, endorphins can help calm dogs down. With this benefit in mind, one great way to do this is by providing them with a dog lick mat. These lick mats are inexpensive, provide long-lasting use, are perfect for food, liquid food and offer various benefits to your pup like great oral health and acts as an anxiety reducer.
This blog post will discuss the benefits of dog lick mats and how they can help improve your dog's quality of life.
Keep Them Busy And their Minds Active
As a pet parent, you're super busy, either doing chores, running errands, or working. Just because you have an adorable dog at home doesn't mean that you can give it all your time and attention.
Lick mats for dogs are one of the best ways to keep your dog occupied, a boredom buster when you're not able to entertain them. It's beneficial for younger, more playful pups who need attention to avoid destructive behaviour. As well as keeping dogs physically healthy, it is also helpful to their mental health.
Smear your beloved companion's favourite tasty treats or wet/raw food on the textured lick mat surface like peanut butter, yogurt, yummy treats, dry and soft foods, on a lick pad and let them enjoy it under your supervision. Repetitive licking helps distract pets from thunderstorms, fireworks or just when you need to do a little grooming.
If your dog tends to be lazy, a long-lasting treat like peanut butter will keep him busy. A dog lick mat will provide mental exercise and help enrich your dog's mental health and anxiety as part of the enrichment toys for dogs.
According to Medical News Today, 70% of dogs display some form of anxiety. That's a lot. When dogs are faced with new situations, they may experience stress. This includes fireworks, nails, bath time, grooming, and going to the vet.
Lick mats are one of the most effective ways to train your dog, calm him down with natural instincts through licking to release relaxing hormones, which help him calm down and reduce separation anxiety. You can use a lick mat to distract your dog from an unpleasant situation. Absorbed in licking every bit of food off the mat, he will not notice what is happening around him.
Keep Their Teeth and Gums Healthy
Another benefit of lick mats is great for your canine friend's dental and teeth health. The rough surface helps to scrape off plaque while they lick it, which prevents tooth decay and keeps their gums healthy as well! A lick mat is also beneficial for your dog's breath. When your dog licks the mat constantly, bacteria is scraped off his tongue. This prevents bad breath over time and helps keep their dental health in good shape.
Ensure They're Getting the Nutrients They Need
Lick mats help control food portions and help ensure your dog is getting the nutrients they need. They can quickly and conveniently consume vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients from the lick mat. This is especially important for furry friends who are picky eaters or have a low appetite. The health benefits of using a lick mat to provide mental stimulation and interactive activity for your dog are well documented.
Provide Anxiety Relief for You and Your Pet
One of the most significant benefits of using a lick mat is that it provides both you and your dog with relief from separation anxiety. It's very common for dogs to suffer from anxiety. This is due to many reasons, including being left alone, having too much free time, or experiencing changes in routine.
A lick mat can be a simple and effective solution! In addition to reducing anxiety, lick mats can help reduce destructive behaviour and keep pets occupied and entertained. Lick mats have textured surfaces perfect for use with a layer of regular peanut butter (xylitol free), cream cheese, sweet potato, canned dog food, cottage cheese, whipped cream, mixed food or other soft pet-friendly tasty treats. Most lick mats are freezer safe great for making frozen dog treats at home like frozen peanut butter to extend average lick time.
You will create an enrichment activity for your dog. If your dog suffers from an upset stomach, please reduce the amount or replace the favourite tasty treat for the next session.
Improve Digestion with Slow Feeding
If you have a dog that inhales his food too quickly, then your dog may get very uncomfortable and then throw up. Also, when your dog gulps air, his stomach expands. Stressful times and pet parents find it hard to watch this because it's painful and uncomfortable.
With the food puzzle lick mat, your dog must spend more time and energy licking to get all the spreadable food or soft pet treats. Luckily, if you use a lick mat, it can help slow your dog's eating like slow feeder bowls. Food particles settle into the textured surface of the lick mat when you spread it on. Using the lick mat, spread your dog's wet food favourite treats, mix in dry food - your dog will eat slower, allowing you to control the portion of food served. It will reduce stomach pain and increase satisfaction. When your dog is overweight, one of the benefits of lick mats is that they allow him to eat more slowly, so he feels fuller sooner. Additionally, lick mats can help with weight loss by reducing portion sizes. You can only put so many delicious treats into the mat.
Use as a Training Tool
Lick mats make a great enjoyable training tool, enable fun games or provide a variety of activities for fur babies. Learn how a lick mat can be used to improve your dog's behaviour and even potty training. Spread your dog's favourite tasty treats or moist food on the lick mat and instantly provide your furbaby with a new form of entertainment. Besides calming your fur-baby, continuous licking also helps to reduce the stress hormone cortisol and boosts the saliva production that helps the gums and teeth be healthy.
When you use the lick mat for crate training time, it'll give your dog something fun to do. They'll associate getting a treat or tasty food with being in the crate. If they're nervous about the crate, a lick pad with healthy treats and wet dog food will calm their fears and reduce anxiety-inducing situations.
Dog lick mats are easy to use, affordable, and effective
A lick mat provides relief to dogs who suffer from severe anxiety and stress. There are many benefits to using these mats, and they can really improve the overall health and well-being of your canine friend. Nevertheless, lick mats should not be used as a one-size-fits-all remedy for every behavioural issue your dog might face. The best way to use them is in conjunction with other forms of treatment. It's a good idea to do your homework if your dog is an aggressive chewer; you will always need to be present while your dog is enjoying his treat favourites on the lick mat. Don't forget a lick mat is not a chew toy.
Conclusion
Looking for a fun boredom buster? If you're like me and want the very best for your furry friend, then it's clear that a Super Feedy Reversible lick mat made from premium BPA free food-grade silicone mat, dishwasher safe is just what you need.
In addition to providing a fun way to feed your dog because of its reversible design, it also helps reduce intense anxiety minimise stressful situations by giving them an outlet where they know they'll enjoy healthy, delicious treats - every time. Our innovative 4-in-1 slow feeder dog bowls with suction cups come with a reversible lick mat and provide a versatile option for wet food, raw food, other homemade treats or choice of pet food to change the way dogs eat for good.
