22 Feb Benefits of Dog Lick Mats
Benefits of Dog Lick Mats
What is a lick mat?
Lick mats are flat mats designed for your dog to lick, over and over. They usually have grooves, ridges. obstacles and different textures on them that encourage licking. The ridged design allows you to smear soft foods into the small cracks creating an enriching treat experience where your dog has to use their tongue.
What are the benefits of lick mats?
Lick mats have many benefits we will explore in this blog post.
- Eases anxiety – Licking releases relaxing hormones, which helps calm down your dog. Lick mats also serve to distract your dog from a stressful situation.
- Enriching – provides an enriching treat experience entertaining your dog for a long time.
- Healthy – Making a small volume of healthy treats last a long time whilst creating more saliva – better protecting teeth and gums, freshening breath
- Distraction Aid – makes stressful situations such as bath and nail time easier
- Slow Feeder – promote slower feeding in your pet for both wet and dry food thus improving digestion.
- Recommended for both dogs & cats
- Training aid- use as a rewarding treat or during crate training
What should I put on the lick mat?
There are many different food choices you can smear across your dogs lick mat. Let’s start with your dog’s kibbles, depending on what mat you use you can put your dog’s kibbles whole or mushed down on their lick mats. Use your dog’d favourite wet food and smear across the textured mat into the grooves. Other options include peanut butter (dog friendly), coconut oil, oats, berries and more. Freeze the mat for a longer lasting experience.
We have a range of different lick mats including the very popular Lickimat range which has a range of different mats with different textures. The lickimat range also includes the splash mat used specifically during grooming and baths as it can be suctioned to the wall. It also includes wobble bowls and slow feeder bowls.
