Kong stuffing for beginners!

[MrsMonkey]

Pup is currently on Burns mini bites and I will keep her on this until she is settled - hoping to at least partly raw feed eventually. However I want to give her some of her Burns in her kongs to start with alongside her meals so that she can settle down and have a good old chew on those and not my furniture!

What else can I put in which would be good for a young pup (she is only 2 months) - not likely to upset their tums etc. I've heard of people using peanut butter/squeezy cheese etc. I know you can buy kong stuff to put in but I was hoping just to be able to use the kibble she has plus whatever extra we had handy. I have got some liver treats as well.

Any expert kong stuffers out there? Thx

We use plain butter sometimes with a drop of jam for sweetness. Or peanut butter, as you mentioned, or duck fat.

Don't know at 2 months but a couple/three cherry toms so they don't fall straight out are hit with our lab. He is also very partial to raw carrot so you could grate some of that?

I use yoghurt or primula cream cheese, then freeze it. It makes a lovely ice lolly.

what dog do you have Mrs M?

I make quick mackerel pate with basics mackerel and cheap low-fat cream cheese and smear that inside, with some kibble to make it stick, or squeezy cheese with chunks of not-naice ham. Fish4Dogs do this amazing salmon mousse stuff in sachets - you can snip off the corner and squeeze it straight in. THen plug the top with a bit of peanut butter. Obv I try to remember to adjust the amount of food they get for supper after a particularly juicy Kong.

I always mean to freeze them too, but forget.

Mini-labradoodle - so just a crossbreed, but spent about a year looking for the right breeder after reading some of the threads about back yard breeders and puppy farms on here. Dog number 2 (as yet unapproved by DH!) will be a rescue once the kids are a bit older.

The mackerel pate one sounds fab (if a bit wiffy). Will have a go with squeezy cheese and the cheapo cream cheese too - I have a feeling there is a bit of an art to the perfectly stuffed kong! How to get the maximum chew value with the minimum amount of actual food intake! Will have a look for the fish4dogs stuff too.

Our standard kong is a couple of mini markies, chunks of carrot and apple and a good smear of peanut butter to plug it. We also put a meal in it if we are going out (don't feed them again that day!) - regular kibble, we use Skinners, plugged with a bit of wet food.

Try filling them with water and sticking them in the freezer.

Wow, some of these sound amazing! MrsM - With my pup I simply add some hot water to the Burns mini bites, let it stand, mush it up and then press into the Kong. Sometimes I feel sorry for her as it takes so long to get the last bits out, but otherwise she eats her food in seconds. May treat her to the mackerel pate one this weekend

I put teeny bit of ham or chicken in the middle as incentive (which he really doens't need!) then cheap pate, kibble, peanut butter, whatever comes to hand really

Tiny amounts (bone shaped kong) but lots of licking goes on...

When I say mackerel pate, I mean putting three mackerel fillets and a lump of cream cheese into the magimix and whizzing it up for a few seconds. I haven't quite got to the stage of gourmet foodstuffs for the dogs. But I often buy mackerel fillets for myself and forget to eat them, or don't feel like it, and the dogs absolutely love them, so it's usually food recycling. Also Herta frankfurters cut into tiny pieces and shoved in, with cottage cheese, or cold rice. (although that can look alarmingly like a maggot infestation in the crate later, so proceed with caution!) Making nice Kongs mean that the dogs actually run to their crates if I have to go out - they definitely associate the crate with an interesting buffet afternoons.

My dogs never chew the actual Kong though - they just create a power vacuum around the end and hoover out the contents, then nose it around, hoping the last bits will fall out. And then leave the empty Kong lying around so visitors can do an embarrassed double take at it.

watching with interest!

Yesbutnobut - good idea to stuff with the mushy mini bites - I guess that could go in the freezer too! Might stick a nice bit of liver treat in the middle as an extra incentive!

wildfig - bluuuuugh to the 'maggot infestation' recipe! That might have to be one for in the garden only!!

Am I the only one reading (some) of these going: yum! I quite fancy a kong myself?! Particularly the mackerel pate....

er...yes MrC - you are