Feeding & Enrichment
A meal can be more than a bowl. What to put on a lick mat covers simple spreads, freezing and cleaning, and food enrichment for dogs adds easy ideas, from scatter feeding to a towel snuffle.
If your dog finishes dinner in seconds, see how to slow down a dog that eats too fast. Cats get their own version, built around spreading and splitting meals. These guides cover how to feed, not what to feed: for diet, portions or weight, ask your veterinarian. The lick mats and slow feeders mentioned are in lick mats and slow feeder bowls.
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Guide
How Often Should You Wash Dog Bowls? Food, Water, Slow Feeders and Lick Mats
Wash water and dry-food bowls daily and wet-food bowls after every meal. Here is how to scrub off the slimy film, when the dishwasher is enough and when to disinfect, how to reach into ridged slow feeders and lick mats, and how to care for travel bottles and cat bowls.
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Guide
How to Slow Down a Cat That Eats Too Fast: Spreading, Splitting and Play Before Meals
A cat that gulps its meals usually needs a different setup, not a different food. Spread wet food thin, split the daily amount into smaller meals, feed each cat apart, try simple homemade food puzzles and let your cat hunt a toy before dinner.
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Guide
Enrichment for Senior Dogs: Gentle Brain Games, Sniffing and Easier Food Puzzles
Gentle ways to keep an older dog's brain busy: unhurried sniff walks, find-it games on the rug, easier food puzzles and lick mats, one-minute trick refreshers, comfy footing, and the changes that mean it is time to call your veterinarian.
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Guide
Food Enrichment for Dogs: 8 Ways to Turn Mealtime Into Brain Work
Eight ways to turn your dog's daily food into a job, easiest first: scatter feeding, towel snuffles, find-it games, a muffin tin, lick mats and slow feeders. Plus a weekly rotation, portion tips and the safety basics.
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Guide
How to Slow Down a Dog That Eats Too Fast: Bowls, Spreading Tricks and Mealtime Changes
Spread the food out, split the daily amount and feed dogs apart. How slow feeders work, free alternatives from your kitchen cupboard, what to do when your dog beats the bowl or refuses it, and when fast eating needs a veterinarian.
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Guide
What to Put on a Lick Mat: Spreads, Freezing and Cleaning for Dogs and Cats
Simple, pet-safe spreads for dogs and cats, the foods to leave off, how long to freeze a lick mat and an easy cleaning routine, plus which mat or bowl to use when.
