# Kong Stuffing ideas?



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Okay, we're going on vacation soon for awhile and my 16 month old is going to be crated quite often during this time, so I need some Kong stuffing ideas HOWEVER, since he is the one that just had a foreign body removal surgery everything that goes in his kong needs to be soft and easily digestible (so no kibble pieces or hard treats or jerky), also, he has allergies so no dairy, no beef, no gluten (ie bread, etc), no wheat, no corn. 

Does anyone have any ideas?


----------



## Rexandbaby (Aug 4, 2008)

Peanut butter, and cream cheese.


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

Rexandbaby said:


> Peanut butter, and cream cheese.



But cream cheese is a dairy, and he's allergic to dairy (I think I mentioned that above if I didn't I apologize).


----------



## TurnerPack (Aug 22, 2008)

I used to put some peanut butter at the tip and then fill up the Kong with some broth (chicken since your guy can't have beef?) and then freeze that so it is like a popsicle when I need it. Lol I have no life... I needed something to occupy my foster's crazy mind


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

TurnerPack said:


> I used to put some peanut butter at the tip and then fill up the Kong with some broth (chicken since your guy can't have beef?) and then freeze that so it is like a popsicle when I need it. Lol I have no life... I needed something to occupy my foster's crazy mind



Yes, I've done that when I can put them outside, but this is something he's going to have to eat in his crate and the crate isn't going to be able to be cleaned out daily (since I'm not going to be here obviously), does that make a huge mess?


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

What about a type of canned food he can tolerate? Maybe you could even freeze that and it might last longer. He'd probably be pretty willing to clean up any mess he might make too. Could plain, canned pumpkin be another option? Or mashed potatoes! I'm just thinking of mushy stuff at this point.


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

rannmiller said:


> What about a type of canned food he can tolerate? Maybe you could even freeze that and it might last longer. He'd probably be pretty willing to clean up any mess he might make too. Could plain, canned pumpkin be another option? Or mashed potatoes! I'm just thinking of mushy stuff at this point.


Well canned pumpkin could be but too much can give dogs the runs. I'm sure he'd be WILLING to clean up messes, but with an 8 inch incision on his belly that's still in the process of healing I don't really want him laying in his own spit and food and stuff ya know. It's healing well but it's still pretty fresh.

maybe just keeping it simple is the best way to go, some green beans, carrots, peanut butter, and pieces of chicken frozen and put in there would keep things not too messy but still provide entertainment throughout the day and all things he's had before so shouldn't cause any tummy upsets.


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

I was going to suggest green beans but I wasn't sure if they'd stay in there very well. I'm sure he wouldn't complain if you gave him those things, in fact, I'm sure he'd love you even more!


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

rannmiller said:


> I was going to suggest green beans but I wasn't sure if they'd stay in there very well. I'm sure he wouldn't complain if you gave him those things, in fact, I'm sure he'd love you even more!


Well I'm thinking about taking some PB and maybe some of his kibble that's been soaked in water and is pasty (thick paste LoL), and mixing that, the green beans, and some carrots and chicken all together so that it's more of a chunky paste if that makes sense to help the smaller things stay in there and then freezing it. What I may do is when I go grocery shopping one day before vacation trying this and since he'll be in his crate when I go shopping, I'm usually gone a few hours, that way I can see how much of a mess it makes and can either think something else up or modify it if it makes a huge mess and if it does it'll only be a couple of hours plus then I can clean it up relatively quickly and no harm no foul. Dang dog, this wasn't supposed to be an issue I had all of this figured out but no he has to go eat a freaking blanket and my plans go up in smoke LoL.


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Dogs are notorious for that, its why we love them. They keep us on our toes!

How do you make God laugh? Make plans.


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

rannmiller said:


> Dogs are notorious for that, its why we love them. They keep us on our toes!
> 
> How do you make God laugh? Make plans.


Yeah well lucky for us this happened now before we left otherwise he very well may have died while we were gone so in this case plans need to go correctly. He needs to stay on this path or we're gonna have problems, like life threatening ones. But as long as he continues to do well we should be okay. This was one keeping me on my toes I could've done without for emotional reasons, time reasons, financial reasons, among other things unfortunately.


----------



## TurnerPack (Aug 22, 2008)

BoxerMommie said:


> Yes, I've done that when I can put them outside, but this is something he's going to have to eat in his crate and the crate isn't going to be able to be cleaned out daily (since I'm not going to be here obviously), does that make a huge mess?


I guess it depends on the dog. Mine would eat it non stop untill it was totally gone so there was no messed but another foster of mine would get distracted and leave it there to melt and it would make a mess lol


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

TurnerPack said:


> I guess it depends on the dog. Mine would eat it non stop untill it was totally gone so there was no messed but another foster of mine would get distracted and leave it there to melt and it would make a mess lol


Well not that there will be mess so much as in food on the crate I mean he can obviously lick that up, but I'd rather not much be coming out of the Kong. He has an 8-10 inch HEALING incision on his belly, I'd rather him not be laying either in food or his own saliva there ya know. Don't want to come home to it infected. I mean he'll be in a crate in the house so there isn't going to be much to distract him so I have a feeling it's going to be naps and Kong, but I don't want them to make a mess either. 

Think I'll go with the frozen paste and just do a test run prior to going on vacation and see how much of a mess it makes and re-think if need be.

Thanks all!


----------



## TippysMom (Oct 3, 2008)

I'm interested in how that works out - please post an update on the paste & if it was successful. We have to leave for long periods of time once in a while & it would be nice to have some ideas for my furry children - for distractions while we're gone! 

Thanks !!!


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

TippysMom said:


> I'm interested in how that works out - please post an update on the paste & if it was successful. We have to leave for long periods of time once in a while & it would be nice to have some ideas for my furry children - for distractions while we're gone!
> 
> Thanks !!!


Well from the past I know that some peanut butter mixed with some kibble and some air popped popcorn has worked very well, so until I post that may be something you can try.

I will post, I will probably do it either this Friday or next Thursday but I promise to post once I've tried it.


----------



## TippysMom (Oct 3, 2008)

Excellent! Thanks!


----------



## ILuvLabs (Oct 27, 2008)

Dumb question time......

Hannah loves peanut butter......my fave thing to do is to put some on my finger & wipe it on the roof of her mouth, sit back & watch. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen.......sorry, got off track there.....:biggrin:

When you put peanut butter in a Kong, doesn't it make a mess? I buy treats for small dogs so they'll fit in her Kong but she's a master now & gets them out before I even turn my back. I'd love to stick them in pb inside of her Kong but I'm afraid the inside will be covered in pb & I'll have ants everywhere. 

Does your dog completely clean out the inside? If not, how do you clean it?

I've been dying to try the pb trick but I'm afraid of a Kong-ful of ants. Yuk!

TIA


----------



## lorih1770 (Jun 17, 2008)

ILuvLabs said:


> I've been dying to try the pb trick but I'm afraid of a Kong-ful of ants. Yuk!
> 
> TIA


Ewww ha-ha! I was a little worried about that too, but have never had a problem. I put peanut better in the Kongs and have never had a mess either. My dogs will eat ALL of the peanut butter before it even gets out of the Kong. You can stick the Kong right in the dishwasher when they are through and it comes out like new.


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Yeah, I've never had a PB on the carpet problem with my Kong. If they do get any on the carpet, it doesnt stay there long!


----------



## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

I use mainly peanut butter and soft treats once in a while. Soaked kibble also works well stuffed inside w/peanut butter holding it in. 

Liversausage was suggested to me a while back and I tried it but my dogs didn't like it at all. But I think too much liversausage may not be good for them. 

Good luck and have a great vacation!


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

rannmiller said:


> Yeah, I've never had a PB on the carpet problem with my Kong. If they do get any on the carpet, it doesnt stay there long!


Ditto this I do not have a problem and on washing them yes my dogs clean them out completely but I put it in the dishwasher whenever they're finished to get the bacteria and yuckies out.


----------



## ILuvLabs (Oct 27, 2008)

Thought I'd report back. I tried putting a little peanut butter in Hannah's Kong before I left to go shopping. At first she tried flipping it with her paws (this cracked me up......that's hows she ejects all the little cookies) but that didn't work. I picked it up & held it to encourage her to lick inside......took her a millisecond to figure that out. Then she took it away from me (ok, that's enough......I CAN DO IT MYSELF......:biggrin, plopped down on her binkie, put her paws on the Kong & got busy licking out the p'nut butter. This all took place in less than a minute.

I left & she was still busy with her Kong. I came back, she greeted me at the door & then immediately went back to her Kong. I've never seen anything keep her that busy for so long.

When she finally lost interest, the only p'nut butter left was at the very top, stuck in the ridge there. I only run the dishwasher maybe a couple of times a month so I just put it in the hot soapy water after I did dishes & used a chopstick (collect those at restaurants......come in handy for lots of stuff) to get the rest of it out.

None on her binkie, none on the floor & no big mess inside the Kong. Yeehaw!

Thanks for all the great advice. This is going to be a regular thing, especially over the holidays when I'll be gone a little longer than usual. Hannah says thank you too.......her tail never stopped wagging the whole time she was working on the Kong!


----------



## BoxerMommie (Jun 26, 2008)

ILuvLabs said:


> Thought I'd report back. I tried putting a little peanut butter in Hannah's Kong before I left to go shopping. At first she tried flipping it with her paws (this cracked me up......that's hows she ejects all the little cookies) but that didn't work. I picked it up & held it to encourage her to lick inside......took her a millisecond to figure that out. Then she took it away from me (ok, that's enough......I CAN DO IT MYSELF......:biggrin, plopped down on her binkie, put her paws on the Kong & got busy licking out the p'nut butter. This all took place in less than a minute.
> 
> I left & she was still busy with her Kong. I came back, she greeted me at the door & then immediately went back to her Kong. I've never seen anything keep her that busy for so long.
> 
> ...


On the dishwasher, you can also get a bottle brush (like for baby bottles) put some dish soap on it (like Dawn) and clean it that way, works very well also just is more time consuming. And then I'd still put it in the dishwasher whenever you run it to sanitize it since it's had food and slobber, etc inside of it. To keep her busy longer you can also put some PB in it and freeze it overnight. 

When we went on vacation I put some kibble in the small end, then a mixture of canned dog food and rice and froze it overnight and that lasted quite awhile I was told during the day so that's an idea too. Make sure to decrease the amount of food you give at meals if you're giving more than just a tad (anymore than 1 TBSP as it is high in calories) on a regular basis otherwise they can end up overweight very quickly.

Glad it's working out for you!


----------



## ChattyCathy (Nov 22, 2008)

ILuvLabs said:


> Thought I'd report back. I tried putting a little peanut butter in Hannah's Kong before I left to go shopping.


Good for you! My dogs love it when I stuff it w/peanut butter!:smile:


----------

