# Favourite ultra low cal Kong stuffings?



## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Prednisone is making Annie insatiable - She's creeping around the house looking for trouble or hidden food. She has suddenly decided fresh carrots, beans, etc are food. We caught her trying to gnaw Trixie's carpet covered dog house yesterday. She was on the porch eating vegetable scraps out of the compost bucket. I caught her licking the side of the garbage can. 

I imagine this is like living with a lab. 

I don't want her gaining weight (ideally, she would lose 2-5 lbs). Having been on prednisone, I understand how very hungry it makes you feel. 

I decided to give her a Kong to keep her occupied with food hunting in a less dangerous way. Today's Kong is a tiny bit of peanut butter to stop up the hole, a couple spoonfuls of gravy, and filled with water, frozen. Working great (about an hour in), but gravy is pretty rare in this house. 

What are other favourite, very low calorie Kong ideas?


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I fill kongs with my dog's food. I stuff the hole with some lean turkey or a few pieces of kibble then stuff with their food. Babykins food is homemade and the texture of meatloaf. Theo is eating FreshPet in a tube with a pâté texture. Both stuff in nice and tight making for a little time to lick it out. Both their kongs could be frozen and served, but mine prefer them cold from the fridge.

Peanut butter is high in fat which defeats your purpose, I would use a piece of cooked carrot or green beans. 

If she is enjoying the kong, you might want to feed her meal in several kong.


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## Misteline (Mar 10, 2019)

I've never tried stuffing a Kong with it, but Evelyn is partial to zucchini. It's low calorie, but I'm not sure whether it would have too much fiber. If you spiralize it it should stuff nicely and in an interesting way. But cooked zucchini is soft and squishy anyway.

You could also see if you could find some dog friendly meat broths to freeze. Or make it yourself? I'm a lifelong vegetarian so I lack experience with making meat based things.


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## DNi (Apr 12, 2020)

Would wet food be a possibility? I thin it with water so that it's yogurt-esque consistency and add a handful of kibbles + shredded chicken breasts to the bottom, then fill the Kong to 3/4 full with the thinned wet food and freeze it. I add a couple more pats of the wet food to the top right before giving it to Loki to entice him into working on it.

Another thing that I like doing is treating the Kong as a food puzzle toy rather than filling it to the top. I take the chicken breast (poodle with a sensitive stomach) and cut a piece like a disc so that it is juuuust a little too big to tip out of the Kong completely and add a few more shredded chicken pieces or his treat-kibbles so that he gets little rewards while he's working to get the big one out. I can see this working with carrot or zucchini slices as well.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Skylar said:


> I fill kongs with my dog's food. I stuff the hole with some lean turkey or a few pieces of kibble then stuff with their food. Babykins food is homemade and the texture of meatloaf. Theo is eating FreshPet in a tube with a pâté texture. Both stuff in nice and tight making for a little time to lick it out. Both their kongs could be frozen and served, but mine prefer them cold from the fridge.
> 
> Peanut butter is high in fat which defeats your purpose, I would use a piece of cooked carrot or green beans.
> 
> If she is enjoying the kong, you might want to feed her meal in several kong.



Don't worry - I'm using about 1/2 tsp of peanut butter as the stopper, maybe 15 calories. Not much for a spoo. 

I've used dog food in the past as a Kong stuffing. 

This Kong is meant to be a bridge between the impossibly long time between breakfast and dinner, or dinner and bedtime snack, when she is rooting around like a fluffy haired pig. 



Misteline said:


> I've never tried stuffing a Kong with it, but Evelyn is partial to zucchini. It's low calorie, but I'm not sure whether it would have too much fiber. If you spiralize it it should stuff nicely and in an interesting way. But cooked zucchini is soft and squishy anyway.
> 
> You could also see if you could find some dog friendly meat broths to freeze. Or make it yourself? I'm a lifelong vegetarian so I lack experience with making meat based things.


Zucchini is an awesome idea! I happened to pull my 5 seed saving zucchinis a few days ago, so I have plenty of zucchini. 

I've made broth in the past - I freeze it for ice cubes. 



DNi said:


> Would wet food be a possibility? I thin it with water so that it's yogurt-esque consistency and add a handful of kibbles + shredded chicken breasts to the bottom, then fill the Kong to 3/4 full with the thinned wet food and freeze it. I add a couple more pats of the wet food to the top right before giving it to Loki to entice him into working on it.
> 
> Another thing that I like doing is treating the Kong as a food puzzle toy rather than filling it to the top. I take the chicken breast (poodle with a sensitive stomach) and cut a piece like a disc so that it is juuuust a little too big to tip out of the Kong completely and add a few more shredded chicken pieces or his treat-kibbles so that he gets little rewards while he's working to get the big one out. I can see this working with carrot or zucchini slices as well.


Wet food is a good idea too, she is so food motivated a spoonful mixed with water would probably be enough. 

And I love the 'puzzle toy' idea.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

Could you just hold onto a bully stick for Annie?

Bully sticks are pretty lean. That's my go-to. 

Just an idea.


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## MyMiles (Apr 21, 2012)

I've been watering down wet dog food, pumpkin puree, and chicken or turkey baby food. 
Usually, I throw a small handful of his food for the day in the bottom, and have some pre-frozen ice cubes of thinned down filler, then plug the opening with a little of an un-thinned filling option before freezing the whole thing again.

Elmer also enjoys the cucumber spears and green beans, so sometimes those will get tossed into a kong as well.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

I thought I should update this.

I found veggies made Annie flatulent (she already has a lot in her food). 

The easiest and lowest calorie Kong stuffing I have found is to make a very thin meat or bone broth and freeze it in ice cube trays. I simply push an ice cube into the Kong. Easy, fast, doesn't require daily planning, and I can make weeks worth of ice cubes at once. It doesn't last as long as blocking the hole and freezing broth in the Kong, so I refill it a few times. 

If I don't have that made ahead, a spoonful of plain yoghurt smeared inside is good but doesn't last anywhere near as long as a broth cube.


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## icedteana (Oct 25, 2020)

I second the pumpkin purée! I also use cucumbers - you can freeze it inside the kong by slicing it and filling in the spaces with peanut butter. Goat whip is a big favorite as well.


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