What’s a Lick Mat and Why Does Your Dachshund Want One? (And Which Ones to Purchase)

I’m all the time searching for methods to convey extra pleasure and enrichment to my Dachshund’s life and assist maintain them from losing interest once they’re hanging out in the home.

A kind of methods is with enrichment toys and meals puzzles.

We use a number of differing types however in the present day I need to share about canine lick mats.

I first began utilizing them about 4 years in the past however my curiosity and inspiration was not too long ago renewed after I attended the Superzoo pet commerce present.

Canine lick mats have actually come a good distance because the starting. 

There are such a lot of choices obtainable now, together with canine lick mats of various problem.

I do know a few of you aren’t conversant in what they’re although so let’s begin there.

Then I’ll go on to debate lick mat security, which of them we predict are one of the best, lick mat toppings, tips on how to clear them and extra!

What’s a Canine Lick Mat?

A canine lick mat is often a flat piece of plastic or rubber (synthetic or natural) with a raised design, ridges, or bristles on the highest.

There are some lick “mats” which are literally within the form of a bowl however use the identical idea.

You unfold meals and treats over the textured floor, thus trapping it in crevices.

When the meals or treats are smooshed into the raised design, your Dachshund isn’t capable of seize the meals with their enamel and should use their tongue to get the meals out as a substitute.

Your Dachshund then licks the mat again and again to get it out.

Lick mats have completely different designs on high, and completely different depth of the ridges and bristles, which make the problem differ from straightforward to most troublesome.

Lick mats fall into the pet product class referred to as “canine enrichment”.

What’s Canine Enrichment and Why is it Essential?

In the event you’v enever heard of canine enrichment, you might be questioning what it’s and why it issues.

Briefly, canine enrichment is a mentally-focused exercise that stimulates the thoughts.

Extra typically, canine enrichment is “environmental enrichment” for animals utilized particularly to canines.

It’s usually shortened to only “enrichment”.

Enrichment improves and enhances your canine’s psychological state by offering actions supposed to problem and train your canine’s mind and offering an outlet on your canine’s pure instincts.

Enrichment actions require drawback fixing and new learing abilities.

Many individuals suppose that enrichment is non-obligatory. I imply, canines have survived for hundreds of years simply laying round the home, proper?

However now we all know extra about home (pet) canine habits and their wants.

Within the wild, canines stay complicated lives filled with stimuli and spend nearly all of their waking time sniffing, exploring, looking, and fixing issues.

Compassionate canine house owners acknowledge this want and our responsibilty to offer these alternatives for our home canines who, usually, are uncovered to very restricted stimuli all through their regular day and should stay inside the constraints of our world.

Zoo’s have lengthy acknowledged this want.

In keeping with the paper, A Veterinary Evaluation of the Dangers and Advantages of Environmental Enrichment,

“Analysis carried out in zoos and analysis carried out in laboratory settings each show that utility of enrichment methods can remedy a few of the issues we encounter in captive animals and may enhance well-being.“

In keeping with Smithsonian’s Nationwide Zoo & Conservation Biology institute, “Enrichment retains an animal’s day attention-grabbing and is simply as important to animal welfare as vitamin and veterinary care.“

There are 6 sorts of enrichment: social, cognitive, bodily, sensory, feeding, and toy enrichment (supply).

Canine lick mats fulfill the feeding, sensory, and cognitive varieties.

What Are the Advantages of Lick Mats for Dachshunds?

Lick mats appear easy however there are a number of advantages to utilizing one on your Dachshund.

A lick mat can:

• Decelerate consuming – lick mats will help cease your Dachshund from consuming too quick by greater than double the time it takes on your canine to eat their meal
• Assist relieve boredom – it offers them one thing to do
• Cut back stress and anxiousness – licking is soothing for canines
• Maintain your Dachshund busy – that is helpful when it’s essential maintain them from below your ft or following you round
• Present psychological train and psychological stimulation – a Dachshund has to make use of their problem-solving abilities to future out tips on how to lick the mat clear
• Present a distraction throughout tense occasions – tense occasions is usually a tub, clipping their nails, when visitors are over, and so on.
• Promote wholesome enamel and gums by stimulating the tongue, which will increase manufacturing of helpful, enzyme-containing saliva
• Enhance dangerous breath by scraping the tongue to scale back undigested meals particles and odor-causing micro organism

In keeping with WildWelfare.org, whose mission is to finish the struggling of captive wild [zoo] animals around the globe,

“Animals which have good psychological well being will have interaction with their setting extra, be much less aggressive, much less fearful and are extra peaceable, exploratory and comfortable with their environment.

Enrichment can help this constructive psychological welfare and encourages pure behaviours in {home] animals.”

This research demonstrated that “the presence of… meals enrichment toys… will increase the extent of exercise (train)… [and] additionally seems to end result into decrease barking frequencies.”

Word: the researchers admit the pattern measurement may be very small, and extra analysis is required, however the outcomes are promising.

Canine enrichment toys are the proper strategy to activate your canine’s pure instincts to forage for meals and a lick mat is only one of those such instruments.

Are Lick Mats Secure for Canine?

Lick mats are typically secure for any canine.

Nonetheless, they lick mats aren’t a chew toy so that you’ll want to observe how your canine makes use of the mat to start with.

Not if your canine tries to chew it up

Generally my Dachshund Summit will chew on the high of the mat in an try to get the meals out of it. 

Whereas it hasn’t occurred, there’s a threat that she may break off and swallow items of the “raised nubs” within the course of.

These items would typically be small however I wouldn’t need her to choke. 

It is potential that some canines might attempt to chew on the mat itself (suppose piece of pizza).

Meaning they might swallow giant items that would trigger them to choke or create an intestinal blockage.

If a lick mat turns into broken, take away it out of your canine instantly and throw it away.

Perhaps not if it will increase obsessive behaviors

It’s uncommon however some canines have obsessive-compulsive tentencies.

One instance is canines that can lick one space of the ground actually for hours although there may be nothing there.

One weblog reader stated her Dachshunds do that and have literlly licked a gap within the vinyl flooring!

A lick mat will help some canines management that urge by offering a secure, permitted merchandise for them to lick.

A lick mat can focus their licking behavior on the mat and a superb lick session with engaging filling will help scale back the quantity of undesirable licking at different occasions.

However it is potential that encouraging the licking may go unsuitable.

I’ve not heard of it taking place to any canines I do know however some readers have expressed concernt that encouraging licking with a mat may additional reinforce (enhance) the licking behavior at different occasions.

What about ingesting microscopic items of the mat?

Anone who has given their canine a Kong, or different rubber/silicone, deal with toy to lick, and has had that merchandise for over a yr, will discover that the shiny floor might begin to look extra boring.

It is because a canine’s tongue is tough and may abrate the floor type of like sand paper.

It’s completely unimaginable to eradicate any chance that repeated licking may end in unnoticible, tiny particles of the mat being ingested.

No matter comes off the matt passes by means of their abdomen.

In case you are nervous about what your canine could be ingesting from the mat once they lick it repeatedly, particularly if they’re energy lickers, know that the majority lick mats are made out of non poisonous, food-grade supplies.

There may be little to no threat of this inflicting a problem.

The underside line in ragard to lick mat security

The underside line is barely you realize your canine. Watch how they use a lick mat and discontinue should you suppose it poses a threat to them.

It’s all the time greatest to test the label fastidiously although. Actually low-cost ones made in China might comprise unsafe chemical compounds.

If the fabric used isn’t acknowledged within the product itemizing, assume it’s not secure.

All respected manufacturers will probably be clear and record precisely what the lick mat is made out of.

Are All Canine Lick Mats the Identical?

4 years after I first found them, there are actually 100 completely different lick mats in the marketplace now.

Chances are you’ll be questioning how to select from all of the completely different lick mat decisions. Are all of them the identical?

The reply is sure and no.

Sure, in that all of them work just about the identical method and supply related advantages.

And no in that they differ in 4 major methods:

1. The form of the lick mat – flat spherical, flat sq., flat rectangle, bowl formed
2. The fabric they’re made out of – meals grade silicone, non-toxic TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) materials (like Sodapup beneath), pure rubber (like LickiMat beneath), and possibly some others.
3. The extent of problem – the extra intricate and detailed the design, the smaller the grooves, and the tighter the corners, the upper the problem
4. Suction cups or not – lick mats with suction cups may be caught to the aspect of the tub or window 

These are the variations however how do you select which one is correct on your wants and your canine? 

Contemplate the choices, attempt one, and see if it really works for you and your canine.

The bodily form is basically irrelevant, besides within the case of those formed like bowls that wobble. They add a complete completely different problem to the expertise.

Though the supplies used to make the lick mats can differ, a lot of the lick mats will probably be made out of non-toxic, pet-safe supplies in order that’s not likely a deciding issue.

Nonetheless, all the time double test what they’re product of earlier than buying. Lick mats made exterior of the US, or different nations with excessive security requirements, or that don’t record the product supplies, are probably suspect.

Determine should you want the suction cups. Though they’re the one selection if it’s essential stick the lick mat to the wall, window, or aspect of the bathe, the suction cups could make them unstable on flat surfaces.

So should you plan to make use of the lick mat on the ground, personally, I might not select one with suction cups.

The extent of problem might be going to be the most important determination you’ll have to make. 

In case your canine has by no means used a lick mat, you might need to begin with the best stage.

Nonetheless, I did that with my Dachshund Summit and Gretel and it was instantly obvious that it wasn’t a problem for them so I rapidly needed to improve to the medium stage lick mat.

A part of the problem stage is what you select to placed on the lick mat so shopping for a medium problem mat and placing a gentle filling in it, and never fully urgent it into the crevices, might prevent having to improve later.

I’ve a number of completely different lick mats although – various difficulties, shapes, and problem ranges – as a result of I like to change issues up and sometimes Dachshund sit so I need to be ready for the power and curiosity of varied canines.

When and How I Use Lick Mats for My Dachshunds

There are a number of conditions after I may give my Dachshunds a mat with meals to lick.

These embody:

• Use as a sluggish feeder at mealtime – this solely works with uncooked or canned pet food
• To occupy Summit lengthy sufficient for her to let me trim her nails – she likes the meals greater than she dislikes having her nails minimize
• When I’m cooking and don’t need my canines below foot – that is safer for each of us
• As a distraction when we have now strangers (visitor) over – they will’t bark and bounce on them if they’re occupied with the lick mat
• After I must tire them out however can’t get out for a stroll or hike – psychological stimulation can tire a canine out greater than bodily train
• After I’m working from house – typically I really want to give attention to a undertaking

Hopefully my record offers you some concepts and examples of when and the way you may need to use a canine lick mat on your Dachshund.

I give Summit and Gretel the lick mat for about 10-Quarter-hour at a time.

Even when the entire meals isn’t gone from the floor, I take it away from them so their tongue doesn’t develop into sore and the licking doesn’t develop into obsessive.

Finest Lick Mats for Dachshunds

Disclosure: Among the hyperlinks on this article are affiliate hyperlinks (Amazon Affiliate or different packages we take part in). As an affiliate, I earn a small fee from qualifying purchases.

The very best lick mats for Dachshunds aren’t too huge. 

There isn’t any want for “wasted area” and it’s tempting to place an excessive amount of meals (energy) on a big lick mat floor. 

Most Dachshunds are decided and relentless relating to meals, and are skilled lickers, so you might need to select a medium problem to laborious problem mat design.

Listed below are what I believe are one of the best lick mats for Dachshunds:

Straightforward Problem Lick Mats

Medium Problem Lick Mats

Most Difficult Lick Mats

SodaPup is a veterinarian-owned firm that makes their merchandise within the USA.

LickiMat® is an Australian cmpany that developed lick mats, with the assistance of two veterinarians.

Lick Mat Topping Concepts

What you placed on a lick mat on your Dachshund doesn’t must be fancy. Nonetheless, it should match a pair standards.

It have to be:

1. Spreadable or pourable
2. One thing that your canine actually enjoys consuming

Some fast lick mat filling concepts are:

• Peanut butter (xylitol free)
• Spreadable cheese (with out spices or seasonings)
• Plain cottage cheese
• Canned pet food
• Uncooked pet food
• Plain greek yogurt
• Canned pumpkin (unsweetened)
• Canned candy potato (unsweetened)
• Pureed veggies (no salt or spices)
• Unsweetened applesauce
• Mashed banana
• Eggs (uncooked or positioned on the mat after which microwaved)

You may as well put a number of of those substances on the lick mat collectively, both on completely different elements of it or combined collectively.

To extend the problem of any mat, you possibly can unfold the deal with or meals on the lick mat after which freeze it.

Word: Most canine lick mats are microwave or freezer secure however you’ll want to test the label first.

To make it extra attention-grabbing, you can too sprinkle issues on high of the bottom deal with or meals like unsweetened coconut, dried liver flakes, or crushed freeze dried blueberries.

In the event you’re searching for extra inventive lick mat concepts, this Peanut Butter, Banana, Coconut Kong Stuffing will even work as a lick mat unfold and this canine pleasant smoothie recipe may be poured on the lick mat after which frozen.

There are different lick mat recipes for canines on the market too like this fall likimat recipe.

Clear a Canine Lick Mat

Most canine lick mats are dishwasher secure, though it’s greatest to test first.

Nonetheless, in my expertise, nothing will get them as clear as a superb quaint hand scrubbing.

First, I soak the lick mat in heat, soapy water for no less than 5 minutes.

Then I exploit a forceful stream of water from the tap directed to the crevices on the mat to flush out a lot of the residue (it helps should you additionally bend the mat as you do it).

Lastly, I put some cleaning soap on a scrub brush and take away the cussed items of meals nonetheless caught on it.

You’ll want to scrub off the again of the mat too!

Last Ideas

There are lots of makes use of for canine lick mats.

Utilizing one will help you handle your Dachshund’s habits, assist them “cooperate” throughout grooming, assist them  eat slower, and may present psychological stimulation that tires them out.

Lick mats are typically secure to make use of with any canine nevertheless it’s vital to all the time supervise your canine whereas they’re consuming off of it, no less than the primary few occasions till you realize what to anticipate.

The most important hazard with a lick mat is that your canine will chew a chunk off and swallow it, inflicting an intestinal blockage.

If a mat turns into damaged, or considerably chewed up, throw it away. 

I will even add that lick mats needs to be used as a software in a holistic life-enrichment technique.

They shouldn’t be the only real method you present your canine psychological stimulation.

If used correctly, lick mats are an effective way to counterpoint your canine’s life and make it extra attention-grabbing.