Imagine if your diet was limited to rice & beans: every, single, day. Sure, this basic food would provide you with enough calories to sustain life, but would you be excited to eat it? Would you thrive?
While this example is ridiculous, many of us forget our beloved pups are offered little variety if they eat the same exact kibble each and every day of their lives. More and more dog parents are coming to the same conclusion: dogs need variety and become quickly bored of their every day food!
Related: The 14 Best Dog Food Toppers
The rising popularity of freeze-dried meat toppers
Freeze dried meat toppers have become one of the fastest growing product categories in pet stores, and for good reason. Freeze dried meat preserves the nutrients of protein, offering more benefit to your dog’s body.
Plus, there’s an added benefit of freeze dried topper: dogs go absolutely crazy at meal time! The meat powder coats your dog’s kibble, boosting the flavor of the entire bowl.
We like the Happy Healthy brand of toppers because it includes chicken or beef, probiotics (helps the transition), blueberries, kale, and carrots for additional nutrition.
Unlike kibble, no heat is used with a freeze dried product, so the meat is as close to nature as possible. The addition of a small amount of fruits and vegetables helps increase your dog’s intake of natural vitamins and valuable phytonutrients that are not found in dry dog food.
But wait, my dog gets diarrhea every time I try to change their food!
Perhaps you’ve considered offering your dog more variety in the past, only to find out they “got the runs” after you switched their diet. This is a common problem, but its important to understand that if your dog could not tolerate a change, their microbiome may be unhealthy. (just like you might get a stomachache if you ate rice and beans all your life, and switch to pizza!)
If this has happened to you, here’s 2 simple tips for the transition:
- Go slow. Very slow! Add a small amount of the new food or topper in their diet and slowly increase each day
- Add probiotics! Probiotics are incredibly valuable and proven to help create a healthy microbiome in your dog’s gut. One of the things we love about the Healthy Happy brand of toppers is that each tablespoon includes over 6 million CFUs of probiotics, which helps transition your dog to the change.
When we taste tested this topper in the iHeartDogs offices, 10 out of 10 dogs went CRAZY for it over their regular kibble. The topper coats your dog’s existing kibble, boosting the flavor and the nutrition.
You can learn more about the toppers here.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional.
Toledo, United States.
