Choosing and using a Lickimat

'LickiMats are vet designed and provide a perfect treat licking and feeding surface for dogs.  LickiMats encourage licking action in dogs, whether for eating treats or food.' [source: LickiMat']

You can use a LickiMat to spread out a variety of food or treats on the surface or you can press the food into the surface, encouraging you dog to lick the pieces out of the grooves.

The rubber tips on each LickiMat gently scrapes and stimulate your dog's tongue.  This helps to increase saliva protection which helps with dental hygiene and most importantly soothes your dog by releasing 'happy' endorphins. Dogs will lick themselves (especially paws) to help self-soothe, so a LickiMat is great for dogs that need some help to soothe themselves.

here are a variety of LickiMat surfaces for your dog to extract the raw, wet, dry or liquid food and treats.  The different LickiMat surfaces work with different treats and foods. You can freeze LickiMats for a nice cool treat and to make the experience last longer.

What can you use a LickiMat for?

For fun!

For distraction during activities such as grooming or travel.

For soothing anxious dogs during events like fireworks.

For slow feeding.

For enrichment.

To administer medication.

To offer a wide diet.

For dry, wet, raw food and any manner of treats.

Selecting a LickiMat

You may want to choose a surface type based on

• what you feed your dog (wet, dry, raw)
• what treats your dog likes to eat (peanut butter, pate, fruit, veges)
• whether your dog is a chewer 

The size of your dog does not matter, you can choose a small or large mat, it just will obviously take longer for a small dog to clear the big mat.

Check out our full range of LickiMats here!

Let's have a look at your choices:

LickiMat Classics

LickiMat Classics come in three surfaces: Buddy, Playdate and Soother.  

Playdate has square pockets that will contain food like bits of kibble.  Liquids are easier to manage and keep separate from other food or treats. You don't have to fill the whole mat with the same thing, you can put kibble and liquid and pate on the same mat!	Buddy has a more complex surface and still allows separation of foods and small treats or small chunks of meat.  Again you can use liquid, smashed food, pate.	Soother has small nobbly bits that soothe the tongue. It's great for soft and liquid foods. The Soother is the most challenging of the three surfaces, and is best suited for soft, runny and liquid foods and treats.

 

All LickiMat Classics are microwave friendly, so you can cook meals on them in the microwave AND they are freezer-friendly, so you can freeze a lovely cool lick for warmer days.  They are easy to hand-wash in the sink and are made from 'human food-grade rubber' (TPR).

You can use the LickiMat as a bowl/feeder - try the Large LickiMat Buddy or Large LickiMat Classic.

LickiMat Tuff

 

LickiMat Tuff mats are also suitable for raw, wet and dry food as well as any sort of treats and spreads.

If your dog is a chewer, or a teething puppy, then you should definitely select from the LickiMat Tuff range or Slomo.  If your dog is a chewer, please supervise them when introducing them to a LickiMat.

A LickiMat Tuff can go in the dishwasher or be washed by hand in the sink.  The Tuff currently comes in two surfaces: Buddy and Playdate - same as the Classics above. 

All LickiMat Tuffs are dishwasher safe, microwave friendly and are freezer-friendly.  Again, they are all made from human food-grade rubber (TPR) and recyclable polypropylene.

LickiMat SloMo

LickiMat SloMo mats are perfect for combining dry, wet, raw and soft or liquid dog foods and treats on the mat.  You can use them as your bowl and have a wonderful array of food types for your dinner.  Why not try wet food, vegetables, fruit, liquids all on the same mat.

Check out our full range of LickiMats here!

LickiMat Wobble

LickiMat Wobble has rubber dimples of the mat surface on the inside!  Wobbles are designed to combine wet, raw and especially soft or liquid dog foods and treats.  Wobbles are really great for freezing liquid treats and spreads.

Go the extra yummy mile and freeze different liquids in layers, with or without solid treats added into the mix so that your dog can spend hours working through the treat and finding more surprises!

The "Wobbling" action adds an extra dimension to the challenge of licking the treat from the rubber dimpled surface. A perfect enrichment exercise.

 

LickiMat Wobbles are dishwasher safe, microwave friendly and freezer-friendly, so you can freeze treats and liquid foods in them; and they are easy to hand-wash in the sink.  They are all made from human food-grade Natural Rubber.

LickiMat SloDog

Some dogs will gulp or swallow their meal in seconds. This may be because they live in a multi-dog household, or because it's just in the nature of the breed (labradors etc).

The gulping can create serious medical problems from bloat to twisted bowel and should be discouraged.

LickiMat say that the SloDog is the best no gulp slow feeder on the market.

Most slow feeders work by putting obstructions or maze like structures to make it difficult for the dog to get to the food. The dog actually has to chase the food around the bowl to get to eat. This can be extremely frustrating to the dog and can cause stress and anxiety in the animal. SloDog is a unique approach to slow feeding or anti gulping.

Best used with dry food, dry bits of treats.

 

LickiMat UFO

The LickiMat UFO has the surface of a Soother but is brilliantly designed with suction pads on the back, so that you can attach it to a number of surfaces.

The 7 suction cups on the base enable you to stick it to flat surfaces such as windows, showers and hard floors. So it's great for distraction during showers or baths, grooming or nail clipping.

The Soother nubs cover the interior base of UFO helping massage your dog’s tongue, which activates the stress-releasing, relaxing hormone, to help your dog relieve stress and anxiety.  

The UFO can stick to your car windows to ease the travel anxiety, keeping your dog entertained anywhere they go.

Featuring raised walls to keep food and saliva inside the bowl for mess-free slow-feeding and entertainment. Made from 100% natural rubber, the UFO is both freezer and dishwasher friendly.

 

Check out our full range of LickiMats here!

Information from LickiMat [source: LickiMat website]

LickiMatSustainability

We build sustainable products for pets. Sustainability is at the heart of our design thinking and the lifecycle of our products.  We cover every step in the lifecycle from choice of materials to reducing waste in manufacturing to reducing waste in shipping to re-using packaging material to recycling. 

Action

Materials: we use rubber for all licking surfaces.  Rubber is non-toxic and softer on the pet's tongue.  All manufacturing off-cuts and rejects are re-used without creating waste.