Slowfeeders

Slow feeder dog bowls, trays and lick mats

If your dog empties the bowl in under a minute, a slow feeder fixes it. The channels mean they can only take a little at a time, so a meal that took ninety seconds takes fifteen or twenty minutes, and your dog has something to work at instead of standing around wondering what happens next.

The range runs from beginner mats to feeders that will defeat a clever dog, so the real question is which one to start with.

Which format suits your dog

• Slow feeder bowls hold a full meal of wet or dry food and sit on the floor like a normal bowl. Start here if the problem is simply that dinner disappears too fast.
• Slow feeder trays like the Mandala combine a lick mat surface with the structure of a bowl, so they handle soft food and dry food equally well. The most popular place to start.
• Lick mats are flat. You spread soft food across them, and they are the best option for calm, focused occupation rather than feeding a full dinner.
• Nylon eCoins are for dogs that chew their feeders rather than lick them. Same soft food, much tougher material.
• The Hold Em suction holder locks any of them to tile or glass, which matters more than it sounds if you are tired of chasing a bowl across the kitchen.

The lick mat difficulty ladder

Mats are not all the same. Start too hard and your dog gives up, which puts people off the whole idea.

• Bones is the easiest and the one we tell people to buy first. Wide, shallow grooves, quick results.
• Zombie and Honeycomb sit in the middle. Deeper channels, more work, the natural next step.
• Jigsaw is the hardest pattern we stock. Deep and tightly interlocked.
• Heart is for enrichment experts. Deep, tight grooves that we do not recommend for beginners.

Freezing a loaded mat is the single best thing you can do with one. It turns a ten minute session into an hour.

What to put on them

Raw food, wet food, yoghurt, peanut butter without xylitol, or our dog jelly range, which was made for exactly this. Our team has put together a recipe page of combinations that work, which is worth a look before your first one arrives.

Good to know

• Made in the USA by SodaPup, in FDA compliant factories. BPA free, phthalate free and Proposition 65 compliant.
• Dishwasher safe, top rack, and freezer safe.
• Suitable for all sizes including puppies. Supervise the first few meals while you see how your dog approaches it.
• Free shipping on orders over $99. All bedding ships free with no minimum.

These are imported, not made in our Hunter Valley factory. Our dog beds and personalised collars are the ones we manufacture ourselves.

Common questions

Will a slow feeder actually slow my dog down? Yes. The channels physically limit how much they can pick up at once. Most owners see a meal go from under a minute to several.

Which one should I buy first? The Mandala tray if you want one thing that does everything, or the Bones mat if you specifically want a lick mat.

My dog destroys everything. What then? A nylon eCoin. Soft mats are feeding surfaces, not chew toys, and a determined chewer will go through one.

Are they dishwasher safe? Yes, top rack.

My dog is a flat faced breed and struggles with deep bowls. The shallow bowl is made for that, and also suits seniors and puppies.