Every dog is unique, with their own personality and needs. As pet owners, we constantly seek innovative ways to improve their quality of life, from physical health to mental stimulation. Enter the Lickimat: a vet-designed enrichment tool crafted to transform your dog’s feeding and treat-licking experience. These versatile mats promote natural licking behavior, offering a multitude of benefits that range from improved oral hygiene to anxiety relief. Discover LickiMats and unlock a happier, healthier routine for your canine companion.
LickiMats are more than just a surface for treats; they encourage a purposeful licking action. By spreading or pressing food onto the mat’s textured surface, you challenge your dog to work for their reward. This engaging activity stimulates saliva production, which is crucial for maintaining good oral hygiene by cleaning teeth and gums. Beyond dental benefits, the rhythmic licking motion is inherently soothing, releasing endorphins that can help calm anxious or overstimulated dogs. The varying textures and pockets on each LickiMat surface also enrich feeding by challenging your dog to extract different types of food—raw, wet, dry, liquid, or even frozen treats.
How to Choose the Right LickiMat for Your Dog
With a diverse range of LickiMat models available, selecting the ideal one for your pet depends on a few key factors:
- Your dog’s diet and preferred treats: What types of food or spreads do they enjoy most?
- Chewing habits: Is your dog a “naughty chewer” or a gentle licker?
- Cleaning preference: Do you prefer hand-washing or the convenience of a dishwasher?
The size of your dog isn’t usually a primary concern unless you intend to use the LickiMat as a full meal replacement bowl. From Great Danes to Chihuahuas, dogs of all sizes can enjoy the benefits of a LickiMat.
An orange LickiMat Buddy with spread food for a dog
Exploring the LickiMat Ranges
LickiMat offers several distinct ranges, each designed to cater to different needs and preferences. Understanding the unique features of each will help you make an informed decision for your beloved pet.
LickiMat® Classics: The Original Experience
The LickiMat Classic series features three primary surfaces: Buddy, Playdate, and Soother. These mats are perfect for everyday use, offering varied textures for different food consistencies and licking challenges.
- Playdate™: Characterized by discrete pockets that effectively contain food, making it ideal for liquids or separating different treats.
- Buddy™: Features a more intricate surface pattern, allowing for the separation of various foods and treats while providing a stimulating licking experience.
- Soother™: As its name suggests, this surface is designed for maximum tongue stimulation, perfect for soft, runny, and liquid foods like broths or purees, offering an “exquisite workout” for the tongue.
All Classic LickiMats are microwave-friendly for cooking meals, freezer-friendly for frozen treats, and easy to hand-wash. They are made from human food-grade rubber (TPR), ensuring safety for your pet. While the surfaces are suitable for raw, wet, dry, and liquid foods, the Soother excels with softer, runnier options. These mats are available in various colors like green, orange, and turquoise, and are also suitable for cats.
Close-up of a LickiMat Playdate surface with food pockets
LickiMat® Tuff™: Built for Durability
If your dog is a vigorous chewer or a teething puppy, the LickiMat Tuff range is your best bet. These mats are virtually indestructible, offering enhanced durability without compromising on the benefits of regular LickiMats. Tuff mats are suitable for all types of food and treats, just like the Classics.
The Tuff series currently includes Buddy and Playdate surfaces, mimicking their Classic counterparts but with added resilience. These mats are not only robust but also dishwasher safe, making cleanup a breeze. They are crafted from human food-grade rubber (TPR) and recyclable polypropylene. Supervising your dog when first introducing them to any LickiMat, especially if they are a strong chewer, is always recommended. Just like the Classics, the Tuff LickiMats are also suitable for cats. Choosing a LickiMat becomes easier when considering your dog’s chewing style.
Close-up of a LickiMat Soother surface designed for liquid foods
LickiMat® Slomo™: Mess-Free Mealtime
The LickiMat SloMo is ingeniously designed to accommodate a combination of dry, wet, raw, and especially soft or liquid foods simultaneously, all while minimizing mess. This model is perfect for creating varied meals, enriching your dog’s feeding experience by offering different textures and flavors in one go.
Slomo mats can function as elegant complete feeders, particularly for smaller dogs, making mealtime an engaging and tidy affair. They share the same convenient features as the Tuff range, being dishwasher, microwave, and freezer safe. Constructed from human food-grade rubber (TPR) and recyclable polypropylene, Slomo mats are a durable and safe option for both dogs and cats. LickiMat for dogs comes in many forms, and the Slomo offers unique versatility.
A green LickiMat Tuff Buddy, designed for durability
LickiMat® Wobble™: The Playful Challenge
For an added dimension of fun and challenge, the LickiMat Wobble is a unique bowl-shaped mat with the textured licking surface on the inside. Wobbles are excellent for combining wet, raw, and soft or liquid foods. Their design makes them exceptionally suited for freezing liquid treats in layers, potentially with solid treats embedded, providing hours of engaging entertainment as your dog works to discover hidden surprises.
The “wobbling” action of this mat adds an extra layer of stimulation, significantly prolonging the pleasurable licking experience. Made from human food-grade Natural Rubber, Wobbles are reversible and are dishwasher, microwave, and freezer safe. This makes them a great tool for extended enrichment sessions. Explore LickiMat models to find playful options like the Wobble.
A green LickiMat Slomo, designed to combine various food types without mess
LickiMat® Splash™: Focused Calm During Grooming
The LickiMat Splash is a uniquely attachable LickiMat featuring a suction cup, designed to adhere to smooth surfaces like walls or bathtubs. It’s specifically created for use with soft and spreadable dog treats. The primary purpose of the Splash is to keep your pet focused, relaxed, and still during potentially stressful activities such as bathing, grooming, removing burrs, or veterinary inspections.
By providing a delicious distraction, the Splash helps create a positive association with these necessary routines. Simply spread your dog’s favorite treat on the surface, attach it, and watch them become happily preoccupied. Like other LickiMats, the Splash is dishwasher, microwave, and freezer safe, and made from human food-grade Natural Rubber. This innovative design also finds use on glass doors or even horizontally on floors for cats. Find the best LickiMat for special situations like grooming.
A green LickiMat Splash, attachable to smooth surfaces for distraction
Final Thoughts on LickiMat Selection
Choosing the right LickiMat is a straightforward process when you consider your dog’s individual needs. Whether you’re looking for daily enrichment, a durable option for chewers, a mess-free feeder, or a tool for distraction during grooming, there’s a LickiMat for every situation. Remember, there’s no rule against owning more than one model to cater to different occasions and provide varied stimulation.
A quick safety note: if you use a Classic LickiMat on a soft surface like a couch or bed, always supervise your dog closely to prevent them from trying to bite or chew the mat when it’s not on a stable, flat surface. The versatility and benefits of LickiMats make them an excellent addition to any pet owner’s toolkit, constantly improving your dog’s well-being.
