Summer is definitely letting us know that it is here. We have several days in a row of 90℉ with increasing humidity. While this isn’t a huge issue for me (I love my air conditioner) it is an issue for my dogs, especially Luna.
Luna, being a German Shepherd, has dark, thick fur and gets hot when it’s barely in the 70s. The worst thing for her is that she absolutely loves being outside and constantly wants out just to find out it’s too hot out.
To keep her, and Morgan, cool I started making frozen fruit treats. While my dogs are perfectly content with plain ice cubes, I like to give them a better-tasting treat at times, especially when it’s hot out.
The best thing about frozen fruit treats is that there are many variations that can be made by just combining different ingredients together.
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How to Make Frozen Fruit Treats
Ice cube treats are super simple to make. All you do is put a few pieces of fruit (cut up or whole depending on the size) into an ice cube tray, you can use these for cute, small treats, or use regular ice cube trays.
You can also reuse small containers, like yogurt containers if you have a larger dog. Or just don’t fill them as full for smaller dogs.
Then fill the rest of the cube with either water or watered-down low sodium broth (vegetable, chicken, or beef).
If your dogs are like mine, they will devour these even with just plain water, but the broth adds additional flavor especially for those picky dogs.
Then freeze several hours, until frozen solid. They can then be stored in a freezer bag for several months.
Fruit for Frozen Treats
Always consult your veterinarian before giving your dog new foods.
There are many types of fruit that can be used for these treats, and really any high-water content fruit that is safe for dogs will work.
A few that I know will work are apples, bananas, blueberries, mango, peaches, pineapple, strawberries, and watermelon.
Just make sure to use fresh or already frozen fruit, not the canned stuff. Canned fruit has added sugar that your dog doesn’t need.
Larger fruits need to be cut up and some may need additional prep, like peeling for mangos, before putting them in the ice cube tray.
Smaller fruits, like blueberries, can go in whole.
Mix and Match
Just using the individual fruits above with just water gives you many different flavors of these treats for your dog. But to provide even more variety try mixing and matching them.
Put a couple of different fruits in one treat, like strawberries and blueberries, and use plain water sometimes and diluted broth other times.
Experiment with different fruit combinations and water/broth combinations to see what your dog likes the best.
Or if they’re like my dogs, they will love any and all combinations you come up with. If it’s a treat, they absolutely love it.
Other Frozen Treats
If you and your dog like these treats, you may enjoy these other frozen treats as well.
Frozen Fresh Breath Dog Treats
I have a tea cup chiuahua that is 1.76 lbs and diabetic.. how much of these frozen treats can paco have?
I’m not a veterinarian, so I can’t say but I would recommend you ask your vet. They would be able to tell you how much your dog can have.