8 Easy Homemade Dog Food Toppers Your Dog Will Love
Looking for a way to make mealtime more exciting for your dog? These 8 easy homemade dog food toppers are not just simple to prepare but will have your dog wagging their tail for more!
- 1 Blueberries — simple antioxidant boost
- 2 Apples — a crunchy, hydrating treat
- 3 Pumpkin puree — a digestion-friendly topper
- 4 Cucumbers — a refreshing and crunchy topper
- 5 Eggs — a protein-packed superfood
- 6 Greek yogurt — a probiotic food topper
- 7 Peanut butter — dog's favorite high protein treat
- 8 Basil — a tasty herb with health benefits
I include these foods in my dog’s diet. His name is Ricco, and he’s a healthy 8-year-old German Spitz. The reason I prefer homemade food toppers is that they are:
- cheap
- healthier
- easy to personalize
- and I don’t have to go out to buy them.
Just to clarify, I also love buying pre-made, high-quality food toppers from the pet store.
However, these foods are items I already have at home, eat myself, and love to share with my dog.
In this article, we’re going to talk about six different food groups that make the best food toppers:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Protein sources
- Herbs
1 Blueberries — simple antioxidant boost
Blueberries are an amazing dog food topper! They are rich in vitamins and antioxidants and low in sugar. Even though dogs can eat fruit sugar, choosing fruits with a low sugar content is a good idea.
I like to use websites that check the glycemic index of foods and choose anything low or medium.
Since blueberries have so many antioxidants, they can help your dog fight oxidative stress.
The term oxidative stress is mostly used to describe cell damage caused by free radicals. Oxidative stress also occurs during exercise!
So, if you have an active dog, blueberries will help them a lot with recovery. There’s a really good study done on sled dogs where the group that ate blueberries showed less muscle damage compared to dogs on a regular diet. Check out the study, and if you’re interested, read more about dogs eating blueberries in my other blog post.
2 Apples — a crunchy, hydrating treat
Apples are one of the most hydrating dog food toppers! They go really well with yogurt and peanut butter as a training snack.
What’s good about them is that they are also low in sugar and calories. They have lots of vitamins, including vitamins A and C, but dogs really don’t need to get extra vitamins from fruits.
So, why do we give them apples then? We give them to dogs because they are rich in fiber, have lots of water, and have a positive effect on the gut and overall health!
One of my favorite things about apples is their crunch! It’s not just fun for dogs to chew on; it can also help clean their teeth a little. Of course, this doesn’t replace regular dental care, but it’s a nice bonus.
3 Pumpkin puree — a digestion-friendly topper
Pumpkin puree is one of the best dog food toppers for sensitive stomachs! If your dog is having issues with an upset stomach, whether that’s diarrhea or vomiting, pumpkin puree will help!
Pumpkin is a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, which makes it great for both diarrhea and constipation!
The best form of pumpkin is puree, which you can mix with both dry and wet food and serve with some lean protein like cooked chicken or turkey.
You can also pair cooked pumpkin with other dog food toppers, like apples!
If you’re buying pumpkin puree from the store, always choose the plain and unsweetened types—avoid any pie fillings or sweetened sorts, as they have spices and sugars that aren’t good for dogs.
4 Cucumbers — a refreshing and crunchy topper
If you’re looking for a hydrating summer snack, then you’ll be happy to learn that cucumbers are amazing for dogs!
They are even more hydrating than apples and very low in calories! They are great as a topper for dog meat bowls, so you can add chopped cucumbers to cooked minced beef or cooked chicken!
Dogs often enjoy “eating their water,” so raw cucumbers are perfect for them, especially after playtime or a walk in the sun.
Cucumbers can also help with dental health and if you put a cucumber in the fridge, you can help your teething puppy soothe their gums!
5 Eggs — a protein-packed superfood
Eggs are one of the healthiest and most versatile dog food toppers you can find! Often considered a “superfood,” eggs are one of the best sources of:
- protein
- amino acids
- vitamins
- minerals
While raw eggs might seem like a “natural” choice, it’s really not the best idea to give dogs raw eggs. I wrote about this in detail in my article about whether dogs can eat eggs, so you can check it out.
It all boils down to this — even if your dog doesn’t get salmonella from eggs, the nutrients in eggs are more digestible if the eggs are cooked!
I usually buy fresh, free-range eggs, but supermarket eggs are, of course, perfectly fine, as they have to go through serious quality control!
How you prepare them matters, though—avoid using oils, butter, salt, or seasonings, as these aren’t dog-friendly.
Your best options are hard-boiled eggs that you can mix with both dry and wet dog food and scrambled eggs that you need to prepare with minimal oil (a drop of olive oil will do).
6 Greek yogurt — a probiotic food topper
One of the best dog food toppers for gut health is rich and creamy Greek yogurt! It’s great for dogs with a sensitive stomach!
While it’s true that many dogs are still lactose intolerant, new research shows that dogs in Europe, Asia, and North America really evolved with us, so they can handle some dairy products!
And since yogurt is fermented, it’s much more easy to digest and quite mild on the stomach!
Greek yogurt has probiotics that improve digestion and help with diarrhea or vomiting. They balance your dog’s microbiome.
It also has prebiotics that feed the good bacteria in your dog’s stomach.
You should always choose plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt without added sugars or artificial sweeteners like xylitol, which are harmful to dogs.
7 Peanut butter — dog’s favorite high protein treat
Peanut butter is one of the most loved treats for dogs—and for good reason! Dogs adore it, and that makes it a perfect training treat and a sneaky way to give dogs pills or tablets!
When choosing peanut butter for your dog, always go for the simplest option with just a few ingredients. Look for one where the main ingredient is peanuts, and avoid any with artificial flavors, extra oils, or added ingredients like chocolate chunks.
Most importantly, don’t ever give your dog special protein powder peanut butter that can have xylitol, a low calorie sugar substitute that is highly toxic to dogs. A little salt or sugar is fine, but make sure to read the label carefully.
Since it’s a high-calorie food topper, one spoonful of peanut butter per week is fine for most dogs, while larger dogs can have more.
8 Basil — a tasty herb with health benefits
Basil is a safe and delicious herb that has some great health benefits! It has some essential oils that have anti-inflammatory properties and lots of antioxidants.
While basil doesn’t have as many antioxidants as blueberries do, it’s still a great dog food topper that can help with your dog’s digestion! It can help with bloating, gas, and sometimes even nausea.
While fresh basil can be a healthy addition to your dog’s diet, it’s important to use small amounts. Too much cellulose and fiber is very hard to handle, so just give them a pinch mixed with some cooked meat or veggies.
Which of these toppers do you think your dog will love most? Let us know in the comments!
Don’t forget to pin this post so you’ll always have these topper ideas handy for mealtime inspiration!
Love, life, and fur forever!
This post showed you 8 Easy Homemade Dog Food Toppers Your Dog Will Love.
You may also like: