Healthy Summertime Dog Treats

Refresh Your Pet with Simple Snacks

It’s summertime — a season for refreshing, juicy fruit and ice cream treats. Who doesn’t like ice cream on a hot summer day?! Dogs. Well, yes, they would LOVE to eat ice cream, but since they lack the enzyme to process dairy, this sweet treat will lead to an upset stomach and diarrhea. And nobody, not even your dog, wants to have bowel issues.

So, let’s stick to some healthy, dog-friendly treats that are a pup’s delight during warmer temps.

Frozen Fruit Treats for Dogs

What you need:

• Blender
• Ice cube trays or whimsical ice molds (hey, your dog may appreciate the star or heart shapes)
• Fresh high-water content fruit: Bananas; strawberries; blueberries, watermelon; peaches, mango, pineapple, cranberries, raspberries
• Ice cubes

From here it’s all about picking flavors. Use a small amount of ice cubes (try half a cup) and blend with one type of fruit or a combination of fruit. Keep the ratio of ice to fruit slightly less (for instance, 1/4 cup of ice to 1 cup of strawberries). You can make frozen banana treats, strawberry treats, a banana-strawberry treat, a strawberry-peach-pineapple treat and so forth.

Blend until the fruit is pureed. Pour blended fruit into ice cube trays or ice molds and freeze for a minimum of two hours. Remove from the tray and store in a Ziploc freezer bag or a freezer-safe container. Serving suggestion: 1-2 treats per dog.

Note: Never feed grapes/raisins to dogs or the seeds, stems or leaves from peaches or apples as these are toxic to dogs.

Fruity Ice Cube Treats for Dogs

This one is super simple: instead of blending fruit and ice, just use water and fresh fruit.

What you need:

• Ice cube trays or whimsical ice molds
• Fresh high-water content fruit
• Water

This is quick and easy: decide which fruit you want to use; chop up larger fruit (such as bananas, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, mango, pineapple). Drop 1-3 pieces of fruit in each ice cube (or ice mold) partition and add water ¾ to the top. Freeze for 2-3 hours. Remove from tray or mold and store in a Ziploc freezer bag or a freezer-safe container. Serving suggestion: 2-4 treats per dog.