*What is Kong Stuff'N Paste?*
This treat product is produced by the Kong company who are best known for their extensive range of high quality and extremely popular dog toys. Kong is owned by the Company of Animals, an American based company, who also produces the Clix range of dog training equipment and Hatli canine head collars.

*The product itself*
Entertaining Grace and Benson really is a very difficult and seemingly never ending task, they are on the go from the second they get up in the morning until they are practically dropping with exhaustion at the end of the day. They are both relatively young dogs, with incredibly active minds and bucket loads of energy which would only be used to destroy my house if I didn't channel that energy and intelligence into something productive! For this reason, providing many different things to them to do on top of their normal exercise is an essential part of their and my daily routine and the also the reason I am always on the look out for new, exciting products to ensure they don't get bored with the same old things.

I've found that using toys stuffed with food is one of the most effective forms of providing enrichment for them- they get physical exercise from it as they must chase and chew the toy to release the food and it also makes them use their mind as they figure out how to remove the food from the toy, and lastly, of course they get a nice tasty treat, so it is something I do for them quite often as not only do they enjoy it, it also helps to calm them down a little if they are bounding around the place.

So when I came across this Stuff'N Paste by Kong in Pets At Home, I decided it was worth a go and picked up a can for Grace and Benson to try. It looked quite different from the other items on the shelves and it was its unique appearance that attracted me to it. Stuff'N paste is, as the name suggests a treat in the form of a paste which is designed to be used to stuff Kong toys with, although it can be used with practically any food dispensing toy, or even as a stand alone treat and comes in a metal aerosol type can and is dispensed via a nozzle similar to those on cans of squirty dessert cream.

The paste comes in 5 different varieties- peanut butter or liver flavours for adult dogs, a chicken and rice formula for puppies and a lamb and rice based recipe produced with senior dogs in mind. There is also a special 'fresh breath' one, which is mint flavoured and contains ingredients to help clean teeth and freshen your dogs breath as they eat it. Each variety is very similar with the only major difference being the flavour of the product (except the fresh breath paste)- they are all highly concentrated meaning you should only use a little bit with ease use meaning the can should last a long time and the paste can be both frozen inside toys to provide a cooling, longer lasting treat or warmed to make a tasty, comforting treat for your pet on a cold winters day.

The Kong Stuff'N paste contains real meat, cheese extracts and only natural flavours and is packed with vitamins and minerals for general overall wellbeing and also essential fats and oils which help to promote a strong, shiny coat.

*Packaging*
As I mentioned before, the Kong Stuff'N paste comes packaged in metal dispensing cans which makes the treat quite unusual in terms of appearance. On the front of the can there is the Kong logo, product name and flavour and on the back we are told all the usual information you would expect to find such as ingredients, nutritional information, feeding guides and a contact address for Kong. The metal can and plastic cap which covers the nozzle can both be recycled once empty.

*Price & Availability*
Kong Stuff'N paste should be available in most pet shops where Kong toys are on sale and also various places online. From Pets At Home, a 226g (45 1 tspn. servings) can will cost you £5.99. Remember, Kong is an American based company so all products sold here will have been imported from the States, which does make the cost rise a fair bit.

*My opinion*
Kong toys are very popular in my household- Grace and Benson absolutely adore them and seeing as they are pretty hardwearing and well priced, I don't mind buying them for the dogs, meaning they have probably had a go with all the toys in the Kong range by now- some have met an ugly death in one of their mouths, but admittedly some have stood the test of time and they are generally the toys I use when making up a food stuffed toy activity for them.

I'd seen this Stuff'N paste quite a bit before but had never been that tempted to buy it, thinking it was very expensive for what it is, and the can didn't really state much nutritional benefits of using the product so I always avoided it. However, in Pets At Home a couple of months back they had £2 off the cans of the liver flavoured paste so I brought some for my guys to try, thinking it wasn't loads of money wasted if I wasn't pleased with it and I knew the dogs would certainly enjoy it regardless. I trust the Kong company hugely as far as toys go, so I had somewhat high hopes for their treat products.

Back at home I dispensed a little bit from the can and let the dogs try it, licking it off my finger and they absolutely devoured it, so I set about making up a stuffed Kong for them using their new paste. I added some scraps of beef and some cooked vegetables to the Kong, squished in half a slice of brown bread to keep those in place and then topped off with a bit of the Stuff'N paste. The can was very easy to use, you simply need to give the can a shake, remove the plastic cap and then, after inserting the nozzle into the toy, push the bottom of the nozzle forward and out some paste will come. I only used a little bit, perhaps a teaspoon or so, but it expanded quite a lot and looked quite rich and creamy with the consistency of whipped cream, this pleased me as I initially had expected it to be quite runny, it was of a pale brown colour and had no real smell to it which was nice compared to the stench of some dog treats!

I did however find the name slightly misleading here though. Being called 'Stuff'N' paste, I presumed before buying it could be used to completely stuff a Kong toy but after reading the can I realised it was a concentrated product only to be used in small amounts to form part of a Kong filling. Not a major problem- it is expensive enough as it is without filling a Kong full of it, but misleading all the same.

Anyway, putting the filled Kong down on the floor, the dogs couldn't wait to try it- I thought I'd better allow them to take it before they drowned in a pool of their own drool! Food stuffed toys always raise quite some excitement with the two of them but even more so with this paste, they absolutely loved it, licking the Kong clean of every last smear of it. The paste wasn't sticky at all and didn't discolour or stain their fur, even the bit that they managed to get on the door mat was removed very easily with no staining or lingering odour left behind.

I've since used it in a variety of different ways each with the same pleasing response from the dogs. The shaped nozzle makes it easy to direct a small amount of paste deep into the grooves of the dental toys in the Kong range, this is quite tricky for the dogs to get out but it keeps them entertained for an hour or so and gives their teeth a good clean with all the chewing, this also works very well if you freeze the toy overnight after you have applied the paste, it goes rock solid and gives the dogs a nice treat full of hard work for the next day, good if you need to leave your dogs home alone for a while for whatever reason. It works equally well with other brands of toy too, not just Kong ones, we've used it with Nylabones, the Buster food cube and even on raw marrow bones aswell.

I did also find the paste quite handy for getting tablets into the dogs. The fairly thick paste coated the tablets very well and the dog swallowed them without really noticing. Therefore the Stuff'N paste may be quite useful if your dog is on daily medication but for Grace and Benson, who only take a worming tablet bi-monthly and the extremely occasional course of medication, it really isn't worth buying it for this alone, some cream cheese does the job just as good!

Overall, quite a nice product which I have since brought a couple more cans of, and the dogs have enjoyed all the flavours- its definitely a novelty treat rather than an everyday type item and it is very expensive for what it is. I think I will buy it again very occasionally, but only the Fresh Breath version as it's the only one with any real benefit to it and it really does make their breath smell very pleasant after use.

Very middle of the road- good for adding some variety once in a while, but some gravy or low salt stock will be just as tasty and much healthier for the dogs, and far, far cheaper too.