You know I love a great product, and love the opportunity to review any dog related items. For a long time I've been wanting a Kong Ball, but have held out on getting one because I have so many treat toys like the Twist-a-Treat and Everlasting Treat Ball.
However, I simply could not resist when I saw that Petco carried the Kong Ball in a large size. I considered buying the Kong brand treats to stuff it with, but decided there weren't enough in a package to warrant the price, and opted for a higher quality, cheaper box of Buddy Biscuits to stuff it with. The Kong treats do not have the quality ingredients found in Buddy Biscuits, and are not something I would reward with daily.
Well, the Kong Ball has been a great hit with Milly. It is extremely durable, bouncy, and virtually indestructible (at least for Milly it is). I can fill it in the same ways I would fill her regular Kong with mashed banana or pumpkin or peanut butter, and freeze it just like I would the Kong. I can also wedge the Buddy Biscuits into the holes, for a fun challenge for her. It's kept her busy last night rolling the ball all over the room as she tried to get out the yummy treats! She played with the Kong Ball for over an hour!!
After picking up the Twist n' Treat simply because the store did not carry the Triple Crown Everlasting Treat Ball, I was a happy consumer, but I still really wanted to get my hands on my original intended purchase, and decided I’d hit up Petsmart to see if they carried it in Large (it seems the pet industry caters to small and medium sized dogs in the same way women’s shoe stores cater to the size 7). Petsmart had two left, and I eagerly pulled one off the shelf. When I had arrived at the store, I had no idea how much the Everlasting Treat Ball would cost (I’d checked it out on Amazon at ridiculously low prices), and I was a bit taken aback when I saw the price, but I wanted the instant gratification, and was succumbed to forking over the $24 to have a toy to amuse Milly while I’m at work, and something to blog about. While there, I went ahead and purchased the Everlasting Treat Refills (a two pack) for $9.99, because the ball only comes with one treat (making it not really a ball that rolls if you only use one).
About the ball:
It is a large ball (smaller than a kickball, but much bigger than a softball) making it an ideal toy to use unsupervised because there is little to no risk of swallowing it. The ball is made of a very firm rubber, and has two flat ends with holes to insert the everlasting treats. With both treats inserted it will bounce a little, and easily rolls around to keep your dog more engaged.
About the treats:
While I contemplated this purchase the only thing that was holding me back were the treats. The ball says you can stuff it with your own treats, but the build of it makes it more appropriate and much more convenient to buy the ones the company makes. I am going to work on stuffing it with my own, and I’d like to find a way to create treats that are healthy and fit in it better.
The ingredients in the treats leave much to be desired, and are in no way healthy - wheat gluten, gelatin, water, glycerin, natural flavoring, corn gluten meal, garlic powder, brewer's yeast, lecithin, sodium diacetate, vegetable gum, titanium dioxide, natural coloring – and they’re made in China (normally a deal breaker for me).
My Experience:
I presented Milly with the Everlasting treat ball with two different treats on either end (the chicken it came with, and the lamb I purchased). She was totally engrossed in this ball for HOURS! She would not even look up when I called her name, and licked, pushed, and pawed at it all evening. While the treats, made in China, and lacking any wholesome ingredients, do not fit into her normal diet, I found it takes her a very long time to make any dents in them at all, so while the treats aren’t great, she is only ingesting them in very minute quantities.
The ball itself is ingenious, very Kong like in theory, but much more interactive, and really caught her attention. I’d say she enjoys this even more than the Twist and Treat, but I only let her play with it every now and then to limit her ingestion of unhealthy treats.
The rubber is very well made, and I think this toy would be appropriate for a dog that is prone to destroying most toys (obviously, supervise to make sure it is indestructible). If you don’t mind the bad ingredients, and have a dog that quickly figures out how to remove the treats they even make a treat that screws into a screw (made from treat, of course) and ensures a longer lasting treat/experience. This will be ideal for preventing her from digging in the yard when I’m not home.
I look forward to playing around with filling the ball with my own treats, and seeing what results I have.
All in all, I’d say it’s an awesome toy, but be cautious because the treats are lacking in nutrition, so only use it sparingly.
Anyone else see a HUGE MARKET for wholesome treats for all of these toys? From the Kong spray to the Everlasting Treat (and all the others) there really is a market for holistic alternatives!
It amazes me how far the pet industry has come in such a small amount of time. Do you remember the options for dog toys 10, 15, or 20 years ago? I remember my childhood dogs practically grew up on rawhide chews (the kind with the knots on both ends) that I would never feed a dog now. Toys were tennis balls, rope, or squeaky toys, and if you wanted to play fetch with your dog you had to be good at throwing a ball… these were the days before the Chuck-It. Back then, if you wanted to leave the house for hours and keep your dog occupied you’d probably leave him with his tennis ball and a rawhide, because you didn’t have a Kong or a bully stick to provide him with. We fed kibble once a day (at 5pm) - canned food was only in the house after Sweetie was hit by a car and had her jaw wired shut for a few months – the dogs spent the day outside - romping around the farm, doing whatever it is that farm dogs do – the ones that did play fetch did so with sticks that I threw. They were all wonderful dogs that were happy, fit, and healthy, but they lacked all of the toys, treats, supplements and advanced holistic diets that Milly has today. Perhaps their massive yard (68 acres) filled the void for them, or perhaps I simply have fallen victim to the pet industry and become a materialistic dog owner.
Have we really gotten so far away from nature that you can now buy FetchStix?!?!
This is one product I will not be purchasing, I'll just pull them off of a low hanging branch as needed.
I’m not going to lie, I sincerely enjoy buying things for Milly, and testing them out. I am intrigued by the variety of products available for pet owners, and I am usually an easy target for a sales person. I even sometimes let Milly go shopping with me and pick out her next toy. But, on my last shopping trip to AKA Spot in Clarendon (Arlington, VA) I was on a mission for two things: Texas Toothpicks and an Everlasting Treat Ball. They had the Texas Toothpicks (which had gone up in price by $2, and now are only a little bit cheaper there than at other stores in the area) and did not have the Everlasting Treat Ball.
Texas Toothpicks are a great alternative to rawhide bones, and are all natural & made in the USA!
Milly goes nuts for them!
Milly has started digging a lot when she is in the yard (she doesn’t dig on grass, but if the soil is loose around plants she loves to dig) and I know this is probably because she is bored, so I wanted to pick up something to keep her occupied. The saleswoman was wonderful, feeding Milly tomato treats (with my permission, of course), asking all about Milly, and making me feel very comfortable and welcome. She showed me the Busy Buddy Twist ‘n Treat and I was sold!
The Twist ‘n Treat is the first and only 2-piece adjustable rubber treat dispensing toy. You can adjust the rate of treat dispersal to suit the interest and ability of your dog by twisting the disks tighter or looser. When I first introduced the Twist ‘n Treat filled with Merrick's Lamb Fillet Squares to Milly, I left enough space in the opening to allow treats to fall out regularly, so she could “win the game.” Once Milly got the hang of it and played successfully with the Twist ‘n Treat, I screwed the opening tighter and this extends the length of play. Because the opening is adjustable you can fill the Twist ‘n Treat with a variety of soft, hard, and smear-able treats. I also love that it is made of natural rubber. Milly got the hang of it pretty quickly, and with in 4 days I was screwing the Twist ‘n Treat to the tightest setting. She’s figured out how to use her front paws and her nose to roll it on its side, and can get the treats out a bit faster than I’d like, but she seems to really love the action of playing with the toy, and having to work at a game.
I would recommend the Twist ‘n Treat to anyone and a bonus is it comes in three sizes, so you are sure to find one that works for your pup!
