Low-calorie Kong fillings for Goldens on a diet

A Golden on a weight-management diet is a classic puzzle — Kongs are brilliant for enrichment, but most filling ideas you'll find online are loaded with peanut butter and cream cheese, which can quietly blow a calorie-controlled plan. The right chew toy for a serious chewer needs to be durable enough to last but not so hard it risks cracking teeth, and the right choice depends on chewing style and jaw strength. To give you the most useful advice: is your dog a moderate chewer or does she really go at things? And what's driving the search right now — boredom, anxiety, or are you just looking for a way to keep her occupied at mealtimes?

Good — the Kong Classic is exactly the right tool, so you don't need to buy anything new there. The filling is the whole problem to solve. What's her current food? Dry kibble or wet?

Perfect, that actually makes this easier. The cleanest low-calorie Kong strategy for a dog on a calorie-controlled dry food is to use a portion of her daily kibble allocation as the filling — pack it in, add just enough low-salt chicken or vegetable broth to bind it, then freeze it. It takes her longer to work through, the calories are already accounted for in her daily total, and there's nothing hidden adding up. Frozen broth on its own is almost zero calories and massively extends the challenge. The one product I'd add to your kit is Kong's own Easy Treat spray — but specifically the low-calorie version, the Kongs Easy Treat Light. It's a thin smear you use to seal the small end of the Kong before packing it with kibble and broth. A single serving is genuinely low calorie and it gives her a scent payoff that keeps her motivated without you having to use peanut butter. Freeze the whole thing for 20–30 minutes and it'll keep her busy for a good stretch of the evening.

It's on Amazon UK — search Kong Easy Treat Light and it comes up easily, usually under £6. On the prep question: batch it. Make four or five at the start of the week, line them up in the freezer in a zip-lock bag, and you just pull one out each evening. Prep time is genuinely about five minutes once a week. Frozen also keeps her occupied significantly longer than a room-temperature Kong, so it's worth the minor effort — a fresh one might be done in eight minutes, a frozen one can take 30 or more.

A few solid options that stay genuinely low calorie: plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling — just pure pumpkin) is high fibre and very low cal, and dogs tend to love it frozen. A small spoonful of plain low-fat Greek yoghurt works well mixed with her kibble. Cucumber or carrot blended with a little water and frozen is almost calorie-free and adds texture variety. Rotate those with the broth-and-kibble base and she'll stay interested. Just keep tracking whatever you use against her daily total — even low-cal ingredients add up if you're not watching. You've clearly got a good handle on it though.