Before I start what I hope to be the first of many reviews, I want to explain a little bit about my process. Firstly, I won’t review just any product. I have some pretty high standards from my years as a pet food store owner, and I look at EVERY ingredient before I endorse anything. What can make this a bit tricky for ME is that I don’t have as many brands I can work with, limiting my opportunities to those with conscientious brands only. What makes this amazing for YOU is that if you see me review ANYTHING you already know many questions have been asked before you even see it here on the page. I have never been influenced by anyone’s opinions, and although I have been provided monetary compensation either in the form of free product, or actual cash for this review, the opinions expressed here are entirely my own, and I would NEVER give my dogs anything to eat, or put anything in or on their bodies that I didn’t honestly think was ok. Remember, I made a promise to all the doggies out there, and I take it pretty darn seriously! So with that out of the way… the review!!
I am a sucker for an inventive new pet product. Being the co-owner of a pet food store, we see so much of the same old same old. So, when I was introduced to the Hound’s Tap drink mix, I got super excited to try it out! We are currently experiencing a heat wave here in Calgary, so this product could not be more timely.
Hound’s Tap sent me two bottles of their drink mix to try on the BrindleBerry Bunch; Chicken and Blackberry AND Turkey and Cranberry. I put poor Steve, the owner of Hound’s Tap, through the ringer with questions about his product and he was incredibly helpful and patient with me and had all the right answers! I would like to thank-you, Steve, for your transparency as I find that an extremely important quality for any brand to possess!
So, what exactly is Hound’s Tap?
Hound’s Tap is an organic drink mix treat that you add to your dog’s water. It contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and electrolytes. It is a USDA Organic product which means it’s free of pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, antibiotics, growth hormones, and irradiation. It also means that there is an animal welfare component to the way the livestock are treated (super important to me!), and there are lower levels of environmental pollutants created producing the product.
The premise behind the drink mix is to “make hydration a snap” and encourage your dog to drink more water. Now, why would you need to do that?
I can think of a number of reasons:
- to ensure that dogs on dry food kibble diets are getting the moisture they require
- to encourage sickly or elderly pets to drink more for better health
- to convince CATS to drink (they are notorious for not hydrating themselves)
- to quickly hydrate your dog while exercising or enjoying outdoor events in the heat
This product boasts an impressively simple label of only 3 ingredients in each varietal.
Chicken and Blackberry – Organic Chicken Flavour, Sea-Salt, Organic Blackberry
Turkey and Cranberry – Organic Turkey Flavour, Sea-Salt, Organic Cranberry
So, how do you use this unique treat?
The Hound’s Tap website recommends you give the product a good shake, and then open the bottle and allow your dog to sniff the treat before dispensing it into their water. I have to tell you, when I did this with the kids, they went NUTS. I accidentally dripped a drop on the carpet and came back a few minutes to Pebbles licking it (along with who knows what else!) up. So, it’s safe to say, they liked it. Grizz is my fussy pup, and his eyes were bulging out of his head. I had to try and keep them away from the dropper while adding it to the water.
Hound’s Tap recommends a dropper full for 8 oz of water, and there are 60 servings per bottle. After adding the drops to the bowl, do not stir. I am thinking that’s to keep the odour strong enough to encourage the pups to drink. Ensure you are cleaning your bowls daily since you’ve now added “food” to the bowl. (A clean water bowl should be supplied to your pet everyday anyway, so this isn’t really an inconvenience.)
So, because I am me, I had some other fun ideas for these drops. I decided to make some BrindleBerry Bones with them. Ice, after all, is just frozen water! I add about four drops to each bone, and didn’t stir, just stuck them in the freezer. Now I have yummy dog treats for a hot day!
One thing I did not do because I don’t read, is refrigerate after opening the bottle. Whoops. So remember to do that!
Since I am a raw feeder, I don’t have a lot of trouble getting my dogs hydrated. However, in my work with pet parents, I do see hydrating kibble fed dogs and cats as a challenge. I think this is a wonderful idea to help prevent kidney and liver issues from developing in dogs, and especially cats. It has been proven by my bunch to be palatable, so I am hoping that cats would feel the same way. However, as this is a dog blog, I can’t help you with the kitties!
Final Consensus:
Full marks in all categories for Hound’s Tap, with the exception of the versatility score. I would love to see more flavours – perhaps some more hypoallergenic options such as bison, elk, rabbit etc. I do understand however, this is probably not overly easy to source – especially organic – AND the company is new so hopefully we’ll see an expanded line in the future! I would also love to take this product on the road with me and the refrigeration requirement may be a deterrent for that.
Otherwise I would totally consider Hound’s Tap an innovative, conscientious brand with sexy packaging and branding. The product is super simple to use, and very palatable and made from quality ingredients. Hydration is definitely an important topic that should be addressed more than it is, and Hound’s Tap has done that with style.
Final Score – 4.5/5 BrindleBerries
You can purchase the Hound’s Tap products on their website: Houndstap.com
Brands – please contact for usage of photography or copy.
