Dog Treat Reviews

Basics FLAVORS Food Toppers – A Picky Eater (or Drinker’s) Best Friend

Basics FLAVORS food toppers review
Written by Kevin Sando

The common perception of dogs is that they will eat just about anything.

While this is certainly true for our boys, it is not always the case. One of our closest dog friends has always been very picky about her food. So much so, that she must to be encouraged to eat on a daily basis and has struggled to keep up her weight for many years.

Fur-cousin Mia has always been a picky eater - needing some encouragement to get the nutrition that she requires.

Just as important as proper nutrition is adequate hydration, and many dogs (Harley and Charlie included) struggle with this as well. Did you know that dogs should get 1 oz. of water per lb. of body weight daily?!

Making Sure your Dog Gets What they Need

It is a primary responsibility of ours, as pet parents, to assure that our animals are getting the nutrition and hydration that they require on a daily basis.

One of the simplest ways to achieve this goal is to add something especially enticing into their food or drink. From our experience, even a tiny bit is often enough to coax them into eating. The problem with this strategy is that many common mixing options are human foods and not the healthiest for our dogs – especially on a daily basis.

For that reason we are very excited to share with you a new product perfect for picky eatersBasics FLAVORS food toppers!

Charlie licking his chops getting ready to taste test Basics FLAVORS food toppers.

Introducing FLAVORS Food Toppers

FLAVORS are a powdered mix designed to encourage your dog to eat or drink, or give them a special treat. They come in several different flavors all of which are grain free, human grade, low calorie, and made in the USA.

Closeup view of the finely ground FLAVORS dog food toppers.

Basics Brands was kind enough to sponsor this post and send some samples our way so that we could test them out and share with you! Make sure to read until the end for a special giveaway opportunity!

Taking a look at the whole lineup of Basics FLAVORS Food Toppers for dogs

Ingredients and Flavor Options

FLAVORS food toppers come in 5 different varieties, all made using 5 ingredients or less, and with the title flavor as the primary ingredient. Even though there are no artificial ingredients, they are shelf stable and do not need to be refrigerated. The flavor options include:

  • Red Meat
  • Ocean Fish
  • Peanut Butter
  • White Cheddar

About Basics Brands

Basics is a family owned company operating out of Atlanta, Georgia. The inspiration for their first product, FLAVORS, came from a rescue dog named Gracie who like many of our dogs, needed a bit of extra work and attention. They devised this product as a great way to both encourage dogs to eat, but also to reward them with some variety in their lives!

How to Use Basics FLAVORS

There are several different ways to use Flavors, depending on your needs…

Food Topper

Whether you are trying to encourage your dog to eat, or just looking to give them a special treat, FLAVORS can be added to your dogs current food in 2 main ways:

  1. Sprinkle directly onto their food – The dry powder should have a strong enough scent to capture their attention.
  2. Mix with water to create a tasty broth Pour this delicious mix over their kibble and they will go crazy!

Treat Mix

Want to make your dog a special treat? FLAVORS can be mixed with water and frozen in ice cube trays to create a tasty and refreshing snack.

Water Additive

Worried about your dogs water intake? Mix some FLAVORS into their water bowl to form a tasty broth that they won’t be able to resist!

Adding some flavor to our dogs bowl to encourage them to drink more water.

Time for the Taste Test – Our Basics FLAVORS Toppers Review

We were thrilled when our FLAVORS set arrived, and wanted to test them out right away.

The bright colors and fun design of the packaging gave us a very positive first impression! Each bottle has a freshness seal (which is nice to see) and an easy open flip-top cap. The bottle is 3 oz. and claims to be good for up to 44 servings!

Each bottle of FLAVORS is factory sealed to retain freshness.

Since it wasn’t yet dinner time (although I’m sure the boys would have been OK with an extra meal) I decided to give FLAVORS a try as a water additive instead. We have used chicken broth in a similar fashion in the past, but never liked giving the dogs something so high in sodium. It is also a pain that the container often goes bad before we can finish it all. We were very excited about the potential of a healthier AND shelf-stable option!

I shook out just a small bit of the peanut butter flavor into their water bowl and mixed with a spoon. It dissolved quickly and easily into a yellow-brown suspension.

Mixing some Basics FLAVORS into our dogs water dish to encourage them to drink

The aroma of peanut butter was apparent but not overpowering and quickly peeked the interest of Harley and Charlie. Both dogs enjoyed a nice long drink without extra prompting and were not even deterred by myself crawling around them taking photos!

I checked back on the bowl an hour or two later, and a bit of the powder does settle to the bottom. Not a big deal – give it a quick stir and it will disappear once again. Next time however, I may use a bit less powder or instead only mix what we would expect them to drink in one sitting.

When dinner time finally rolled around I decided to try serving the food topper in both ways – dry sprinkled on top, and mixed with water to form a nice broth.

For Harley, I chose the Ocean Fish variety and simply sprinkled on top of his food. I loved that the powder was fine enough to stick to the food instead of separating. Some dogs have consistency or texture issues with something new, but that should not be the case with FLAVORS.

Food topper sprinkled on dog food

For Charlie, I wanted to try making more of a gravy, so filled a measuring cup with some water and slowly added powder until it reached a nice pour-able consistency. In case you were curious, he was going to be sampling the Red Meat flavoring!

Pouring a broth of FLAVORS onto our dogs food

We make our own dog food which is quite enticing as is, but with the addition of FLAVORS, both Harley and Charlie seemed to attack their food with even more vigor! This reaction would be much more apparent with any kibble dog food.

Dog Food Topper Reviews from MyDogLikes

Why MyDogLikes Basics FLAVORS Food Toppers

While Harley and Charlie are not picky eaters themselves, we do have one that we watch on a regular basis. As we mentioned before, we have had great success with mixing things into her food to encourage her eating. The problem is, that we are always scrounging around for options and have never had a reliable (and healthy) source. We are very excited to have these toppers on hand for the next time that she is visiting.

For those of you who don’t have picky eaters at home, it is still nice to give them a tasty treat from time to time. FLAVORS can easily be sprinkled onto any meal to get your dog especially pumped up about meal time. All the flavors smell great and are sure to grab your dogs attention.

FLAVORS are also great for adding to your dogs water bowl to encourage them to drink up! Harley and Charlie dove right in when we tried this out and we will be using it on a regular basis to make sure they are staying properly hydrated. 

Last, but not least, FLAVORS can even be mixed with water and frozen to make a special icy treat! We will make sure to give that a try in the future and post some pics!

Want to give these food toppers a try?

Click Here to Shop FLAVORS on Amazon!

About the author

Kevin Sando

Kevin is a mechanical engineer with a degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has move than a decade experience in new product design, prototyping and early stage manufacturing. Pairing this background with his love of dogs, gives him a unique perspective to evaluate the design and execution of new and interesting pet products.

121 Comments

  • I’m not sure which flavor my picky eater Goldie would prefer, so I would like to try them all. It’s always difficult to get her to eat all her food.

  • I can be a picky eater, and Madison is super slow. If the food is boring she will just walk away, so these would be useful.

  • What a great idea! My pup is very picky with food. To the point where I’ve had to try many different brands and/or techniques. Maybe this could work! Thank you for sharing, great review. Keep up the fun posts!
    Take care,
    Lucy

  • Daisy Duke would love the red meat!
    She easily gets bored of her chicken and fish flavored foods even though I
    Rotate them!

  • One of our dogs isn’t picky at all, but our little pomchi is super picky. He would love the peanut butter flavor.

  • For the most part my little guy is not a picky eater, but sometimes. Peanut Butter, Red Meat and Fish would be his favorite flavors. 🙂 Thank you.

  • I’m pretty sure my picky eater would like peanut butter flavor the best, but I think he would enjoy most of the flavors that they offer! I’d love to be able to let him try this product!

  • I think my picky eater would love the peanut butter and ocean fish the best . He loves peanut butter and stealing the cats food

  • One of my dogs is a very picky eater. He will not eat his kibble sometimes when I’m cooking something that smells very good. I feel like she is looking at the delicious food cooking and then his kibble and wondering why he’s getting plain old dog food. Sometimes he skips meals. On the other hand my other dog will eat everything and anything.

  • I don’t have picky eaters per say but they do have trouble with water intake so I’m sure they would not resist peanut butter flavored water!

  • One of the senior dogs is a picky eater and has to be encouraged to eat. He would like the Red Meat Flavor.

  • I have 4 senior dogs and one is a very picky eater. He looks just like the dog on the bottles of Flavors. I think Red Meat would be our first choice. You never know what a picky eater will choose until you try it.

  • Marshall is a picky eater and is doesn’t care much for his dry food, but whenever we put a little bit of gravy on it, he eats it right up, so I think he’d like the red meat or chicken!

  • my youngest can be a picky eater, one day she likes her food and the next wont eat it. the middle child is a real foodie and will eat anything. the oldest used to be a picky eater when she was a puppy but now she is not. they like fish, salmon, venison, turkey, bison. of the flavors of the toppers i think they would like the ocean fish the best, their holistic select kibble has ocean fish in it. the like peanut butter for treats and cheese for anything.

  • I think the chedder would pique my old lady’s interest. She’s nearly 18 now and her appetite is kind of sketchy some days…

  • I have a VERY fussy little fellow! I think he’d be most eager to try the Peanut Butter and Ocean Fish varieties.

  • I didn’t have a picky eater until the last couple of weeks, all of the sudden he is not interested in his dog food but will happily eat his treats and his dog food in Royal Canin Satiety and expensive so until we figure it out I need something to get him to eat it.

  • Yes I have 2 picky eaters ! With both of them I know they’d enjoy all these flavors!

  • I have three rescued Treeing Walker Coonhounds. My girl, Kyoko, was nearly starved before I adopted her and even now acts like she is starving, by the way she eats. She’ll eat just about anything – including her brothers’ food. The boys, Kenji and Seiji, are pickier and prefer meat flavors. I think they’d like the red meat flavor best (and likely the chicken and fish flavors, too). I really need to get my boys to eat more quickly so their sister doesn’t steal their food.

  • I think she would like the Chicken or Red Meat. I especially like that it’s grain free. Thank you for the giveaway.

  • My Tuc is a picky eater but he would love the peanut butter flavor and the white cheddar flavor.

  • I think my dogs would like the red meat flavor. They all sound like something they would eat though!

  • Neither of my dogs are picky, but this would be a nice treat for them. They’d love any of the flavors, though I’d probably pick the chicken or the peanut butter.

  • Yoda would (and, sadly, has) eat rocks. Bean, on the other hand, has ALWAYS been an incredibly picky eater. So much so that her weight was always on the edge of being a concern. We have had to hand feed her, warm her food, and beg. She also has a very sensitive stomach AND allergies. Poor little pup. Needless to say, we are always looking for a way that will help her to enjoy food and eat with gusto.

  • I have a hard time getting my dogs to drink enough water. We would like to try the fish topper

  • My dogs are not picky eaters, but I am picky for them. I think they would most enjoy the White Cheddar meal topper flavor.

  • My dog is a picky eater. I think that she’s probably like the red meat or white cheddar flavors the most.

  • My dog likes any kind of cheese, so I think that he would probably like the White Cheddar flavor the best.

  • This house has all poultry lovers, so chicken for sure! Now they just need a turkey flavor too!

  • Since my picky eater, Jack, is drawn to the cat’s food I am thinking the Ocean Fish flavor would be a great starter choice.

  • I definitely think my dog would like white cheddar or red meat. Maybe by using these, I could finally get him to eat his multi vitamins!

  • My rescue, Storm, is not picky but I think she would LOVE the chicken flavor the most. Thank you for the chance!

  • My Boston would love the red meat flavor, especially if he’s stuck with kibble that day. I like that it looks like a Boston on the label.

  • My dog Bentley would probably like the chicken or red meat flavors best! But I’M super excited to try these as flavorings for the homemade dog treats I make!

  • I can say with complete confidence that my dog is NOT a picky eater, as his favorite place to snack is the diaper pail (which — ew — is now locked shut.) Still, he’s ours and we love him and I’m sure he’d enjoy the toppers.

  • I think Coco would like the white cheddar or the red meat one. I definitely need to try this one her b/c I have such a hard time getting her to eat her food! Treats she’ll eat just fine but not her meals!

    • I think it would be a great option for Coco, Christine! Please let us know if you give them a try and what you think!

  • Oh, I bet Abby would adore that White Cheddar flavor – she’s such a cheese fiend!

  • Mine aren’t picky eaters but I’m sure they’d love the treat. I think they’d love the chicken best.

  • My dogs are not picky, but I think they would love to have some added flavor, especially Red Meat.

  • Two of my dogs are very picky eaters. I think these toppers are pawsome 🙂 I think they would enjoy the white cheddar flavor the most.

  • My Ice is not really picky although he sometimes holds out for “people food”. I think he would like the peanut butter

  • Roxi isn’t fussy at all. I would think she would like the red meat flavor. Roxi will always try to steal my grandson’s when we have some. LOL He’s a much easier mark for her. LOL

  • My dog wants “people food”
    She would probably like red meat and cheddar flavor.

  • My dog is not a picky eater unless it is medicine lol. She will eat anything that is within her reach.

  • I have two that are definitely not picky eaters but I think that I would be able to increase their water intake by using any of these flavors and use them as a special treat for them. I think they would both love the chicken and the peanut butter flavors.

  • Our dogs are very picky they literally won’t eat unless there is chicken on their food. I’m thinking one flavor they’d enjoy would be the chicken or the red meat.

    • I think these toppers would really help. Please let us know if you give them a try and what you thought!

  • We definitely have a couple picky eaters in my house. I think the peanut butter flavor would be the one my pups would like to try first!