The first official day of summer was just a couple of days ago, and we’re having a heat wave here in the Midwest. We’re all looking for creative ways to cool off, including our pets. On a balmy 90-degree morning, I picked up a box of Aldi Heart to Tail Frozen Dog Treats on a whim, thinking that my dog, Stella, would appreciate a frozen treat to cool off after a walk.
One box of four treats was priced at $2.99 at my local Aldi, which comes out to about 75 cents per treat. These are an Aldi Find, so they’re only in stores for a short time. Aldi does not offer online ordering if a product is not in stock at your local store.
Each treat contains 97 calories, which breaks down to about 3% crude protein, 2-3% crude fat, less than one percent of crude fiber, and 75% moisture. There are two flavors, Original and Cheese and Bac’n.
Ingredients and nutrition information. (Click to enlarge.)
The ingredients vary slightly between flavors, but both list the first ingredient as water and the second ingredient as cheese, so they’re basically frozen watery cheese. Both are gluten free and have no artificial flavors, but they do contain a number of additives and preservatives. The Cheese and Bac’n flavor doesn’t actually contain any meat, but it does contain “natural flavor” and caramel coloring to mimic bacon’s flavor and appearance.
Stella’s Reaction:
I opened one of the Original flavor treats and set it next to my dog’s food bowl. I was impressed by how much it actually looked like vanilla ice cream.
My dog immediately came over to investigate and started licking the treat enthusiastically. It was hard for her to keep it in one place, though, and she scooted it across the floor as she licked it. Next time, I’ll put the treat in a heavy bowl to keep it from sliding around.
Each treat is 3.5 ounces, which is pretty large for a dog treat. My dog, who is just under 30 pounds and almost 9 years old, couldn’t eat it all in one sitting. She ate most of her treat, then took a break for about an hour before coming back to finish it. It was a lot of work for an older dog, despite her enthusiasm.
The Verdict:
Dog ice cream is a growing trend, and I recently heard that an ice cream shop just for dogs opened up in a town near me. I imagine they will charge much more than 75 cents per treat, but they may have fewer additives in their products, too. This is a fun treat for my dog during a heat wave, and she definitely liked it, but they’re not nutritious enough to give her every day.
Thank you for writing the aldi review . I can see products before I go to the store. I wouldn’t know these products were there without this review so thank you so much. Wish they would have some things like this all year.
Heart to Tail Frozen Dog Treats:
We have two dogs, each about 12 pounds. One with a long nose, the other a pug. As they come the treats are a bit large for a small dog. So I microwave the cup for about five seconds and use a stainless steel spoon to scoop out half into a reused yogurt cup. The pug then gets the wider cup and the long nosed dog the narrower one.
It takes about ten minutes of intense licking to finish it off. The dogs love this stuff on a hot day.
And yes, we intend to buy more when they are available. They are well worth the price.
My dog Chase is a 5 months old chihuahua and he loves the frozen treat. Being that he’s such a small dog; I didn’t allow him to eat the whole treat; but he would have if he was allowed. Definitely something I’d buy again.
Can’t speak for everyone, but we gave this to our dog twice. Both times she threw up immediately after eating. We threw the rest away. She doesn’t do this with regular ice cream.