Dog Breath Mints You Can Make at Home

Written by

Shell & Katy

Pet Photographers & Dog Lifestyle Writers

Updated 22 September 20269 min read

About Shell & Katy

Shell & Katy are two style-savvy dog mums celebrating the best in pet-friendly living. A pet photographer and dog lifestyle writer, together they share trending pet products, recipes, inspiration and expert tips with discerning dog lovers around the world.

All articles by Shell & Katy

Fish. Warm carpet. Whatever was under the hedge on Tuesday. Bad dog breath is rarely one smell, which is why covering it over buys about four minutes of relief. Homemade dog breath mints take the other route, using parsley and fresh mint to neutralize the odor at its source. Four recipes follow: one frozen, two baked, and one that asks for three ingredients and a blender.

Two short sections come first, and both matter more than the baking: what is actually causing the smell, and which mints are safe to hand a dog at all.

Why Your Dog's Breath Smells

The everyday causes

Most doggy breath comes down to what is living on the teeth. The most common cause of halitosis in dogs is periodontal disease arising from plaque and tartar build-up, and small or flat-faced breeds are more prone to it because their teeth sit closer together. Diet plays a part too, which is why breath often turns after a fishy meal or a raid on something unspeakable in the garden.

Mints work on odor, not on tartar. They are the fresh-breath equivalent of opening a window, and they are genuinely useful for the everyday version of the problem. They are not a substitute for brushing, and these three ways to look after your dog's teeth are still the foundation.

When bad breath needs a vet, not a treat

Some smells are a symptom rather than a nuisance. Book a vet visit rather than baking if you notice breath that turns foul suddenly with no change in diet, a sweet or fruity smell, a urine or ammonia note, or bad breath alongside drooling, pawing at the mouth, dropped food, bleeding gums, low appetite or lethargy. Persistent odor that does not shift is usually tartar that needs a professional clean.

Are Breath Mints for Dogs Safe?

Which mints are safe

Breath mints for dogs are safe when they are made for dogs, whether that means a batch from your own kitchen or one of the dental picks in this guide to the best dog treats. Fresh garden mint, spearmint and peppermint leaves are fine in the small amounts used in treats, and so is common curly parsley, whose chlorophyll is what neutralizes odor rather than masking it. What is never safe is a human mint: most sugar-free mints and gums contain xylitol, which causes a dangerous drop in blood sugar in dogs and can lead to liver damage.

That last point deserves repeating, because it is the mistake this search term leads people toward. No Tic Tacs, no Altoids, no sugar-free gum, not even one. Check the label on peanut butter too, since some brands sweeten with xylitol.

Ingredients to keep out of homemade dog treats

Peppermint essential oil is not a stronger version of fresh mint. It is a concentrate and does not belong in a dog treat. Pennyroyal, despite being a mint, is toxic to dogs and should never be used. Skip raisins, grapes, chocolate and anything sweetened artificially. And if you are picking parsley from the garden, use the common curly or flat-leaf kind rather than spring parsley, which is a different plant entirely and not safe for dogs.

Two moderation notes. Large amounts of parsley are not appropriate for pregnant dogs or dogs with kidney disease, and mint in quantity can unsettle a stomach. Treat-sized portions are the point here.

Four Recipes for Fresh Doggy Breath

All four use the same working pair, parsley for odor and mint for freshness, in four different formats. Start with whichever matches your week.

1. Frozen Mint, Parsley and Yogurt Bites

The original recipe on this page, and still the easiest. Nothing is baked, the food processor does all the work, and the frozen format suits hot afternoons. Coconut oil is one of the superfoods for dogs worth keeping in the cupboard, and plain yogurt brings live cultures along with it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh mint
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1 cup natural yogurt (sugar free)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp organic apple cider vinegar, optional

Method

1. Chop and measure out the fresh ingredients.
2. Blend everything together in a food processor.
3. Spoon the mixture into silicone dog treat molds and spread it evenly, scraping off any excess.
4. Freeze for 1 to 2 hours, or until solid.
5. Pop the treats out of the molds and serve straight from frozen.
6. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months.

If frozen treats go down well in your house, the strawberry and coconut oil frozen dog treats use the same molds and the same method.

2. Crunchy Oat and Mint Dog Treats

The baked option, and the one to choose if your dog only respects a treat that crunches. Oats are gentle on sensitive stomachs, and the batch keeps far longer than anything frozen. For another baked biscuit in the same style, try the peanut butter ginger snaps for dogs.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup water, plus extra if needed
• 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C).
2. Pulse the oats in a blender until they look like flour.
3. Whisk the parsley, mint, egg, water and oil together in a bowl.
4. Add the oat flour and mix until a dough forms.
5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.
6. Cut into small shapes and place on a baking sheet.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden and crisp.
8. Cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze.

3. Apple and Mint Breath Busters

Apple adds texture, which gives the teeth something to work against while the herbs handle the smell. These bake harder than the oat cookies, so they last longer in the jar and take longer to eat. For a softer biscuit on the same principle, the peanut butter and carob dog treats are gentler on older teeth.

Ingredients

• 2 cups oat flour, or whole oats ground down
• 1 apple, cored, peeled and shredded
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
2. Mix everything in a large bowl. The dough will be sticky.
3. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.
4. Cut into shapes, or score into small squares with a knife.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, until hard.
6. Let them cool fully, which hardens them further. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

4. Three-Ingredient Honey Mint Pupsicles

For the days when nothing elaborate is happening. Three ingredients, one blender, two hours in the freezer. The Greek yogurt does double duty, since its live cultures are the same ones behind these homemade dog probiotic recipes.

Ingredients

• 5 oz plain Greek yogurt, no added sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh mint
• 1/4 cup honey

Method

1. Put all three ingredients in a blender.
2. Blend until the mint is fully incorporated.
3. Pour into small molds or an ice cube tray.
4. Freeze for 2 hours, until solid.
5. Pop out of the molds and serve. Keep frozen for up to three months.

A note on the honey: it is fine for healthy adult dogs in small amounts, but skip it for puppies under a year, for dogs with diabetes, and for any dog with a compromised immune system. Plain yogurt and mint alone work perfectly well without it, much like the two-ingredient pina colada dog popsicles.

Homemade Dog Breath Freshener Ingredients That Work

Parsley

The workhorse. Parsley is rich in chlorophyll, which is a recognized natural deodorizer, and that is the mechanism behind every homemade dog breath freshener worth making. It also brings vitamins C and K and iron. Use the common curly or flat-leaf variety, chopped fine.

Fresh mint

Mint supplies the actual freshness, and in small amounts it can help settle a queasy stomach too. Fresh or dried leaf only. As a rough swap, a tablespoon of dried stands in for half a cup of fresh.

Coconut oil

In these recipes coconut oil binds the mixture, carries the herb flavor and sets firm when frozen, which is what makes the no-bake version hold its shape. It is also high in fat, so go lightly with dogs who are overweight, prone to pancreatitis, or on a fat-restricted diet, and reduce the quantity rather than the batch size if you are unsure.

Yogurt

Plain unsweetened yogurt adds protein, calcium and live cultures. Check the label for added sugar and artificial sweeteners. If your dog is sensitive to lactose, use a lactose-free yogurt or swap in extra coconut oil.

Spinach

Spinach brings vitamins A, C and K plus iron and fiber. It also contains oxalates, which is why it belongs in these mints as a small proportion of the batch rather than a main ingredient, and why dogs with kidney problems should skip it entirely. Ask your vet if that applies to your dog.

Apple cider vinegar

Listed as optional in the first recipe for flavor balance only. There are plenty of claims attached to it online that are not well supported, so there is no need to add it, and no reason to worry if you leave it out.

How Many Dog Mints a Day

Treats of any kind should sit at around a tenth of your dog's daily calories, and these are treats. The right number depends as much on the size of your molds or cutters as on your dog, so use this as a starting point and scale it to the mints you actually made.

Introduce any new treat with one piece and wait a day before making it a habit, especially with the higher-fat frozen version. Cut back on meals slightly on days when treats run generous.

Store-Bought Dog Mints Versus Homemade

Homemade wins on ingredient control and cost, and it is the better option for dogs with allergies, since you decide what goes in. Shop-bought dental treats win on convenience and shelf life, and the dental-specific ones are formulated to work on plaque as well as smell, which no home recipe does. Keeping both on hand is a perfectly sensible answer.

If you are buying rather than baking, read the ingredient list for xylitol and artificial sweeteners first, look for real mint or parsley rather than "mint flavor", and match the chew size to your dog.

Brushing does the real work, and a batch of mints makes the rest of it more pleasant for everyone. Make one recipe, see which format your dog prefers, then keep that one in rotation. Ten minutes of blending buys a month of better kisses.

To freeze next, these three-ingredient fruity frozen treats use the same molds and the same ten minutes.

A full year of them lives in the 52 Weeks of Treats ebook.