One of the most frequent diet questions by every dog owner is that can I give my dog chicken broth.
When you’re thinking about home remedies to help fight off a terrible cold, chicken broth almost immediately comes to mind. It helps in clearing up nasal congestion, and it’s also known to have a mild anti-inflammatory effect that can provide relief to you from the symptoms.
You can also feed chicken bone broth to your sick dog to make sure it can recover quickly and get back on its feet. It can be a great addition to your dog’s raw or kibble diet, even when it’s in perfectly good health.
But before you can get ahead of yourself and start incorporating chicken broth into your dog’s diet, you need to do your research. That’s because chicken broth can be found in many varieties at the store, but not all of them are safe for your dog.
It’s always best to prepare it at home because you can be sure of all the ingredients and avoid adding any unnecessary preservatives that can upset your dog’s stomach. In this blog, we’ll take a look at a few health benefits of chicken broth and the many different ways you can serve it.
But before that, let’s discuss why it’s safe for you to feed it to your dog in the first place.
Why Is Chicken Broth Safe for Your Dog?
Since bone-based broths are known to contain collagen and amino acid by the name of glycine, they’re suitable for your dogs as they can help with liver and kidney functions.
Glycine can help protect your dog’s gut from getting affected by leaky gut. It’s a condition where the lining of the small intestine gets damaged and causes any undigested food particles and other waste products to leak into the bloodstream.
It’s ideal for making chicken bone broth at home, but make sure you’re not adding garlic and onions to it. If you’re looking for a store-bought option to use instead, then you should opt for a non-GMO and organic brand that doesn’t have high sodium content and preservatives.
Watch the video below on chicken bone broth for dogs.
What Is Chicken Broth Made out Of?
All that’s needed to make chicken broth is adding water in a massive pot of water before adding raw chicken to it and letting it simmer for a while. Once you’ve removed the chicken from the water, you’ll be left with a clear liquid with a thin consistency.
This leftover liquid is what’s widely known as chicken broth. You should note that it will stay in liquid form if you decide to refrigerate it.
Chicken Broth vs. Chicken Stock – What Should You Feed Your Dog?
Even though chicken broth is usually safe for your dogs, you’ll find that many people are referring to chicken stock when they’re talking about feeding chicken broth to their dogs. They may seem the same thing to you, but they’re not.
Chicken broth is made more from the chicken meat instead of the bones. Soup is also a popular variety of chicken broth. Chicken stock, on the other hand, is the liquid you get after boiling some bony chicken pieces in a large soup pot for an extended amount of time. The resulting liquid has a texture that’s quite similar to gelatin.
Unlike chicken broth, the chicken stock doesn’t stay in liquid form when it’s refrigerated. This can be attributed to collagen –a protein that’s extracted from the cartilage inside and around the chicken bones while they’re being boiled.
Chicken broth can be fed to dogs that are extremely dehydrated or have diarrhea. It may seem a lot more flavorful to them than regular water and give them the hydration they need to thrive. You can also boil some white rice in chicken broth and feed it to your dog if it has an upset stomach.
Chicken stock, however, can be added to kibble to help moisten it and enhance the flavor. It’s also a great addition if you wish to increase your dog’s protein intake because a cup of homemade chicken stock has around 6 grams of protein.
Benefits of Feeding Chicken Broth to Your Dog
There are many benefits of feeding chicken broth to your dog. Some of them are listed below.
Chicken broth can help improve your dog’s joint health as it’s an excellent source for chondroitin and glucosamine, both of which are known to support joints.
They’re usually recommended for dogs that are older and suffer from hip dysplasia, arthritis, and other such ailments. Instead of buying expensive supplements for your dog to improve their health, you can add chicken broth to their meals and enrich their diet.
Dogs have livers that aren’t as capable of getting rid of all the toxins that they’re known to consume, from chemicals used to clean floors, grass to landscaping that’s sprayed with poisonous substances. These are all toxic for your dog’s stomach, which is why their liver has to work overtime just to keep them safe.
Since livers only contain a limited around of glycine, chicken bone broth can be used to help the liver function optimally. It’s packed full of healthy amino acids that provide the necessary support to the organ and release toxins from the body.
Your dog’s current diet may not have enough healthy minerals that are needed to sustain the body. In such cases, it’s always better to feed chicken broth to fill any gaps in their recommended intake because it’s loaded with magnesium, silicon, phosphorous, and calcium.
Chicken broth can be an excellent home remedy for your dog if it’s experiencing stomach problems. The broth can help soothe the insides of their stomach and prevent inflammation. It can also have long-term benefits for dogs that suffer from gastrointestinal issues by preventing leaky gut and allowing them to digest kibble without any difficulty.
Is It Okay to Give Your Dog Store-Bought Chicken Broth?
If you don’t have the time to prepare homemade chicken broth, you can buy one from the store, but make sure to check the ingredients. If the store-bought chicken broth has high sodium content, contains added salt, or has a lot of preservatives, then you may need to look for another option.
It’s better to purchase an organic, non-GMO chicken broth, but even then, you need to look at the ingredients first to make sure it isn’t harmful to your dog.
Can You Feed It to Your Dog with Allergies and Digestive Issues?
You can feed chicken bone broth to your dog to help fight against allergies and digestive issues unless your dog is allergic to chicken. It can quickly provide relief to them from an upset stomach and can be very soothing for their insides.
It prevents the stomach from becoming inflamed and can help your dog recover from short-term digestive issues. The best part about it is that it’s known to cause any side effects, which makes it an excellent option for a home remedy for dogs with sensitivities and deficiencies in their diet.
How to Serve Chicken Broth to Your Dog?
You can feed chicken broth to your dogs in several ways because it’s incredibly versatile and can easily be incorporated into most meals.
If you’re worried that your dog may get seriously ill because it can’t keep anything inside after eating something it wasn’t meant to eat or due to an illness, you should give feed chicken broth to it to make sure their body’s getting the nutrients it needs.
Pour some chicken broth in ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer. On hot days when you feel like your dogs may get extremely dehydrated, feed these frozen treats to them to help cool them down.
Similarly, on colder days, serve them warm chicken broth in a bowl to them help keep them warm, especially if you’ve just taken them outside for a walk. This can also be a great way to increase their fluid intake to make sure they don’t get dehydrated.
There are days when your dogs can get extremely fussy about what you feed them. Instead of forcing them to eat their meals, what you can do is coat the unwanted item in delicious chicken broth to encourage them to give it a try.
Kibble is great on its own, but if you wish to make it more nutritious, you can pour a little bit of chicken broth on top to soften it up and boost their flavor.
If your dog can’t seem to swallow dry food, then you can add some chicken broth to their food bowl to make it easier to digest.
How to Prepare Chicken Bone Broth for Your Dog?
If you’re wondering how to prepare the homemade chicken broth for dogs, we’ve got you covered. It’s quite easy to make chicken broth at home because all you need is a large soup pot and some time on your hands.
You can use a slow-cooker as well to make the process a whole lot easier. You need to be patient because the best kind of chicken broth is one that’s prepared slowly.
But before we can get started with the recipe, there are a couple of things you need to consider. When you’re buying chicken from the store, make sure it isn’t dosed with salt, preservatives, and other seasonings.
Look for organic and all-natural options that don’t contain any preservatives. You don’t want to give food to your dog that contains MSG, added salt, and any form of onion or garlic.
Watch the video below on how to prepare homemade chicken broth for your dog.
All you need are just a few tablespoons of apple cider to make the most delicious chicken broth at home. It pulls out the nutrients and minerals from the chicken and helps turn the liquid into your desired consistency. If you want your broth to be loaded with nutrients and flavor, then you should use apple cider vinegar in your recipe.
The most important ingredient out of all is the chicken. You can buy a whole chicken from the market to make sure your dog doesn’t miss out on any benefits. You can also just use bones if you’re interested in making a bone-based chicken broth.
The bones contain all the healthy minerals that are needed in your dog’s diet. It’s ideal to use the parts of the chicken that contain bones, like the neck and the feet. Any leftover bones from meals can also be used here.
To further enhance the flavor of your broth, you can add vegetables to it as well that are rich in vitamins. Some options include kelp, kale, and herbs. You can also toss in some green beans, celery, and even carrots.
If your dog doesn’t enjoy eating plant-based meals, this is your chance to add any vegetables that you’d like to incorporate into their diet. They won’t even notice the difference in the flavor as they are lapping up the warm chicken broth they love so much.
Instructions to Prepare Chicken Bone Broth for Your Dog
Now that we’ve got all the essential ingredients out of the way let’s get cooking!
- The first thing you need to do is rinse the meat thoroughly. After that, add all the bones and raw meat inside a slow-cooker pot, and then slowly pour in some water. Make sure all the bones are covered in at least 2 inches of water.
- The next step is to add somewhere between two to four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. It depends on the size of the pot. You won’t taste the vinegar in the broth after it’s done cooking, so you don’t need to worry about adding exact measurements.
- Cover the pot with a lid and let the broth cook at the lowest setting for as long as 24 hours. A whole day is needed to allow the bones to soften perfectly so the minerals can be easily extracted from them.
- Once the broth has been cooked and looks just about right in both consistency and flavor, you should turn off the slow cooker. Use a large slotted spoon to remove the bones from the broth slowly.
- After you’ve successfully removed every last bit of bone, you can add your choice of vegetables to boost the flavor if you want.
- Allow your broth to cool down at room temperature before placing it inside your refrigerator. You need to let it separate first before feeding it to your dog because the broth may contain a large amount of fat.
- After it’s been the refrigerator for a few hours, you’ll see a layer of fat on the surface of your broth. Carefully remove the layer with a large spoon and throw it out. Now the broth is safe to be consumed by your furry friend.
- You can store this broth inside the fridge for as long as three days. To preserve it for a year, you’ll need to keep it safely in the freezer. Freeze it in small portions, so it’s easier for you to defrost it when you need to feed it to your dog.
Things to Note
- You can let the broth cook for three days if you want it to be a lot more flavorful.
- You can always cook your broth on the stove if you don’t have a slow cooker at hand, but you should know the end product won’t be as rich in flavor.
- You must throw away the bones safely and not feed them to do your dogs. That’s because the chicken bones can splinter after hours of cooking and become a choking hazard.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve found a comprehensive answer to ‘Can I give my dog chicken broth,’ feel free to include it in your dog’s meals to give them a boost of hydration. Even if your dog doesn’t seem interested in regular meals, you can pour some chicken broth to them to make them taste and smell delicious.
For dogs that regularly experience digestive issues, chicken broth is a great option that will provide quick relief to them and prevent other stomach problems. Try to keep the broth as natural as possible and avoid store-bought chicken broths that are high in sodium and preservatives.
It’s necessary to discuss with your vet first before including it into your dog’s diet, especially if it has been diagnosed with cancer or kidney diseases. The next time you notice that your dog has an upset stomach, make a huge batch of chicken bone broth at home to help ease the symptoms and store it safely in your freezer for up to a year.
