Classic Bone Broth Recipe for Dogs
Bone broth is full of nutrients that can support your dog’s joints, digestion, immune system, allergies and recovery from surgery or treatment. Seniors and dogs with poor appetites benefit from nutritious bone broth too. Your Fur Soul will love this healthy recipe for Classic Bone Broth for dogs!
What is Bone Broth?
Bone broth is made from simmering the bones (often including attached ligaments, tendons and meat) of chicken, turkey, beef, fish or pork for an extended period of time. An acid like apple cider vinegar draws out important minerals, collagen, protein, vitamins and amino acids from the bones into a super healthy broth that is a little thicker than soup and very nutritious for dogs. Read more about the healthy benefits of bone broth here
At Healing Fur Souls, we are dedicated to helping you care for your dog naturally – and that includes giving you healing recipes to support your dog’s best life.
This Classic Bone Broth recipe is easy to make, economical and provides powerful nutrients for dogs with arthritis and joint pain, allergies, poor digestion and senior dogs plus those recovering from illness and surgery.
How to Make Bone Broth for Dogs
Don’t throw away your leftover turkey bones from the holidays! Turn them into a healing bone broth for your dog.
Making bone broth at home simply requires clean, organic meat bones, filtered water, apple cider vinegar and time. You can use a variety of different bones such as turkey, chicken, beef, pork, duck, goose or fish. Most recipes start with previously cooked bones like leftover roast turkey or chicken, bone-in ham or whole fish.
You may also use a slow cooker instead of our conventional “pot on the stove” method. Just ensure you are using a good quality pot that won’t leach chemicals into the broth. Start with the crock pot on high for the first hour, and continue on low for another 23-24 hours.
Classic Bone Broth Recipe for Dogs
Equipment
- Use a large stock pot with a lid (or slow cooker)
Materials
- Beef, chicken, duck, goose, turkey OR fish bones. Use organic, pasture-raised sources with no added hormones, antibiotics or medications). Bones should be previously cooked (e.g. roasted turkey). It’s fine to have some meat, tendons and ligaments left on the bones. Turkey/duck necks and feet are fine as well.
- 4 tbsp Organic Apple Cider Vinegar or fresh lemon juice
- 3 cups cold filtered water per pound of bones. Reverse osmosis filtered water is best.
- 1 cup (optional) Optional: Vegetables such as chopped carrots spinach, bean, broccoli or 1-2 cloves of garlic
Instructions
- Place bones in a large stock pot
- Add enough cold filtered water to cover the bones 2-3 inches
- Add organic apple cider vinegar
- Place over medium heat, until liquid comes to a boil
- Reduce heat to low, cover and and simmer for 24 hours. This step is important to allow the bones and ligaments to release healing compounds like collagen and amino acids.
- Skim off any foam that rises to the surface during cooking, and discard
- After 24 hours, remove bones and strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer to remove large and small bone fragments. Although bones should be soft enough to crumble after cooking, it’s safer to strain the broth to avoid possible injury to your dog
- If you’d like, you can add chopped vegetables to the pot of strained broth while it’s cooling. Try carrots, 1-2 garlic cloves, green beans, spinach or broccoli for extra nutrition
- Let cool for several hours in refrigerator until fat congeals at top. Skim or scrape off the excess hard fat from top and discard. You will likely see a jelly-like substance under the fat - that is collagen - the precious joint-supporting substance that you worked hard to create! Make sure you keep this. If you don’t have much jelly, that’s ok - just add a little more vinegar to your next batch
- Transfer broth into freezer-safe mason jars or glass pyrex containers. When chilled, broth should look like semi-solid gelatin
- Store in refrigerator for 1 week or in freezer for 6 months
How Do I Feed My Dog Bone Broth?
Some dogs love cooled or room temperature bone broth on its own. Others prefer it poured over their meals. Add a little warm water to make a delicious gravy-like topping.
How Much Bone Broth Should I Give My Dog?
Give your dog about 1-2 tbsp per day of bone broth for every 10 lbs of your dog’s weight. If he is ill or has a poor appetite, it’s ok to offer more of this nutritious broth.
Is Bone Broth Good for Dogs with Arthritis?
Bone broth supports healthy joints with essential nutrients like collagen, chondroitin and glucosamine. Add anti-inflammatory vegetables and herbs to help prevent worsening of arthritis and relieve joint pain. Senior dogs, those recovering from surgery or illness and dogs with a poor appetite can sip on this nutritious broth throughout the day.
For extra relief from arthritis pain, consider using CBD (cannabidiol). Not sure where to start? Make these popular CBD dog treats at home to take the edge of off your dog’s pain naturally. Mmmmm… broth and cookies – what could be more comforting?
Does Healing Fur Souls Have More Healing Recipes for Dogs?
Yes! To get our healing recipes, tips and informative articles, follow us on Facebook or Twitter! We would love you to be in our community of cool fur parents!
Or, click here to go directly to some of our doggone favourite recipes
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