Bone Broth For Dogs

Bone broth for dogs is a healthy food that you can feed regularly … and especially when you need to boost your dog’s health. It’s inexpensive, packed with rich nutrients and easy to make. And when you make it yourself you know the ingredients are carefully sourced and dog-friendly without extra salt and additives.

So here’s how to make your own homemade bone broth for dogs. 

How To Make Bone Broth 

Let’s start with the ingredients you’ll need for your bone broth recipe:

• Raw bones, especially joints like chicken feet, beef knuckles and necks, and beef bones with marrow
• 3-4 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• Optional: garlic, turmeric root, ginger root
• Extras like green beans, kale, carrots, medicinal mushrooms, broccoli, herbs, kelp

Now here’s what to do.

1. Start With Bones

Fill your crock pot with bones. You’ll be cooking it for at least 24 hours so a crock pot is easier, then you don’t need to monitor it as you would on the stovetop. Try to use bones from organically fed, pastured animals. You can also use leftover bones from your own meals.

2: Fill With Water And Vinegar

Cover with spring or filtered water to within an inch or 2 of the top. Now add 3-4 Tbsps of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. You need the acid to pull the nutritious minerals from the bones … and it also draws out the healthy gelatin.

Optional: You can also add 3-4 pieces of turmeric root, several cloves of garlic or a 2-inch stub of ginger root … or all of them! These foods boost the healthy nutrients in your dog’s bone broth. 

Now turn on high until it comes to a boil, then turn it to low for 24-48 hours. You can leave it as long as you want … but make sure it’s at least 24 hours so all the goodness is extracted from the bones. 

3. Remove The Bones

Strain out the cooked bones and meat. All the nutrients are in the broth so you’re finished with them. 

4. Add Some Extras

This part is optional but boosts the nutrition your dog gets. So, shortly before you turn off the pot, you can add veggies and herbs to provide more nutrients for your dog.  

5. Cool And Feed To Your Dog

When the broth has cooled, put it in the fridge. Or if you’re in colder climates in the winter, place it outside for a few hours. You’ll find a hard layer of fat on top that you can remove. What’s left should be a rich jelly. This should happen after 24 hours of cooking. This is what’s going to help your dog’s joints. The gelatin is filled with lots of collagen and chondroitin. And the collagen can also keep your dog’s gut healthy, helping to prevent or manage leaky gut syndrome that can cause allergies, food sensitivities and digestive upset. (There’s more about the health benefits of bone broth below). 

If it didn’t form jelly, it’s okay … you might not have added enough vinegar so add more next time. Cooking for longer also helps reduce the liquid down to a more jelly-like texture. 

Now just add a couple spoonfuls to your dog’s regular meals. It’s food, not medicine, so there isn’t a specific amount. Just feed it and watch your dog lap it up

Step 6. Store Your Broth

You can pour your broth into mason jars and freeze the ones you aren’t going to use right away. Partially fill the jars and put them in the freezer without lids. Once frozen, add the lids and thaw later as needed. Refrigerate the broth you’ll use in a few days.

Now let’s look at some reasons to include bone broth in your dog’s diet.

Benefits Of Bone Broth For Dogs

As well as tasting good and adding liquid to your dog’s meals, bone broth is really good for your dog! Here are some things it can help with. 

Nutrition For Sick Dogs

When your dog has diarrhea and won’t eat solid food, bone broth is a great stepping stone as you get him back on solid food. It’s also a nutritious option if your dog has had surgery or has been ill and doesn’t have a great appetite. Just feed him some bone broth and you’ll know he’s getting lots of vitamins, minerals and liquids.  

Joint Health

Bone broth is a source of glucosamine, collagen, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid that help keep your dog’s joints healthy. 

Digestion

Bone broth is full of the amino acid glycine, which aids digestion by helping regulate the synthesis of bile salts and secretion of gastric acid.

Gut Health

Leaky gut is caused when stress, poor diet and bacterial overgrowth cause weaknesses and holes in the lining of the intestines. Instead of digested nutrients, other particles and toxins pass into the bloodstream and cause allergic reactions and inflammation in your dog’s body. But the gelatin in bone broth will line the intestines and help heal and prevent leaky gut. 

Immune System

Bone broth is an excellent source of important minerals and can bolster the immune system … just like chicken soup. It contains important minerals, including magnesium, calcium and phosphorus.

Detox

The liver is the body’s filter that helps detox your dog from the daily toxins of his life … chemicals on carpets and furniture, grass treated with pesticides and poisons, processed foods filled with synthetic ingredients … plus dewormers, flea and tick meds, drugs, antibiotics and vaccines. Bone broth contains lots of the amino acid glycine, which boosts the liver’s detox capacity. 

Bone broth is not only a delicious food extra your dog will love … it’s easy to make and provides a ton of health benefits.