You may have heard a lot of people in dog circles talking about bone broth being a real tonic for your furry friend and they couldn’t be more right! Bone broth is packed full of nutritional goodness, is super easy to prepare and is cost effective too! Bone broth can be a useful tool if your pooch has been under the weather as well as helping with mobility and joints issues and improving the all important gut health of your dog.
There is no hard and fast recipe you need to follow, as you can be creative when it comes to the main ingredients, depending on what is available locally and seasonally. Here is what went into our last batch here at Wagnificent Towers, though we do not claim to have any doggy Michelin stars, we did have clean bowls all round and some very happy hounds on our hands.
YOU WILL NEED:
A slow cooker ideally or a large pot with lid
Colander or large sieve
Chopping board
Ice cube trays
A little patience 🙂
INGREDIENTS:
1 x medium – large chicken
Several marrow fat bones, such as pigs trotters (which fit better when sliced)
The juice of 1 Lemon or some raw apple cider vinegar
4 x Chicken feet
2 x cloves of garlic (Peeled and chopped)
A Tablespoon of mixed seasonal herbs (Not Rosemary or Oregano though)
A Tablespoon of Turmeric
DIRECTIONS:
We usually cook the chicken for ourselves and treat the dogs to a chicken supper too 🙂
All you need to do is pop the chicken carcass complete with any left over meat still on, in the slow cooker, along with the marrow fat bones such as trotters and chicken feet.
Add water so the carcass is just covered and then squeeze in the lemon juice or add the vinegar.
Add the two chopped cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of turmeric and a liberal sprinkling of herbs, though not Rosemary or Oregano. We tend to use Hollistic Hounds range of Nature’s Bounty. In fact our dogs have a sprinkling of herbs on most of their meals.
BUY HERBS HERE: http://holistichounds.bigcartel.com/
Put the slow cooker on high for an hour, then reduce down to low and leave for 12 – 24 hours, occasionally mixing it with a fork. The Wagnificent Pets team are confident that your dog’s nostrils will give you regular reminders that something special is boiling away in the kitchen.
Strain the liquid through a colander or large sieve and keep the broth in a jug. We tend to pick out the remaining meat and put a little in each segment of the ice cube tray before adding the broth to make maximum use of the meat.
Throw all the bones away, skim any excess fat from the top of your jug and simply fill your ice cube trays from the broth jug. A good bone broth should have a slightly jelly like consistency, but the texture will ultimately depend on what bones you have used.
Any remaining fresh broth can be kept and stored in your fridge for around 3 days.
SERVING:
We tend to freeze down, around 4 trays and then decant into a ziplock freezer bag, making it easy to give your dogs a boost of bone broth by simply popping a cube in their bowls to defrost before serving with their usual meal. ENJOY!
OPTIONAL:
There are a whole host of things you can add, depending on how creative you want to be. Once the main pot has been thoroughly simmered, you might want to consider adding: Spinach, Kelp, additional herbs, nettles or Shiitaki mushrooms (dried).
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