With food prices soaring due to inflation, you may find yourself looking for ways to expand the food purchasing budget of everyone in the household, including your cat. But you don’t want to sacrifice good nutrition. Consider a low-cost, high-nutrition solution: bone broth.
Johnna Devereaux, Certified Clinical Pet Nutritionist and Director of Nutrition and Wellness at Bow Wow Labs, Inc. , in Novato, California.
When you slowly cook these bones, the collagen and cartilage boil off, releasing nutrients that provide anti-inflammatory benefits and help keep joints strong.
Bone broth offers these benefits for your cat:
- Strengthens the immune system
- Helps in digestion
- Enhances flavor in food to entice kittens to eat
- Supports the musculoskeletal system
- Provides a delicious way for cats to stay hydrated
Keep cats hydrated
Cats tend to drink less pounds of water than dogs. However, they still need tasty and healthy liquid sources to stay hydrated.
Dr. Ernie Ward, Pet Advocate of America and Member of the American Society, notes that “domestic cats who weigh an average of 10 pounds typically need to drink 7 to 10 ounces of water per day to keep their skin and organs well hydrated.” From the Cat-Friendly Cat Practice Advisory Board.
So what is the solution? Step up the water source by treating it with beef bone broth. The smell of meat juice may tempt your cat to drink.
Or, the next time you want to offer a special treat to cats by poaching a chicken on the stove, extend the power of the poultry. Do not empty the flavored water down the drain. Instead, use it as a tasty liquid for your cats.
That’s what celebrity animal trainer Samantha Martin does as she travels cross-country with her amazing kittens from Acrow. Samantha uses foods and treats full of flavor as motivators to convince two dozen kittens and kittens to ring bells, jump through hoops, jump over rails and weave in and out of her legs on stage in front of the sold-out crowd.
“We boil chicken breasts in water for dessert,” says Samantha, who is based in Atlanta. “We give them extra water to drink afterward, and they love it! This chicken water gives them extra hydration and nutrition.”
Bone broth do’s and don’ts
While many cats enjoy flavored waters, including tuna juice or chicken broth, enhancing the flavor by adding salt or onions is detrimental to their health, warns Dr. Elizabeth Ballis, author and inventor of The Indoor Hunting Feeder for Cats.
Remember that you are boiling the broth for your cat, not for your taste. Dr. Pallis advises that salt can cause dehydration, vomiting, diarrhea and even seizures in some pets. Onions are toxic to cats in any way. Check for these ingredients in store-bought broth, too.
Two safe and healthy spices that you can add to your broth are turmeric and black pepper.
“Turmeric is rich in the plant polyphenol curcumin, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps reduce inflammation in the body,” says Johnna. “I include turmeric, along with black pepper (which is rich in the alkaloid piperine) because students have discovered that piperine enhances the benefits of curcumin and can increase the body’s absorption by up to 2,000%.”
Talk to your vet before you start adding bone broth to your cat’s diet if your cat is dealing with any chronic stomach issues or serious health conditions.
Bone (broth) appetite, kitties!
Strong bone broth recipe
Certified Clinical Dietitian Johnna Devereaux shares her favorite bone broth recipe that is safe and healthy for your cats and dogs.
Ingredients:
- raw bones (beef or lamb)
- 4 teaspoons of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- Spring or filtered water
directione:
- In a slow cooker, add all the ingredients and fill it with spring or filtered water.
- Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 39 hours.
- Discard the bones. Allow the broth to cool before serving it to your pets.
- Store remaining bone broth in airtight containers or Mason jars in the refrigerator (seven days) or in freezer-safe containers (six months).
Suggested serving size:
Save 1 ounce for every 10 pounds of your pet’s weight.
So, a 10-pound cat would get 1 ounce and a 40-pound dog would get 4 ounces of bone broth.
Bone broth for cats
Bone broth for dogs and cats is a growing market. Check out the latest bone broth available specifically for cats.
Made by Nacho Bone Broth Toppers; $2.99.
Isotonic keteride drink; $17.95 for a 3-pack.
Caru Grass-Feded Beef Bone Broth; US $11.99.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.