Angus has had two cruciate tears on the same knee. Both times, I have opted for conservative management rehab vs. surgery (the reasons why will be in another post). For now, I want to discuss bone broth and how it’s helped Angus through both recoveries and how it can help you dog, even if your dog doesn’t have an injury.
Bone broth can be used for both dogs and humans. It is simply soup/marrow bones placed in a slow cooker. Fill the slow cooker up with water and about 1-2 teaspoons of Apple Cider Vinegar. I prefer an organic vinegar with the ‘mother’. Set the slow cooker on low and let it cook for 24 hours, or more. If you’re making this broth for a human, you could add in vegetables and herbs/spices, but I like to keep it very plain and simple for my dogs. I have made this broth using beef bones, pork bones, chicken bones/feet etc… Whatever I am able to easily find at the butcher, or grocery store. After it’s finished cooking, I skim everything off the top, remove the bones and voila!
After refrigerating your broth, it may get gelatinous. That’s okay! You haven’t done anything wrong. In fact, that is a sign of quality! Bones and the connective gristley bits of tissue on the bones are full of collagen, which through the slow and low cooking process, have been infused into your broth. Your broth should look like Jello-O after it’s cooled and don’t worry, it will turn to a liquid again if you warm it up.
Bone broth is packed full of glucosamine. Glucosamine reduces inflammation and promotes the growth of new cartilage. Bone broth is also chock full of chondroitin. Chondroitin works alongside glucosamine. While glucosamine is building up new cartilage, chondroitin is blocking the enzymes that break down cartilage. When a dog experiences trauma to a joint, the amount of destructive enzymes in that area increases, so you can see how the use of bone broth to neutralize those enzymes and to build up new cartilage would be paramount for your dog.
That’s not to say that you should only use bone broth after there has been an injury. You can use it as a preventative measure as well to ensure that your dog’s joints are kept as healthy as possible to avoid future injury.
My senior dog also gets bone broth daily to help her with her arthritis. Again, it’s about protecting her joints and keeping the inflammation down to a manageable level.
Bone broth has many uses aside from promoting healthy joints. It has also been proven to be effective for digestion issues, leaky gut and can act as an immune system booster (think of it as a multivitamin for your dog!).
All 3 of my dogs get bone broth daily, but it all started when I was researching ways to help Angus recover from his CCL tear. One pot lasts us about a week, so I just store it in the fridge and it keeps just fine. If you make a larger batch and need to freeze it, simply pour it into an ice cube tray and pop out a cube or two for a meal. Otherwise, you could also can it.
My Life With Dogs 