Is raw chicken good for dogs: Currently, more and more owners choose to offer raw and natural food to their pets. In the wide range of BARF dog recipes, chicken appears as one of the most used ingredients. However, scientists point to the possible risks of feeding a dog with raw chicken.
Is Raw Chicken Good for Dogs
In this article, we will explain Is Raw Chicken Good for Dogs or not. Logically, we will also clarify the precautions we should have when offering any raw meat for our best friends.
Today there is a wide variety of foods for our dog, but one of the best known is the Barf diet. This uses chicken as the main ingredient, such as the thighs, breasts, bones, or legs. Our pet needs continuous control of the amount of protein he eats each day, and, through chicken, we obtain a source of high-quality protein, which is low in fat and easily absorbed.
However, we must be attentive to any sign of intolerance (vomiting, diarrhea) because if this occurs, we must stop immediately with the diet and take it to a veterinary center so that they can do tests in search of any type of allergies. This is of special importance, and, as in humans, we will not be able to know until we try the food.
The Barf diet consists of a completely raw and natural meat that offers a series of advantages and benefits, since it does not contain any type of synthetic ingredient and also helps in the dental and immunological health of the animal.
Raw, and synthesizing its nutrients. When we cook the chicken, it loses part of its nutrients since it undergoes some alterations in its properties, instead if we keep it raw. We will get all its properties and benefits (enzymes, vitamins, minerals, etc.) essential for the proper functioning of our can.
Is Raw Chicken a Good Food for Dogs?
Although they are not strict carnivores like cats, dogs need a good daily supply of protein to ensure complete and balanced nutrition. For this reason, premium line feed usually incorporates at least 25% protein in its preparation.
Chicken, especially breast, is an excellent source of high quality and low-fat proteins. Its meat is easy to digest for dogs, and its nutrients can be absorbed and assimilated optimally by your body.
Considering its nutritional properties, we can affirm that chicken is good food for dogs, as long as we guarantee that the meat is of good quality and is not in poor condition. Also, it is essential to rule out the possibility that our dog is allergic to chicken.
It is also worth noting that your diet should incorporate other foods that provide essential nutrients for your bodies, such as fibers, vitamins, minerals, and good fats.
Can Dogs Eat Raw Chicken?
Meat, by-products and chicken meal are often widely used in the manufacture of pet feed. Also, there are several homemade recipes that we can prepare using chicken, such as wet food, cakes, pate, etc.
Biologically, the dog’s organism is perfectly prepared to digest raw meat and synthesize its nutrients. Therefore, we cannot say that raw chicken is bad or inappropriate food for dogs.
Actually, during the cooking process, chicken meat undergoes some transformations, and it loses certain essential nutrients. On the contrary, raw chicken keeps all enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, so it is highly nutritious for our dogs.
On the other hand, a BARF diet – raw and natural – offers numerous advantages and benefits for our best friends. In addition to not containing synthetic or industrial ingredients, it is also a great ally of optimal oral health and helps strengthen your immune system.
What is the Danger of Feeding a Dog With Raw Chicken?
According to recent research from the U-Vet Werribee Veterinary Hospital at the University of Melbourne, there could be a relationship between habitual consumption of raw chicken and the predisposition to develop a type of severe paralysis, called APN syndrome.
The APN syndrome (acute polyradiculoneuritis) consists of a disorder that affects the nervous system of dogs. Its starting point would be some imbalance of the immune system that would lead to a progressive deterioration of the nervous structures.
The first symptoms usually reveal themselves in the hind legs, which weaken to end up leading to local paralysis. Quickly, the disorder reaches the front legs and also extends to the head and neck. In more advanced cases, it affects vital organs, which can cause cardiac and respiratory failures.
As the scientists point out, the danger is not found in the raw chicken itself, but in a bacterium called Campylobacter, which is usually found in chicken meat and bones. However, it can also be present in unpasteurized dairy and unhealthy waters.
It is estimated that prolonged consumption of chicken contaminated with this pathogen would leave the dogs’ body more vulnerable to developing APN syndrome, especially if we consider small dogs, which are usually the most affected by this symptomatology.
Risk of Development of Apn Syndrome
Research has recently been conducted at the University of Melbourne that relates to the consumption of raw chicken in dogs with paralysis, known as APN syndrome (acute polyradiculoneuritis). This appears due to the bacteria Campylobacter, common in uncooked meats.
The APN mainly affects the nervous system due to a mismatch of the immune system that causes it to attack its own nerve cells. Symptoms begin with paralysis in the hind legs. Subsequently, the front, neck, and head are blocked and can lead to the death of the animal. Luckily, the vast majority are able to overcome the syndrome in a few months.
If we continue to feed the animal for a long time with meat that carries the pathogen, it would be more likely to develop the APN syndrome. Especially in dogs that have a small size, since they are the ones that are most often affected by the symptoms of that syndrome.
Beware of Food Allergies!
Another essential care before offering raw or cooked chicken to your dogs is to ensure that they are not allergic to this food. To do this, just go to your veterinarian and ask about allergy testing for dogs.
When you perceive that your pet has digestive problems – diarrhea, gas, or vomiting – or other symptoms of food allergy, you should immediately suspend the administration of chicken and take it to the veterinary center.
Last but not least, we should never feed a dog with raw chicken if we do not know the origin of the meat. If we are not sure of the source of the acquired chicken, it is best to cook it well before offering it to our best friends.
Benefits
The consumption of chicken in dogs provides a series of benefits that we will present below:
- Thanks to proteins they have healthy and strong muscles
- The bones have the ideal values of calcium and phosphorus for the animal, maintaining healthy teeth and bones. (Bones are always consumed raw)
- Having tryptophan, it is an antidepressant, as it produces comforting sensations.
- It also has Vitamin A that helps in eye health
- The Vitamin B2, mainly chicken liver, provides elasticity to the skin and maintains the immune system controlled
What Part of the Chicken Do I Give It?
We can really give him what we have at the moment, although the thighs and the contramuslos are somewhat better because they are the meat of a redder color than the one with the breast. We can even give our dog chicken skin, always without exaggeration because, as in humans, it can become obese. The skin has animal fat, so it is beneficial and should be part of your diet.
Chicken carcasses, which are bones with little meat, can also be incorporated into the diet as long as they are raw since, if we cook the bones, they can splinter, and there would be a risk that our pet will be choking.
Recipes
In the Barf diet, not only chicken is consumed, but its primary component is 60% meat with bones, 20% lean meat, 10% vegetables and fruits, and 10% viscera and organs. Among the types of meat, they can consume chicken, duck, pork, veal, rabbit, horse, lamb. They can even eat fish such as sardines, anchovies, tuna, salmon.
As for the fruit and vegetables can be served raw, but it is advisable to cook the vegetables, for better digestion, and mix them with the nuts (raw). The seeds of the fruits should not be ingested since they have a high level of toxicity for the dog. The preparations can be frozen without any problem.
The price of this menu is, in the long term, cheaper because if we feed our pet with a feed from an unknown brand but it is very cheap we are giving something that over time will cause some health problem, so we would have to spend money on taking it to the vet.
As you have seen, the myth that says dogs should only eat feed is false, since there are many different types of food for our pets. A healthy dog is a happy, cheerful, energetic, and happy dog. With this diet, the animal will enjoy more food and be more resistant to diseases.