There has been an argument circling around the pet-owner community, “can dogs be fed with raw chicken?” What benefit a dog can gain whenever he is feed with raw chicken? Is it beneficial or something that is not good for them especially to health concerns they commonly face. To answer these queries, this article tackles more on the pros and cons of feeding your dog with raw chicken.
Pros and Cons of feeding Raw Chicken to Dogs
It is a good thing that dog owners are thinking as to how their dog’s diet should be on a daily or weekly basis. And there have been so many types, methods, styles on as to how pets must be fed depending on their food preference, breed, mood, and of course their health matters. The concept of raw feeding primarily started on finding a potentially healthier diet compared to dry-food feeding. And on recent times, raw feeding is actually evident to some pet owners and even being highly prescribed by other veterinarians.
There is a lot of things to sort out for this topic, but no need to worry because we will try to expound on each of these as you go through this article. We will be dissecting each issue and concern regarding this topic into bite-sized chunks of information for you to be well-informed on as to how beneficial it is most especially to your most beloved pet. Hopefully, at the end of this article, you will be able to gain lots of information to help you decide whether to feed your dog raw, cooked, or processed. I will also be adding some useful tips on how to avoid or lower down the risk of getting your dog infected while trying out to feed him raw, especially chicken!
Can dogs eat raw chicken?
Emphasizing the question: Can dogs eat raw chicken? The answer lies technically in how your dog’s stomach reacts. Some dog owners might argue that the best food for dogs is the raw ones paired with dry food compared to feeding them with dog food alone. All of these things will always go back on as to how their digestive system works. Part of this thing is that their digestive system is shorter compared to humans. There are no extra stomachs for them to store other food parts, or long, winding digestive tracts, or any anatomical body parts which are technically needed for breaking it down. Instead, as evident to almost all dogs if not that well-trained when it comes to eating routine, the tendency is they just grabbed whatever is on their magic bowl, where they can almost finish a full meal in less than a minute or two. Then, giving you an intensive signal that they really need to poop, because either they have been overfed or they were not able to digest the food they are eating. The tendency now is they vomit or they simply defecate what they have eaten.
Raw vs cooked chicken?
This is only one issue faced whenever trying to feed your dog raw. Since the meat is harder and tends to extend whenever being taken compared to being cooked. However, one possible outcome for this is that there is a lesser time for such harmful bacteria to grow inside your dog’s stomach. And also, it is not just the digestive system structure that is very helpful here whenever they swallow a big chunk of raw chicken. Your dog has a high acidic chamber where an army of good enzymes inside the dog’s stomach rightfully fights against the bacteria from the outside which have been taken while eating the chicken raw.
So, always take into consideration the effect of feeding your dogs with raw chicken or any other raw food on the table. It will always be them who will suffer the consequences after.
To clear things out, let us try to take into accounts what could your vet say about this when it comes to feeding your pet with raw food. Let us hear from the dog experts.
What does the veterinarian say about the matter?
Veterinarians will be the very first and the most reliable out of all the people you know to tell whether to feed your dogs with raw food or not. Since they studied the dog’s anatomy as well, they somehow for sure knew how their stomach would react every time they eat raw or cooked food. So, whenever you ask your vet if your dog can eat raw chicken, you might just be hearing a question too, “how old is your dog?” See the point here? As mentioned earlier that it is not just your dog’s digestive system you should be considering with. You should also know, as dog owners, the perfect age your dog will be fed with raw food. The issue is that it is very difficult to control the growth of bacteria inside a dog’s stomach, knowing the fact that they are even loose outside, free running the wild, can eat anything, meaning to say feeding them raw chicken is only a contributing factor to their health. The age of your dog must be considered before introducing to them raw feeding, this issue is not actually suitable especially among puppies since, of course, they are still young and could not even digest well the food they will be taking. So, you should be very cautious about your dog’s age when it comes to deciding whether to feed them with raw or cooked ones. Moreover, there have been recent researchers that feeding your dogs with raw chicken can lead to some autoimmune diseases that may be the end result of early exposure or sudden introduction to such bacteria which are commonly found on chicken meat. But, if you are that conscious of your dog’s health, you might as well feed them with this food so long that it is in an interval scheme. Meaning tries to devise a feeding routine as to when raw chicken meet can only be fed on a particular day of the week. So that, it can also lessen the possibility of choosing their food to eat every mealtime.
And in relation to your dog’s age, feeding raw chicken meat is not also that applicable to your puppies or for some other dogs facing compromised immune system or digestive tract abnormalities even for those aging one year onwards.
How and when to introduce raw chicken?
At this point of our discussion, let us go now to some other contributing factors on how and when to introduce raw chicken feeding. First, two opposing factors are already presented, others might agree to let your dogs eat raw chicken, second is that your vet might not go for it. This time, let us go on how you, as the pet owner, will certainly decide whether to go for raw feeding or not. In this section, many possible and real-life reasons will be presented if you will push through with this raw feeding or not, and let yourself be the judge on this issue, get it? Anyway, it will always be you who will be deciding whatever is good or not for your dogs.
So, if you want to feed your dog with raw chicken, how will you execute it the right way without compromising your dog’s physical health? Here are some of the things I want you to embed in your feeding routine to your dogs:
- Can you afford buying chicken? If not, why will you feed your dog chicken anyway?
- Make sure and exhaust all means that your raw chicken is as fresh as a vegetable being harvested right directly from the farm. Do not ever feed him with a spoiled one or else you will be facing a lot of problems down there.
- SANITISE always the area, especially your dog’s bowl. Since it is raw, it will always be a perfect place for some other bad bacteria to grow, especially if your place is not that sanitized.
- DO NOT ever feed your dogs with bones, since this can break into larger or smaller bits and can even have very fine ends that might damage your dog’s intestines. So, always choose the best part, breast part is the best part of all parts.
- AGAIN, NO SEASONINGS. As a general rule, do not ever add any additives to your dog’s diet. There might be underlying effects for this, could be liver problem, vomiting, and others.
- Always monitor your dog every after meal, especially if you are feeding him with raw food. There might be instances that he won’t eat that no matter how eager he is before. You must worry already if your dog lost appetite after eating raw chicken meat.
- If you are going to leave before letting your dog eat a meal, make it sure that your trusted person is well-informed on as to how the feeding routine should be done. There might be cases that some other dogs won’t eat because he is not familiar with the one feeding him. So, before leaving, make it sure that your dog had eaten already his meal, do not forget the chicken!
As I said many times in this article, let yourself be the judge whether to feed your dog with raw chicken or cooked one. The decision is yours, but always remember that whatever decision you will have, your dog’s life will always be on the line. So, better decisions for yourself and for your dog’s well-being.
