Making Bone Broth for Cats & Dogs

This video shows how to make bone broth suitable for giving to cats and dogs, in collaboration with "Cats Completely Raw and Proud" on Facebook.
Cats and dogs should not be given bone broth made for humans due to the herbs, spices, vegetables and other additives used in it. Bone broth for our pets needs only be a simple mix of bones and water!
So let me show you how I make bone broth for my two cats, which I use alongside the food that I make in my popular video on making a DIY raw food batch!
Check out our Facebook group for more help and info on feeding your cats a balanced and healthy raw diet:
•Cats Completely Raw and Proud
And for dogs:
• Dogs Completely Raw and Proud

[@maisy7926]

Adding one tablespoon or more of apple cider vinegar really softens the bones even more. Helps to get everything out of the big marrow bones, which I use.

[@clivemilner]

How much apple cider do you Use?

[@tch5528]

Thank you. I am going to make this for The stray cats that I feed

[@CatnipBanana]

I'm sure they'll love it 😁

[@39Bosski]

This is just the video I'm looking for. I've an older cat who doesn't really like to be bothered with hard food too much anymore, and I've been buying him broth to mix in, but I'm running into supply problems. If he drinks it, this will be a great help.

[@fengshuiinmotion1968]

Genius! I have never seen ice cube bags. I will look for them. Great video. I am an auditory learner so this was really helpful!

[@CatnipBanana]

My pleasure, glad to have been of assistance 😁

[@myrasmama]

Wow, ice cube bags! I've never seen those but I just found some on Amazon.

[@Amber-yj5zi]

I don’t eat or cook meat (and never have!) but I’m going to take the plunge and make this for my cat! Hopefully saves some butcher’s off cuts from going in the bin, anyway. Thanks for the great video ! 💗

[@CatnipBanana]

Awesome, well done for taking your animals wellbeing into consideration over your own morals 😁 some of the most active raw feeders we have on the FB group are vegan and vegetarian ♥️

[@maryalicedavid2494]

Thanks from Tallahassee, Florida!

[@teahbrandell4936]

I enjoyed this video. Thank you

[@Sulaiman-xh8wx]

I have heard people adding acetic acid to the broth. Apparently it helps to leach out the minerals.

[@debkayaker]

I love those I've cube bags...never seen them here in the US but I'll go look now!

[@CatnipBanana]

They're great 😁 I'm massivly against single use plastics, but unless I can find an environmentally sustainable replacement for these then it will be one thing I'll keep using 🤦

[@GenerationJonesi]

Hi Deb, Here in Canada we can buy those at Dollar Stores in the gardening/bbq section. Maybe US Dollar Stores will stock them. Hope this helps :)

[@whattheheck318]

Thank you! Ice cube bags, cool!

[@upasanasobhani]

Thank you. It's very informative

[@54tristin]

Anybody watching any of these things as an animal at home it’s not eating their hysterical about they need the ingredients they need the time to cook for and how it’s prepared there in a hurry

[@tiramisuAsylum]

This is so helpful! Thank you

[@eyedye]

Great guide, thank you for posting. 👍

[@sumayyamoradi1951]

thank you

[@susiesusansue3725]

Hi. Hope you see this comment. This was such a helpful video. Could people also drink this broth if they were not feeling well? Thank you for sharing. X

[@CatnipBanana]

Absolutely you could drink this if you're not feeling well. Tonnes of nutrients and I would never feed my animals something I wouldn't be willing to eat myself! 😁

[@DuuudeMaaan]

Awesome video just a few questions. how many of those ice cubes do you give your cat and do you serve it warm? Also a lot of the petstore broth contain xanthum gum to make it thicker, would that be a good idea to add the broth to thicken it up?

[@CatnipBanana]

So I simply divide the number of ice cubes up between the number of boxes I use to make a batch :) say a batch ends up being 22 boxes, I just divide them equally up between them. You can't give too much bone broth, any excess nutrients just get excreted. Most bone broth will end up being thicker when it's room temp or cold, as the gelatin and glucosamine in it becomes jellylike when it's cool, so whilst it is liquid when it's.hot, really good bone broth will become practically solid when it's in the fridge 😁

[@pauliewalnuts3040]

Amazing, thank you! How do you give the broth to the cats? Do you just put the ice cubes into their bowls and wait for them to melt or do you defrost first? Do you give it to them with anything eg mix into wet food? Thank you!

[@CatnipBanana]

I dish out the ice cubes into the boxes I use to make my raw food batches when I make them; just divide the number of ice cubes amongst the number of boxes in making up :) then I mix it all in with the batch and freeze is again, so when I come to defrost a box of raw food it's all mixed in already 😁 However you could easily just pop out a cube and let it defrost with some food, some cats will enjoy licking the broth ice cubes on a hot day, or you could just put a few in a bowl on their own and let them defrost to lick up on its own :)

[@pauliewalnuts3040]

CatInARastaHat thank you!!!

[@sunainahaldar1317]

Great video, thank you! I tried this recipe for my cats and they lapped it up :) What are your thoughts on mashing the bones into the broth as part of the feed? Is it harmful in any way? It seems like they would be soft enough to not cause any harm?

[@CatnipBanana]

The bones can indeed be used for the bone content as they are soft enough to mash up, however this should only really be done if your animal won't eat whole bone :) and always ensure there as absolutely no pieces left whole as they would be dangerous. It can also be trickier to determine exactly how much bone content it is, as it is often mixed in with meat, however rif you can seperate the bone effectlvy then you know its almost 100% bone Happy that your animals enjoy the broth! 😁

[@sunainahaldar1317]

CatInARastaHat got it, thank you :)

[@clivemilner]

Chicken egg shells can be pulsed to shell dust in blender. Best form of calcium for cats!

[@rachelchua9406]

nice vid. Do we have to remove ether fatty layer on top? Does this turn to jelly when cool? Am thinking to give mine some bone broth jelly for hydration. I barely see him drink any water

[@CatnipBanana]

Yes when the liquid has settled, skim the fat and oil off the top :) it may turn to jelly, it depends how much gelatin is in it, some mixtures of bones will give more jelly than others, and using things like chicken and pigs feet will yield far more jelly than just using bones. Also leaving all the gristle on things like chicken thigh bones can help give more jelly 😊

[@capableofgreatness8804]

how many chicken thighs and whole fowl, you used to cook... you know what i throw away my slow rice cooker as its being sitting there for sooo long, and i regrett it!!!

[@CatnipBanana]

It makes such a difference to the "waste not want not" ideal to use every part of the animal possible 😁 slow cookers are dead cheap now, and of course I use it for cooking as well as making bone broth 😉

[@nashmiyamohtram7985]

How should we add the frozen cubes into our cat's meal

[@CatnipBanana]

You can either add them into the food when you're making up a batch if you make it yourself, just put them in the boxes or whatever you use to store first and by the time you're done it will have defrosted enough to mix into the food to store :) If you buy premade, you could get a few cubes out about half hour/hour in advance to let them soften up and then add to the food once a day, or even just put a few on a plate and leave them down for kitties to lick as they defrost :) You can also add a small splash of boiling water to get them to melt down a bit, works especially well if you break the cube up a bit first :)

[@nashmiyamohtram7985]

Thankss!! :)

[@dontshootgirls981]

Do the same general rules apply with say beef bones? (Since they are so much bigger)

[@CatnipBanana]

They do indeed, cept I wouldn't expect the bones to crumble unless you left them for days and days, but especially with marrow bones all the good nutrients would have leeched out within 24 hours I expect :)

[@bri3449]

Is it fine to mix proteins, like beef and chicken bones?

[@CatnipBanana]

Absolutely, I've used pork ribs and chicken bones, beef marrow bones would be really good :)

[@bri3449]

@@CatnipBanana Ty!

[@ayvanray5285]

are you mixing it with the raw food?

[@CatnipBanana]

I am indeed :) I add it when I mix the batch together and freeze it as one, but you could also just pop out a few cubes of it every day or so and add it to the food defrosted, or even just leave some out in a bowl for them to drink :)

[@sarahnicleirigh7432]

Do you think this would be ok to do with a tesco rotisserie chicken?

[@CatnipBanana]

Do you mean with all the meat taken off? Cause if so and as long as it hadn't been spiced with garlic and onion etc then absolutely, any cooked chicken carcass can be used for this! :)

[@sarahnicleirigh7432]

@@CatnipBanana We frequently get a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat off the bones for our dinner, and being able to throw the carcass in a slow cooker and just boil it so the babies can have some broth is ideal!

[@CatnipBanana]

@@sarahnicleirigh7432 absolutely that would work! I would save and freeze a few carcasses, I find about 3 mid size chicken carcasses will fill the slow cooker nicely and give a good batch of broth 😁