Bone Broth

This post is a follow-up to the entry made a while back titled, "What my Dogs Eat". A few years back a dear friend (who is both a dog person and a pharmacist) sent me an article about bone broth and its nutritional and medicinal qualities. At the time we both had very elderly dogs who were exceptionally dear to us. The dogs had good appetites but did not get around so well. It was my friend's suggestion that I start making up some bone broth to offer to the elderly one (who at the time was Augie). The link to the PDF article that my friend sent me then is now inaccessible and needs a password so I can't offer the direct link to what I read back then. But if you Google "bone broth" you will find plenty of articles like this one about the benefits of bone broth for human and dog alike. Since that time I have gotten into the habit of making bone broth out of any cooked bone that we happen to have coming through the kitchen. If I roast a chicken, we make bone broth. Then after pouring off the broth and discarding the bones, I add any veggies that need to get used up, cook the whole thing, then process in the blender, and voila! Doggie-V-8! The dogs love it. I am still getting a weekly box of veggies from Valley End Farm (which I am really enjoying). At the end of the weekend I clear out whatever is left to prepare for the new box on Tuesday and anything that is a bit wilted or faded goes into the Doggie-V-8, which is best when prepared with bone broth.

Of course if you are a real chef (which I am most certainly not!) you can use your broth to prepare gourmet cuisine. It is a traditional product common to most cultures and revered for medicinal qualities to help heal joints and provide other healing benefits. And when I make bone broth I feel a lot less guilty about "wasting" a chicken for myself when I could be feeding the entire thing to the dogs (with no waste whatsoever).

Even if you are still feeding kibble (!) you could make bone broth to pour over the dogs' meals. I'm just sayin'! Enjoy!