Bone Soup for Dogs and Cats

Bone Marrow Soup

I talked about this on the Driving Radio Show this week. Here are some step by step instructions. 

I always encourage my clients to cook for their dogs and cats but just like cooking for yourself and your family, it usually takes a big health problem to make the change from processed foods to fresh home cooked. Its ok to start slow. Even if you don't want to or can't cook every day. Fresh foods as treats or a few days a week is a great starting point. 

Ingredients : 

Marrow bones
Turkey Thighs
1 lime
1 TB apple cider vinegar
3 cups of chopped root vegetables
Carrots, squash, beets, celery - I used carrots because I always have that on hand :)

Directions : 

Cut long bones to expose marrow. I used a big cleaver and hammer, see photos

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Put bones, veggies, the juice of 1 lime and 1 TB apple cider vinegar into a large heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered overnight. You can also do this in your crockpot. As the bones simmer, the acid of the vinegar and veggies extract the nutrients and essence of the marrow. Check water level every few hours and add more water if the bones are uncovered. 

Let cool and strain broth. 

Keep in fridge for up to 1 week.

Feed small (start with 2 TBs) frequent meals throughout the day to your sick doggie or kitty.  The cooked veggies can also be added to the food if they are strong enough to eat them. 

This is a great way to get them back eating after an insult, like after eating a week old dead squirrel in the yard, post chemo, post parvo, ect. 

Variations : 
you can make this with any marrow bones, beef, pork, even a whole organic chicken. Consult with your TCVM vet to see what protein would be best for your pet. 

I usually make this with the left overs from Tamika and Rolly's turkey roast, which is just roasted turkey thighs on a bed of chopped green veggies like zucchini, green beans, ect. 

Roast in the oven @ 350 for 1 hr. 
When cool, remove the meat from the bones. The bones go into the soup pot and the meat is chopped up and added back to the veggies. I then add in some cooked brown rice, millet or their favorite, red quinoa ! 
Then mix it all up and I put it in tuperware and store 1 weeks worth of food in the fridge and freeze the rest in 1 week aliquots. When traveling, we freeze individual meals and put them in the cooler and defrost when needed.