Healthy Dog Diets: Can My Dog Eat Raw Chicken?

No, dogs shouldn’t consume raw chicken. However, some healthy dog diets contain chicken in them. Raw chicken is included in a premium raw dog food that complies with AAFCO standards. It has undergone a pathogen reduction process and would be the only exception to this guideline.

Never give grocery store uncooked chicken to your pet. The bacteria linked to eating raw chicken may harm both people and canines. Although canine digestive systems are more typically resistant to bacteria than human ones. Raw poultry can still be too much for them to handle.

Despite current trends that recommend feeding dogs raw meals, offering dogs raw chicken is extremely risky. Additionally, chicken listed as raw in dry or frozen raw dog food is often freeze-dried or put through special procedures to eradicate microorganisms. Even dog food meant for human consumption does not contain raw chicken.

Healthy Dog Diets – Avoid Feeding Your Dogs Raw Chicken

Salmonella and Campylobacter are the most harmful bacteria in raw chicken from a grocery store. These two bacteria, also frequently found in undercooked chicken, can cause severe gastrointestinal issues in humans and dogs, including fever and prolonged, severe diarrhea.

Additionally, dog faeces can transfer these bacterial illnesses from dogs to people. When handling your pet’s waste or bedding and blankets they might sit or scoot on, wash your hands well if you have one of these diseases.

Your dog will suffer from malnutrition when they eat uncooked chicken. For dogs, raw chicken isn’t considerably more nutrient-dense than chicken that has been roasted or boiled. The chicken nutrients used in dog food are optimized, and you can further supplement the nutritional value of your pet’s meal.

Commercial dog food diets offer all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients needed for your dog’s health in a balanced manner. Even if you feed your dog prepared chicken, you should give it to them just sometimes as a treat. Their premium dog food should provide 90% of their daily calorie needs.

Healthy Dog Diets – What Happens If Dogs Eat Raw Chicken?

Salmonella and Campylobacter are two infections you should be worried about if your dog consumes uncooked chicken.

At the same time, there is a chance that nothing may happen. Both of these can potentially cause excessive vomiting and diarrhea in dogs, which can result in severe dehydration and the need for hospitalization for fluid therapy and medicines.

Puppies who consume raw chicken may experience more significant diarrhea from these diseases. Both of these bacteria can cause life-threatening infections.

Raw chicken from the grocery store frequently comes with bones, another possible threat. If ingested, raw chicken bones can be a choking hazard or result in gastrointestinal trouble.

Dogs are more in danger from fish and chicken bones than other meat forms because they are small and easy to swallow. The same natural flavors and support for dental hygiene are present in dog bones produced from highly digestible rawhide and rawhide-free bones, which pose less of a risk of ingesting or splintering.

What Can You Do If Your Dog Eats Raw Chicken?

Keep an eye on your dog’s healthy diet. It may take some time to determine whether they have a foodborne illness. You might not even be aware that your dog has been consuming raw chicken. Unless you notice vomiting, diarrhea with or without blood or mucus, lethargy, increased body temperature, or other strange behaviors.

Call your veterinarian immediately if you observe persistent vomiting, severe diarrhea, fatigue, or fever. Your veterinarian could advise fluids to rehydrate them and additional treatments to prevent other health problems, depending on the seriousness of diarrhea.

Your veterinarian might not prescribe antibiotics unless the sickness is extremely severe when treating foodborne illnesses like these.

Other health and wellness strategies, including probiotics, which could hasten the restoration of your dog’s stomach to normal, may be suggested by your veterinarian.

How Can You Prevent Your Dog From Eating Raw Chicken?

To maintain a healthy dog diet, it is important to keep them away from poisonous human food by preventing them from eating raw chicken. Use a sealed bag or leak-proof container to store raw chicken in your refrigerator.

It helps to ensure that your dog can’t get to it and also helps to stop any other foods in the fridge from becoming contaminated by the raw chicken fluids. Please ensure the raw chicken is out of the dogs’ reach when prepping it for cooking.

If your dog is eagerly licking their chops in expectation of stealing a mouthful, ask family members or housemates to keep an eye on them. Remember that even a single drop of raw chicken juice can cause people and dogs to contract Campylobacter or Salmonella.

Healthy Dog Diets – Benefits Of Feeding Raw Chicken To Canines

According to some owners, there are certain benefits to feeding raw chicken to dogs despite the dangers. About 80% of chicken is protein; the remaining 20% are other minerals that are good for dogs, including potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin B12.

Call your vet immediately if you discover that your pet has eaten raw chicken and is experiencing any adverse effects.

References: Petco.com, thesprucepets.com