Please Don't Give Your Dog Chicken Broth Unless You Make It Yourself, Without Onions!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

A reminder for all pet parents:

There are no commercially sold broths or stocks that do not contain onions. That includes organic broths, low-sodium broths, beef broth, chicken broth, vegetable broth, high-end, low end, Whole Foods or Walmart, it doesn't matter. They all contain onions and therefore they are all dangerous for your dogs and cats.

Recently I've heard of several cases of doodles diagnosed with hemolytic anemia, a potentially fatal disease of the red blood cells. Onions contain a substance called thiosulphate which causes hemolytic anemia in dogs and cats.

Yet I continue to read articles in dog magazines and on-line suggesting giving chicken broth to dogs for various reasons: to make their food more appealing, to get them to drink more fluids, one article even suggested making chicken broth ice cubes to cool them off. 
Please don't give your dog any kind of broth or stock unless you make it yourself.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Another option that I've found is to use bouillon cubes.  It's easier than making it yourself....all you have to do is dissolve in boiling water.  Check the ingredients, but the ones I've used did not contain onion.

[BG and Gavin]

I sometimes us a bit of the Bovril concentrated boillon. I just checked but the print is too tiny (or I need a new eyeglass Rx lol) to clearly see all of the ingredients.  I do not think there is onion though.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The Bovril sachets do contain onions. The liquid Bovril doesn't. It does contain an awful of lot of corn sugar, though, but that's not dangerous.

[BG and Gavin]

It's the liquid and used very sparingly.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Knorr's and Wyler's chicken bouillon cubes do contain onions. What brand do you use, Jane? 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I use Knorr.  I just looked at my package and the ingredients listed are: salt, palm oil, MSG, corn starch sugar, cooked chicken powder hydrolyzed corn protein, yeast extract, chicken fat, water, Maltodextrin, natural flavor, dehydrated parsley, Disodium inosinate, citric acid, iodized salt, caramel color, yellow5, TBHQ and Yellow 6.   There's no mention of onion which is why I bought it.  Where did you see that they contained onions?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

On their website. http://www.knorr.ca/product/detail/259436/knorr-bouillon-chicken-cube

INGREDIENTS

Salt, monosodium glutamate, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, chicken fat, hydrolyzed soy/corn protein, dehydrated mechanically separated cooked chicken, dehydrated chicken meat, dehydrated chicken broth, autolyzed yeast extract, dehydrated onions & parsley, lactose, water, colour, spices & spice extract, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, citric acid, tartaric acid, hydrogenated soybean oil and sulphites.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also found this on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Knorr-Chicken-Bouillon-Cubes-2-3-Ounce/dp/B00...

Salt, Monosodium Glutamate, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Chicken Fat, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Corn Starch, Sugar, Dried Chicken Meat, Onion Powder, Water, Turmeric, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color, Spices, Dried Parsley, Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Natural Flavors.

Directions

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It seems they have all different types, lol. But for me, the bottom line is that in addition to onions, there are an awful lot of other ingredients in all of these examples, including yours, that aren't so great for dogs. Tons of salt, sugar, artificial colorings, MSG, soy, garlic, etc. Once in a while I'm sure isn't a problem, but some of these sick dogs' owners are being advised to add broth to every meal.

You know I hate to cook, but making broth for dogs is a lot faster and easier than making it for humans. They don't require the same depth of flavor, shall we say. Maybe it's because their taste buds are not as developed as ours, and the aroma is all they need, I don't know. Simmering some chicken with a sweet potato or some carrots for an hour produces a broth that works for most dogs. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And Yellow No. 5 & 6 are among the worst of the artificial colorings. Both have been linked to allergic reactions, and Yellow No. 6 caused tumors of the adrenal glands and kidneys in industry sponsored animal tests, according to the Dog Food Project website: 

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/?page=badingredients (see the "colorings" section.) 

I didn't know what TBHQ was so I looked it up and found all kinds of warnings: http://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/potential-tbhq-dang...
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/red-flag-ingredients/tbhq-dangeorus-d...

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Good point....I certainly wouldn't want to use it for every meal.  I use it when I'm in a hurry and someone in the house (dog or human) is sick....Tim calls it "sick soup".

[Amy and Annabelle]

Every fall my vet sends out the do's and don't's for feeding your pet Thanksgiving foods, and the onions are a big DON'T.