Chicken broth is one of the safest liquid food that a dog can consume without having any serious health issues. However, many Chicken broths, especially the store-bought ones can contain ingredients from the allium family like onions.
If you don’t know whether chicken broths containing onions are safe for your dog’s health or not, you must be concerned enough to know can dogs eat chicken broth with onions or not.
Therefore, to end the concern regarding such an important issue, let’s read further to learn the answers.
Can Dogs Eat Chicken Broth With Onions?
Dogs can’t eat chicken broth with onions because onions have an oxidant named N-propyl disulfide. If dogs eat onions, this oxidant pact with oxygen molecules and damages their red blood cells. Thence, oxygen can’t be transported throughout dogs’ bodies and pushes them to a fatal health condition.
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For the safety of your beloved four-legged furry friend, here is an overview of the digestibility of chicken broth with onion powder and onion juice.
Chicken Broth With Onion Powder:
Dogs can’t and shouldn’t ever eat chicken broth with onion powder.
As it’s known that onion contains N-propyl disulfide oxidant so even if it’s powdered onion, it’s just as poisonous and harmful to dog’s health as fresh and raw onion flesh.
And the toxicity is so high that even if a dog consumes onion powder as tiny amount as 15-30 gm/kg of a dog’s total weight or around merely 0.5% of a dog’s body weight, it will affect the dog’s health severely.
Chicken Broth With Onion Juice:
Every form of onion regardless of onion powder or onion juice is considered extremely poisonous for a dog’s overall health as onion juice has N-propyl disulfide oxidant too.
This already is indicating that chicken broth with onion juice is equally toxic and dogs can’t eat chicken broth with onion juice.
If a dog continues to eat chicken broth with onion juice, initially the dog will suffer from gastrointestinal irritation. And then it will turn into anemia that can direct to organ failure.
Will A Small Amount Of Onion In Chicken Broth Hurt A Dog?
If the dog has been eating a small amount of onion regardless of powder, flesh, juice, or any other form of onion each day for several months, it surely will hurt the dog severely.
However, onions are awfully toxic, so even if the amount of consumed onion surpasses 0.5% of a dog’s weight each time, it is likely to get affected by onion’s toxicity gradually and seriously.
What Happens When Dogs Eat Chicken Broth With Onion?
As a dog owner, you must be concerned to know exactly what can happen to a dog if it eats chicken broth with onion. Therefore, here the most potential side effects/health issues that a dog can suffer from are explained precisely.
Hemolytic Anemia:
Hemolytic anemia is a fatal health condition that attacks dogs due to oxidative damage. And oxidative damage occurs because of the N-propyl disulfide oxidant contained by onions which is basically a sulfur compound and it’s severely hazardous for dogs.
When a dog eats onion through chicken broths, the N-propyl disulfide creates a bond with oxygen molecules of its body’s red blood cells which will cause oxidative damage.
Therefore, oxidative damage will keep damaging and obstructing the dog’s red blood cells from transporting oxygen through its body. And soon it will direct to fatal hemolytic anemia.
Kidney Failure:
Kidney failure is another bad health condition that onions in chicken brother can cause to a dog.
If a dog keeps consuming chicken broth with onion or if its hemolytic anemia is not treated on time, it can suffer from kidney failure. Because oxidative damage makes the membranes of red blood cells fragile and destroys them.
Thereby, kidneys and other significant organs don’t get oxygen, and kidney failure occurs.
The worst:
The harsh reality is onion toxicity can lead a dog to the end of it’s life as well. Because if a dog consumes 100 gm of onion (in any form through the chicken broth) per 20 kg of its weight, it will suffer from immediate toxic effects of onions that can lead to loss of life.
Because just 100 gm onion (it’s about a medium-sized onion) can cause immediate anemia in a 45 pounds dog. Later this anemia will lead to organ failure and the worst.
How To Make Chicken Broth For Dogs?
It’s always best if you can feed your dog homemade chicken broth rather than store-bought ones.
So this section has included the step-by-step instructions of homemade chicken broth recipe to help you make chicken broth for your dog.
Clean And Cut The Chicken:
First, take the whole unseasoned raw chicken and clean it thoroughly, remove the chicken skin off the chicken as well. Then cut the chicken into small pieces.
Chop The Veggies (Optional):
If you are adding carrots and celery to the chicken broth, clean both the celery and carrots well. Peel the carrots and then chop them into small pieces too.
Place The Ingredients In A Slow Cooker:
Now take the chicken pieces and veggies, and together keep them in an 8-12 quart slow cooker. Then fill the pot with enough water so that it covers the chicken and veggies.
Bring It To A Boil And Simmer For 12-24 Hours:
Put the stove in a high mode and bring the ingredients with water to a boil. When the water has started to boil, decrease the heat and let the stew simmer on low heat for 12-24 hours.
Cool Down The Broth:
After the broth has cooked, take off the pot from the stove and cool it down. Then you must skim off the little bit of fat from the broth top.
Strain And Store:
Lastly, strain the chicken broth and store the broth in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.
How Long Does It Take For Onion Toxicity In Dogs?
Typically, clinical symptoms of onion toxicity take 24 hours to develop in a dog’s body, however, sometimes the symptoms of onion toxicity can take even 7 days to show up after the dog has consumed food containing onions.
If your dog has eaten onions, keep an eye on him for up to one week to notice the onion toxicity symptoms manifest themselves.
How Do You Know If Your Dog Has Onion Poisoning?
The most prevalent symptoms that are seen in a dog affected with onion poisoning have been described here for your knowledge.
Diarrhea:
When a dog consumes onion, it’s most likely to suffer from a poor stomach which means it will suffer from diarrhea. So if you notice your dog has diarrhea after eating onion, know that he already has been affected by onion toxicity.
Vomiting:
After eating any form of onion, dogs can start throwing up frequently within a few hours or in the next few days. In case you notice your dog starts throwing up often and suddenly eating anything that has onion, it means onion poisoning.
Red/Brown Urine:
Red/brown urine is another symptom of onion poisoning in dogs. Therefore, if you suspect that your pooch has eaten onions, check while he pees. If you notice his pee seems reddish or brownish in color, this simply means onion poisoning and the condition is getting worse.
Lethargy:
If you notice your dog is not active anymore and has lost his enthusiasm and energy in doing anything and rather showing a lethargic attitude after eating onions, it also indicates onion poisoning.
Pale Gums:
After having onions in food, the gums of a dog is tend to turn pale. So check your dog’s gums to find out whether these are pale or not. If you see pale gums, he is attacked with onion toxicity.
Can A Dog Recover From Onion Poisoning?
A dog will recover from only mild onion poisoning. But if it has consumed an excessive proportion of any form of onion, it is most likely not to recover so easily and fastly as the poor pooch will be affected by serious onion poisoning.
How To Treat Onion Toxicity In Dogs?
When it comes down to onion toxicity, a vet is the only rescuer who can help you and save your dog from facing any fatal consequences.
So whether or not your dog exhibits any symptoms of onion toxicity, as soon as you will know that he has eaten onion, just rush to the vet’s clinic and treat him.
Also, take intense care of your beloved pup until he returns to a stabilized condition and his red blood cells can transport oxygen as before.
Final Thoughts
Onions are highly toxic for dogs and this means dogs aren’t allowed to eat chicken broth with any form of onion. Onions have N-propyl disulfide oxidant which damages the red blood cells, obstruct oxygen transportation, finally leads a dog to pass away, so dogs can’t eat chicken broth with onions.