It is quite common for puppy owners to feed cooked chicken to their puppies for protein. How about you? Do you feed your puppies cooked chicken too?
Most puppies do love to eat cooked chicken but there is one thing you need to keep in mind before feeding them cooked chicken. And that is their age.
Just like human babies, puppies need to grow till a certain age to eat certain kinds of food. To know at what age can puppies eat cooked chicken read this article.
At What Age Can Puppies Eat Cooked Chicken?
Puppies can eat cooked chicken when they are at least eight weeks old. Eight weeks is the minimum age for puppies to start eating cooked chicken. At a maximum range, your puppies can even take twelve weeks to be prepared to eat cooked chicken.
To be sure of their age, observe when their teeth get ready and when you feel that it’s time to change their diet.
Is Cooked Chicken Good for Puppies?
I know how much you worry about your puppies’ health. And don’t worry, cooked chicken is absolutely good for puppies. It is tasty as well as nutritious for them.
Cooked chicken contains many nutritious elements that improve your puppies’ health and keeps them strong. So adding cooked chicken to your puppies’ diet is an absolute better decision.
Let’s take chicken breasts to understand the nutrition math of cooked chicken. As chicken breast does not contain any bones, it’s ideal for puppies.
Anyways, chicken breast usually contains 80% of protein and 20% of fat. This combination of nutrition is perfect for your puppies. The protein that cooked chicken contains is easily digestible by puppies as well.
Not only that cooked chicken is a good source of protein for the puppies, it also fulfills the requirements of amino acids. Furthermore, it has omega-6 and glucosamine too.
So do not worry about the goodness of cooked chicken for your puppies as it’s the best.
However, remember, if your puppies are allergic to chicken, the benefits might turn into harms. So firstly know if your puppies are allergic to chicken or not. If they are allergic to chicken, don’t feed it.
How Often Can You Feed Cooked Chicken to Puppies?
Cooked chicken is quite a good treat for puppies’ dinner. You can also feed them cooked chicken as a side treat of their main meal like rice. Cooked chicken as training treats is amazing too.
Many might think it is not a good idea to feed cooked chicken to your puppies very frequently. But it is in no way harmful for puppies who can consume it. Even if you decide to feed them cooked chicken once a day, every day, it’s still fine.
But if you have organized your puppies’ diet with many other foods along with cooked chicken, you can reduce the frequency to one or two times a week. For example, if you think the diet already has enough calories and other nutritious sources, you can feed cooked chicken some other day.
So basically, if you want you can frequently feed cooked chicken to puppies as well by maintaining a routine. There is no harm in that.
How to Cook Chicken for Puppies?
Just like human babies, it is important to cook puppy food in a certain way too. As puppies are sensitive when it comes to their stomach, it is important to cook their food based on their digestion ability.
The best way to cook chicken for puppies is by boiling, baking, and grilling. Before jumping into the process, know this: Never add any seasonings or flavors to the chicken.
To boil chicken all you have to do is put the chicken breasts in water and wait for 12-13 minutes to get it boiled. Cut it into small pieces after boiling and serve it to your puppies. Puppies love boiled chicken and it also is easily digestive and contains all the nutrients.
But if you want to bake the chicken, preheat your oven to around 400 degrees F and put the chicken breasts in a non-stick pan. Bake for 20 minutes and after baking, let it cool down and serve it after shedding it well.
Then again, if you want to grill chicken for your puppies, grill the chicken traditionally without any seasoning. Only feed grilled chicken to your puppies if they are hydrated enough.
Reminder: Do not feed overcooked chicken to your puppies.
How Much Cooked Chicken Should You Feed Your Puppy Each Time?
It is very crucial for you to feed your puppies the right amount. The way a small amount of food can cause malnutrition, presence of too many calories can also cause harm.
The best way to measure how much do you need to feed your puppies can be found out by knowing your puppies weight. A puppy’s weight can tell how much food the puppy can consume or how many nutrients or calories it needs.
It is recommended to mix cooked chicken with rice while you prepare the chicken meal for them. So while measuring the food amount, the total calorie of rice and chicken needs to be calculated.
For a puppy that weighs around 10 lbs, feeding them .75 cups of rice and cooked chicken is enough. For a little healthier puppy which might weigh around 20 lbs, you can feed them 1.5 cups of rice and chicken.
The amount will keep increasing as the weight of the puppy increases. Make sure to have good measurements while giving them food.
What are Some Other Nutrition Sources for Puppies?
Just because cooked chicken is one of the ideal proteins for puppies does not mean you have to feed them only cooked chicken to fulfill their needs.
There are many other protein sources that you can feed your puppies. It will keep them healthy as well as give their diet a healthy variety in their diets.
The other protein sources for puppies are:
Eggs: Eggs are quite a nutritious protein source for puppies. It has 13g of protein. Eggs are also 100% digestible by puppies. It also has fatty acids, vitamins, and other nutrients for puppies.
Fish: Fish is also a good source of protein. It contains vitamin D and selenium. But be sure to feed wild-caught fish to your puppies to avoid any health risks.
Duck Meat: Duck meat is like an all-in-one nutrition source. It is rich in protein as well as zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, phosphorus, vitamin B, calcium, and more.
Beef and Lamb are also very rich in protein as well as other nutrients. But these two kinds of meat are quite expensive. Also, as some puppies are allergic to dairy products and beef and lamb meat, avoiding these will be for their good.
Conclusion
Along with at what age can puppies eat cooked chicken, I have answered many possible curiosities of yours.
Now, if your puppies are old enough to eat cooked chicken, feed your puppies cooked chicken freely for extra goodness. Also, try the processes I mentioned above to cook chicken so that they love it more.
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