Fry an egg once a week for your chihuahua!
Once a week I get the frying pan out and cook a fried egg for my chihuahuas. I tell my dog training clients to do the same and often get a quizzical raised eyebrow.
Why is good to feed your chihuahua a fried egg
Eggs are little power packs of top-quality protein and omega 3s. Eggs are packed with high quality protein and are bursting with essential amino and fatty acids. They contain an array of vitamins including A and B12, they also have folate, iron, selenium, and riboflavin. The benefits to your dog will be strong teeth, bones, and a shiny coat.
If your chihuahua is on a kibble-based diet, then it will provide a useful boost in protein and vitamins and minerals from a source food. Vitamins and minerals in dry food are synthetic as the source ones will be killed off in the cooking process. It will also be an enjoyable break from a very bland eating regime for your dog.
Get the frying pan out
Why is it better to lightly fry rather than scramble? Eggs contain long chain fatty acids that are delicate in nature. Keeping them complete for as long as possible is better nutritionally. The trick is to lightly fry your egg keeping the yolk runny thus preserving the LCFAs.
What should you cook them in.
The good news for people and dogs is that eggs don’t absorb much fat in the cooking process, but it’s still important to make sure they are good in good oils and fats. I tend to use either organic rapeseed or coconut oil. Using a nonstick pan will also help use less fat.
How to serve them.
I tend to chop them up in their morning food. I will fry the eggs aiming for 1 small egg per dog. I have their daily food in a pot then once the eggs are cooked, I chop them in. Then I weigh their food out, so the egg is included in their daily food allowance and is not an extra.
Is it OK to feed raw eggs?
Yes, if you feed your dog the whole egg and not just egg whites. (Egg whites contain avidin, an enzyme that prevents absorption of biotin in the body.) The yolk balances this out. But cooking them will make them slightly more digestible and you will be killing of pathogens and reduces the risk of salmonella.
Can they eat the shells?
Egg shells mainly calcium carbonate, a very calcium rich compound which is also very easily absorbed. This will give your dog a very high dose of calcium in one hit. Getting the calcium balance correct for your dog can be tricky and is especially important for a puppy. Too much or too little can have health implications. If you are feeding a commercial dog food, then avoid feeding the eggshells on a regular basis as the calcium will have been worked out for you and you may upset the balance.
However, if your home cooking for your dog then you will need to add ground eggshell to make sure they are getting sufficient calcium, but this is another blog post.
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I have a 10 year old little chihuahua rescue! She had to lose her eyes in June due to infection. She also only has 2 teeth! She is the sweetest little girl ever and accepts her handicaps so well. We understand her homeless owner died and fortunately a rescue group took her in. We feed her Pro Plan Complete because it is ground up and she can just lick it up. I will try putting some egg in it for her. Thanks for the info.
Is it ok to give my Chihuahua milk,he loves ice cream too
Not really, Milk can upset a tummy as a lot of dogs are lactose intolerant after about he age on 1 year. Ice cream needs to be dog ice cream because people ice cream will contain milk and a lot of sugar. Dogs are not good with sugar and it can lead to rotten teeth and weight gain.
Hello, no not really. Most dogs by the age of 1 are lactose intolerant and milk can cause tummy ache. people icecream is full of milk and sugar and dogs should not eat sugar.
While I will never prescribe what people feed their animals, one thing I do know is that throughout evolution, dogs have never been known to cook a meal. Therefore their biome and gut system is not designed for cooked food. In addition, dogs have never been known to farm their food. Instead, they have always hunted for it. Accordingly, we have always only fed our dogs raw meat, organic wherever possible as their gut biome is damaged by preservatives, anti-biotics and hormones. In the wild, dogs are opportunists, and will naturally eat eggs if they encounter them, but they will always be raw. If you feed a dog the natural diet that accompanied its evolution, it will rarely, if ever, become sick. We have never needed veterinary treatment or intervention for anything other than injuries. I think healthy dogs that eat properly, develop proper immune systems and they live long healthy lives, free of obesity, arthritis, loss of eyesight and hearing loss. These illnesses are ALL diet-related.
I agree that making sure you look after your dogs gut biome is important. A well put together raw diet is going to be the gold standard.