Feeding your pet raw chicken wings will benefit their teeth, massage their gums and develop the muscles of the head and neck used for chewing, as well as keep them busy for a while.
Chicken wing tips and flats are such soft bones, mostly cartilage in fact, that most cats and dogs, even smaller ones can eat these. But NOT if they have been cooked - cooked bones can splinter and cause injury to the stomach or intestines.
The super low pH of the stomach acid of a healthy adult dog or cat will neutralise pretty much all bacteria found on the surface of raw chicken. Our pets also have bacteria neutralising saliva. Our stomach acid is not so strong, so we have to remember to wash with soap after handling raw meat.
Small dogs, cats and puppies can have just the wing tip to start with, building up to the tip plus the flat first section. Use your judgement - bigger dogs will easily cope with the whole wing. It is wise to hold the wing to start with to avoid the situation of swallowing the whole thing in one gulp.
Households with multiple pets will need to separate the pets while feeding high value foods such as chicken wings. Feed in the garden, or some cat owners feed in the bathtub, disinfecting afterwards! Don’t observe too closely, or they may rush and gulp the wing. If a whole wing is gulped, it will be digested and broken down in the stomach, just leave several hours for the stomach to do its work before feeding another meal. Allow peace and solitude to savour the new experience. Bony treats like wings should be fed at a different time of day to the main meal (if feeding dry or cooked/wet food) , as they need to spend longer in the stomach than processed foods.
Joint the whole wing into the drumette, the flat and the wing tip using a sharp kitchen knife and a plastic chopping board, that can be disinfected in the dishwasher. Pat the wings dry with a paper towel for a better hold.
You can then open freeze the different parts of the wing, once frozen bag up for later feeding. Experienced dogs can be offered the wings frozen so they can spend longer enjoying their favourite treat. If dogs eat the wings in the garden, they may also eat small amounts of grass and soil - that’s absolutely fine and will even support a healthy gut biome.
Calcium and Phosphorus is well balanced in chicken wings, copper and iron is available from the marrow, and chicken meat has a great balance of amino acids, the building blocks of protein.
Feeding chicken wings like this is only one part of a balanced diet for your dog or cat - if you are feeding dry food, wings are an ideal entry level to raw treats, and a great way of reducing the amount of ultra-processed fast food going into your pet. Reduce the amount of kibble by the same number of grams on the days you feed chicken wings. A whole wing weighs about 100g.
Remember to restrain the number of chicken wings fed in a week, if you see harder white poos coming out the other end, you have probably overdone the bone content, so ease off on the bone heavy treats like wings! A guide would be one wing twice a week for a medium sized breed like a Border Collie.
Variety is the spice of life, and the key to balance over time - watch out for more blog posts about introducing raw to your pet.
To find out more about starting raw feeding, or for support on feeding raw, do book a consultation with me, see the website section on holistic feeding for more details.
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