If you’ve ever looked into increasing the protein in your diet, you’ve probably been told to consult the humble chicken egg. Even if you didn’t love eating them, you might have found some kind of satisfaction in knowing you were giving your body something it needed (even if you had to smother it in hot sauce and hold your nose while the slimy thing went down).
Or maybe you just really enjoy a plateful of eggs in the morning. Does your dog get the same benefit from that food choice as you do? If you, say, gave your dog the last few bites of your eggs after a big cooked breakfast, is that OK?
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opens in a new tabHealth benefits of eggs
The short answer: yes, dogs can eat eggs, but with some important things to note. In fact, the egg is a powerhouse of nutrition, including the shell. Eggs contain all the essential amino acids and are a highly digestible source of protein with a high nutritional value. They’re loaded with vitamins and minerals, too. Plus, eggs are a perfect source of protein.
Ideally, you want to choose eggs from free-range or pastured chickens or organic, omega-3 enriched eggs, which come from hens who were fed flax. These eggs contain the essential omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic (ALA), plus two other omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA). When giving your dog eggs, introduce them slowly to ensure they don’t cause an upset stomach.
How to cook eggs for dogs
There are so many ways to feed eggs to your dog. Ready to add eggs to your dog’s food bowl? Here are some ideas to get you started.
Cook them (simply)
You can give your dog hardboiled, scrambled, fried, poached... knock yourself out. Just make sure you serve them plain. You might be able to take all that salt, pepper and chilli sauce, but your dog should keep it simple.
Steam hard-boiled eggs
Hard-boiled eggs for dogs are quick and easy, and steaming is the best, most foolproof way to cook eggs. Place cold eggs on a rack in a pot with 250ml of boiling water. Cover and cook for 10–12 minutes, depending on the size of the egg. Drain, then place the eggs in cold water for just a few minutes.
Make an omelette or frittata
Just don’t add ingredients that can harm your dog (such as onions, chives and garlic), and go light on the salt and pepper.
Turn them into a topping
You can chop up cooked eggs and use them as a topper to enhance your dog’s usual meal. Just make sure you take into account the calories in an egg before supplementing your dog’s food.
Grind up the shells
This is a great and very affordable source of calcium for your dog because eggshells are made of 94 percent calcium carbonate. Prepping eggshells to make calcium carbonate is easy. Rinse the cooked eggshells or boil raw shells for five minutes (to kill any bacteria). To dry them out, spread them on a baking sheet and place them in the oven for 10 minutes at the lowest temperature. Cool the shells, then grind them to a very fine consistency in a coffee grinder or a blender. Store them in a glass jar in the fridge. One eggshell contains 380–400mg of calcium per gramopens in a new tab. Half a teaspoon of eggshell powder is roughly 800mg of calcium.
Consult with your vet on how much calcium supplement is suitable for your dog. Soon, you’ll be packing in those nutrients together.
Note: while caution was taken to give safe recommendations and accurate instructions in this article, it is impossible to predict an individual dog’s reaction to any food or ingredient. Readers should consult their vets and use personal judgement when applying this information to their own dogs’ diets.
