 The Short Answer is: |
Moderate consumption of barbecue chicken is okay for dogs. There are some ingredients in this food that are toxic at high levels to dogs, so you should not feed it to your dog. |
The purpose of this article is to explain the “Can Dogs Eat BBQ Chicken?“.
Do you know there will be more than 271 million Americans using barbecue sauces and marinades in 2020?
I have no idea how much of this was put on chicken.
We know that chicken is Americas favorite meat so I’m guessing the answer is a lot.
But should we feed it to our dogs or share it with them.
How about we find out?
Can dogs have BBQ chicken?
Moderate consumption of barbecue chicken is okay for dogs.
There are some ingredients in this food that are toxic at high levels to dogs so you should not feed it to your dog.
Several ingredients go into making barbecue chicken and a wide variety of barbecue chicken products are available.
Therefore it is easy to become overwhelmed by all the options.
In this article I will examine many ingredients and determine whether or not they are safe to feed to your dog.
What is BBQ chicken?
A barbecue chicken is a raw chicken that is covered in a BBQ sauce and cooked on a BBQ or raw chicken that is covered in a BBQ sauce and cooked in a conventional oven.
The chicken can be prepared in three different ways in addition to the different ways of cooking it.
You can buy cooked BBQ chicken or you can purchase a BBQ sauce to cook your chicken in.
I will examine each of these options in turn to see if they are dog-friendly.
Can dogs eat ready-made cooked BBQ chicken?
While I’m on Walmarts website I’m checking out a couple of popular products.
The ingredient list for this shredded chicken in original BBQ sauce is packed with chemical-sounding names.
These are the main ingredients.
Seasoned chicken cooked with salt (including)
Tomato puree
High fructose corn syrup
Vinegar
Brown sugar
Fortunately none of these are toxic for your dog but they’re also not exactly healthy either.
It is the chicken the salt that has been added to it and the type of oil in which it has been fried that is the most concerning ingredient
You can substitute corn syrup for brown sugar.
Can dogs eat salt?
Most likely your dog already has enough salt in their diet and they do not need more.
Providing your dog only has a few mouthfuls every now and then the amount of salt in this product will not harm them.
Make sure your dog does not eat a whole portion every Saturday night.
Can dogs eat sugar?
OK and brown sugar and corn syrup are the same stories.
You should keep sugar to a minimum in your dogs diet.
Can dogs eat tomato paste?
Dogs can eat tomato paste but it is extremely rich and many of them will have difficulty digesting it.
In my experience both of my dogs are like that.
Dogs might have soft or runny stools the next day if they eat anything with tomato paste in it.
Donot be alarmed though their stool will return to normal soon.
Can dogs eat vinegar?
Your dog would not get sick from eating vinegar.
Can dogs eat onion and garlic?
Additionally this product contains onion and garlic powder.
The exact amount is unknown because we never calculate it but it is less than 2%.
Garlic and onion are toxic to dogs but not in such small amounts as they are in this product.
Honey BBQ boneless chicken bites will be my next ready-to-eat product.
In addition the main ingredients are pretty similar.
Can dogs eat wheat flour?
To ensure the sauce sticks to the chicken flour is used in this product.
Wheat flour only causes problems for dogs with wheat allergies.
Can dogs eat honey?
BBQ sauces often feature honey as a flavoring.
Honey BBQ tends to be a more popular product than just the original BBQ.
I’m sure most dogs will enjoy the sticky sweetness of honey and it isnot toxic for them.
But honey contains quite a few calories since it is after all just another sugar.
I will take a closer look at some ready-made BBQ sauces after I have reviewed a few ready-cooked BBQ chicken products.
I will write a few notes if they contain any ingredients that we have not already mentioned.
Can dogs eat ready-made BBQ sauce?
Two popular BBQ sauces have been examined:
- BBQ Sauce and Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce
- Slow simmered sweet honey barbecue sauces from Kraft.
These two sauces have ingredients that have already been discussed.
This is terrific news since it means the sauces are not poisonous to dogs despite their unhealthy nature!
That was a nice and quick section wasnot it?
The only thing left is to look at homemade barbecue chicken sauces.
I’ll check the most popular ones to see if they contain anything that could be harmful to your pet.
Can dogs eat homemade BBQ sauce?
The ingredients that these two popular sauce recipes use are remarkably similar.
There are four ingredients that havenot been mentioned before:
A mixture of molasses Worcestershire sauce mustard powder and smoked paprika.
Each of these will be discussed now.
Can dogs eat molasses?
Molasses is just an unrefined form of sugar so dogs should not have any issues with it.
The calories in molasses are about 15% higher than those in table sugar.
Can dogs eat Worcestershire sauce?
Ingredients in this sauce include onions and garlic but it is hard to determine how much is used.
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is perhaps the most famous brand.
Onion is the sixth most used ingredient in their recipe and garlic is the eighth.
The amount used is only a tablespoon so there should be no problem for your dog.
Can dogs eat mustard powder?
As far as our dogs are concerned this is an interesting ingredient.
Some pet sites claim mustard is toxic to dogs but I can find no mention of mustard poisoning on trusted sites such as the pet poison hotline.
If dogs eat too much mustard I can well believe that they will suffer from diarrhea or have mouths on fire or watery eyes if they consume too much mustard.
However that does not make it toxic for dogs.
However both of these records for barbecue sauce contain quite a lot of mustard powder so you should keep that in mind.
I believe we are done.
In this article I have discussed many ingredients for BBQ chicken.
However I would like to move on to my next section.
I’d like to discuss another danger BBQ chicken poses to your dog.
Can dogs eat undercooked barbecue chicken?
Raw chicken is full of nasty bacteria like salmonella and campylobacter.
One in six Americans suffers from food poisoning every year according to the USDA.
Undercooked and BBQ chicken is not entirely responsible for all of this poisoning but it is responsible for many people getting sick.
These are figures for people not dogs.
Similarly a dogs tolerance for undercooked chicken differs from a persons tolerance but it can still affect them.
This extra protection from bacteria is provided by the fact that a dogs stomach acid is much stronger than a humans.
Nevertheless the safest way to prepare BBQ chicken for you and your dog is to cook it thoroughly.
To conclude this article lets discuss what kind of barbecue chicken your dog should be fed.
Can dogs eat BBQ chicken wings or legs?
A bit of BBQ chicken tastes even better when you are holding a sticky wing or leg in your hands and nibbling at the meat around the bone.
My dogs would feel the same if they were left to their own devices.
However dogs should not be given meat that contains cooked bones.
Bones become harder and brittle when they are cooked.
Cooked bones are more likely to splinter and leave sharp pieces in your dogs mouth or throat when it bites into them.
It is much safer for your dog to eat raw bones. However dogs should be supervised when they are being fed any bone.
For our BBQ chicken what does this mean?
Share the meat with your dog after you have taken the bones off.
Amanda (Author)
With over a decade of experience, Amanda is a distinguished dog trainer. Her expertise in canine behavior has transformed countless lives, fostering harmonious human-canine connections. Through compassionate and personalized approaches, she empowers owners to understand and connect with their furry companions, creating a legacy of joyful tails and transformed lives.
Osvaldo Maciel (Content Reviewer)
Osvaldo Maciel, a stalwart in the field with 14 years of experience, is a revered dog trainer. His journey is defined by a profound understanding of canine behavior, shaping unbreakable human-canine bonds. Osvaldo guides owners to connect with their beloved pets, leaving an indelible mark of happiness and transformation. His legacy shines through the countless lives he has touched.
