Though you might not be keen on adding tripe to your own diet, tripe is a nutrient-dense addition to your dog’s diet, and you might even be able to get it cheap from your local butchers.
Tripe is muscle tissue that comes from the stomach of animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, and deer. However, you’ll find that beef tripe is the most common.
To prepare tripe for your dog, many sources recommend feeding it to them raw. This is because tripe contains digestive enzymes that can promote good gut health in your dog, and these enzymes are destroyed in the cooking process. However, you can cook tripe to make chews for your dog, which we will also discuss.
This article will cover all of the different ways you can prepare tripe for your dog. Tripe comes in various forms, and finding the best type to suit your dog is important.
Table of Contents
How To Prepare Tripe For A Dog
Raw Green Tripe
This is the most popular way to prepare tripe for your dog. Raw tripe can be found either fresh or frozen. If you plan on feeding raw tripe to your dog, be sure that the tripe you are buying is good quality. Bad quality tripe has been associated with pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause illness in dogs just as it can humans. However, raw tripe is a popular choice with many dog owners because of the vitamins it contains, so don’t let this stop you from giving your dog good quality raw tripe.
Freeze-Dried Tripe
You might decide to freeze-dry tripe for your dog at home, or you might be able to purchase this online or near you. Freeze-drying keeps tripe fresh and retains all of the nutrients, which makes tripe so good for dogs. Freeze-dried tripe will usually come in smaller pieces, which you can add to your dog’s kibble or serve a few as a meal for them. It is still important to buy good quality freeze-dried tripe because this process does not decrease the risk of contamination that comes with raw tripe – only cooking the tripe does this.
Canned Tripe
This can be an easy way to buy tripe, and a small can of it might be an appropriate portion for one large dog or two small ones. Canned tripe does not have the same impressive nutrient profile that fresh tripe does, but dogs still seem to love it – so if you’re not too worried about the vitamins and minerals and just want some tasty food for your dog, this is it.
Tripe Chew Sticks
These are something you can cook at home or find in a pet shop. Let’s have a look at how to cook tripe like this for your dog.
- Lay your tripe out, ready to cut. If you’re buying packaged tripe, it will probably unfold into one large sheet. One side will be more textured than the other. It’s not a pretty sight, but this is what it is supposed to look like!
- Use a sharp knife or pair of scissors (kitchen shears if you have them) to cut the tripe into strips. Consider the size of your dog when making these. They want to be able to hold the chew in their mouth and be able to chew it, but it should not be small enough that they could easily swallow it. Note that they will shrink a little as they are baked, so bigger is better.
- Lay out your strips of tripe flat on some parchment paper and put them in a preheated oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Your strips of tripe will take up to two hours to cook in the oven, depending on their size. Halfway through their cooking time, use some tongs to flip them over to ensure they brown on both sides. The edges might curl up a bit, but don’t worry, your dog won’t mind!
- Be sure to let your tripe chews fully cool before giving one to your dog.
Benefits of Tripe For A Dog’s Health
Though it might seem pretty gross to a human, tripe is a great snack for your dog, and it’s actually packed with nutrients they can benefit from. Here are some of the benefits of tripe for your dog’s health.
- Tripe is a good source of a vitamin called choline, which is crucial for maintaining a healthy nervous system. If your dog doesn’t have enough choline in its diet, it may develop too much fat around its liver, which can be damaging.
- Tripe is also a good source of calcium, so it provides a similar function for dogs as bones do. If you’re not keen on giving your dog bones, then tripe might be the solution.
- Many dog owners and vets have claimed that tripe has helped their dog’s digestion. Raw green tripe is a probiotic, as it contains lactobacillus acidophilus, a bacteria that exists within an animal’s gut. There is some evidence that this provides better gut immunity against potential upsets.
- Tripe also contains essential fatty acids. It contains digestive enzymes which help the breaking down of food, which means that more of the nutrients can be absorbed into the body. This is great news for your dog, as it means that the food you are giving them is really getting into their systems and boosting their health.
Other Benefits of Tripe
- If your dog is a bit of a fussy eater, tripe might be something you haven’t tried yet. Most dogs love the taste of tripe, and the strong smell, though you might not enjoy it, might help dogs with less of a sense of smell to go over to their food bowl.
- If nothing else, feeding dogs green tripe promotes less waste, meaning fewer animals need to be killed. Most humans turn up their noses at the thought of eating tripe or any other kinds of off-cuts, but dogs do not have these prejudices and will thoroughly enjoy some tripe being added to their diet.
My name is Ken and I’m one of the staff writers at Petloverguy.com. I’ve cared for pets most of my life starting with hamsters, turtles, and snakes. Then moving up to parakeets, guinea pigs, and even ducks.
I currently live with two yorkies and a chihuahua mix.