Herbed Chia Seed Pudding Topper Recipe

Herbed Chia Seed Pudding is a perfect way to add simple, cost effective, full body support for your dog! We love easy & cost effective methods to help keep our dogs healthy from our kitchen and this recipe is a perfect example of that. Let's dive in!

What you'll need:

• Chia seeds
• Liquid of choice: goats milk, bone broth
• Herbs of choice: kelp, medicinal mushroom powder, nettle leaf, turmeric (use only a little if you pup is sensitive to taste, turmeric tastes potent!), honestly any other dog safe herb that you want your pup to eat!
• Extra fun add-in's: blueberries, strawberries, ground nuts, ground seeds, 

We're going to use estimates on this recipe because our dogs might desire different textures and depending on what liquid option you choose, you could need varying amounts.

But don't worry! This is a super simple recipe that you will perfect!

Chia seeds expand about 10X their size once soaked in liquid so a few tablespoons goes a long way. The more chia seeds you use, the more liquid you'll need to use. I used roughly 1/4 cup of chia seeds to about a cup of liquid.

What you'll do:

1. Pour chia seeds into a bowl. I use roughly 1/4 cup. This amount will last for about a 1-2 weeks of servings in the fridge. If you want less, definitely use less chia seeds. Chia seeds make the servings!
2. Sprinkle desired herbs on top. Remember 1/4 cup will have enough servings for about a week-2weeks. You don't want to go over board with the herbs. A little bit of herbs daily will nourish your dog over time.
3. Pour desired liquid into the chia & herbs. Start with a enough liquid to soak all the chia seeds, almost so it looks like cereal. Stir around and let sit for about 10 minutes.
4. The mixture will be more like a gelatinous blob at this point. Use a fork / spoon / spatula to break up the chia seed blob.
5. Add a bit more liquid and stir it together. Let sit for another 5 minutes.
6. Repeat step 5 until you are able to move a fork through the mixture easily enough so it has a texture of pudding.
7. Depending on your dog's pickiness and your knowledge of personal preferences, you can have it more dense or more liquidy. That is up to you!
8. Store pudding in a container in the fridge or you can mix it in with your dog's homemade or raw batches of food.
9. You can feed on top of or mixed in with your dogs kibble, homemade, dehydrated, raw, or any other food combinations!

What benefits your dog is receiving:

• An abundance of omega-3 fatty acids - chia seeds are packed with this essential nutrients that your dog needs for skin & coat health, joint support, inflammation reduction, brain function, heart health, eye development & vision health, energy production, hormone regulation and more. Feeding these seeds in their whole (soaked) form is much healthier the processed liquid omega- 3's from seeds. Seed oils can become rancid easy so feeding whole chia seeds is much healthier and pretty simple!
• ALA or alpha-linolenic fatty acid - ALA is a component of omega-3 fatty acids. Chia seeds are packed with ALA that help to reduce cognitive dysfunction in our dogs while improving learning potential in our seniors. ALA also benefits our dogs joints and helps to prevent or support osteoarthritis.
• Easily increase fiber count in our dog's diet. Chia seeds provide 34 grams of fiber which help our dogs have smoother & comfortable bowel movements. If your dog has anal gland issues, adding chia seeds daily can be a huge help! The anal glands are supposed to naturally be "expressed" through each bowel movement. If your dogs poo is too soft, the anal glands are not expressed. If we help bulk up their poo with added fiber, it will be firm enough to express their anal glands on a daily basis. This is what we want!
• Chia seeds are high in protein! Did you know that the Aztecs used to carry chia seeds in their pouches while out on hunts? They would eat chia seeds as their main source of protein (and energy!) while hunting until they were able to successfully hunt and animal for their families. Pretty cool, huh? A small amount goes a long way. Because of this, it can also be helpful for senior dogs who end up having a "wasting" condition and have a hard time eating enough food. A bit of chia seeds mixed with a tasty liquid can provide a senior dog with enough protein to help their muscles from continuing to deteriorate.
• Wonderful support for diabetic dogs. Chia seeds help with sugar regulation.
• Supports bone health through high manganese content.
• Antioxidant powerhouse! Chai seeds are packed full of antioxidants which help to counteract free radicals, fight cancer, allergies and autoimmune conditions!

If you decide to use goats milk, your dog will receive:

• Digestion support through prebiotics. Prebiotics are the food for probiotics or beneficial gut bacteria. Just like all living creatures, probiotics need food to survive. Goats milk can help provide some of the food these beneficial bacterias need so they can reproduce & continue to repopulate your dogs healthy belly!
• If your dog suffers from digestive intolerances or leaky gut, goats milk as shown positive benefits at helping to heal the small intestinal lining. This is one of the key steps in healing digestive intolerances from the root cause!
• Goats milk soothes the digestive tract through its anti-inflammatory action and helps our dogs absorb the nutrients from their food better.
• Full of antioxidants.
• High nutritional value - goats milk is a great source of protein, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin A.

If you decide to use bone broth:

• Super soothing to the digestive tract.
• Contains L-Glutamine which is a necessary component to heal your dog's digestive intolerances through leaky gut restoration.
• Helps your dog absorb the nutrients from their food better.
• High in a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.
• If you want to learn more about bone broth, take a look at some of our other blog posts dedicated to bone broth here. We LOVE bone broth!
• https://furbalremedies.com/blogs/news/tagged/bone-broth - browse a variety of different blog posts including simple bone broth recipes, herbal bone broth recipes, bone broth snackitizers, bone broth joint supporting jello, nervous system toning bone broth, immunity boosting bone broth biscuits, immune stimulating & activating broth & more!

Try this recipe out with your pup and let me know in the comments what other variations you end up trying! The world is your oyster and you can adjust and alter this recipe as desired. The options are endless!