★★★★★
A general cure-all for joint issues & bone weakness / aiding broken ligaments & bones to heal in all animals (incl. humans). Eggshells can be used to treat the following:
- Joint repair after accidents.
- Muscle soreness, aches, charlie-horses
- Hip displaysia
- Arthritis
- Damaged discs and joints
- Skin irritation & itching (yes calcium deficiency can cause this)
- Patchy hair
Eggshells - Brown ones. Why? Eggshells contain chondroitin, glucosamine, collagen, & world's most highly bioavailable calcium. Did you know the body (humans too) lose about 1-2% COLLAGEN PER YEAR IF NOT MAINTAINED THROUGH DIET? There goes your skin & hair & joint cushions! Take eggshells instead. Only thing missing in eggshells is MSM, and eggs themselves contain natural sulfur agents, so literally you have everything you need for joints in a whole egg. Shells also contain over a dozen trace minerals like boron. Stop buying expensive joint supplements. Guess what? Most of them; they're made from leftover eggshells & egg products!
NOTE: Calcium / eggshells powder MUST be dosed with vitamin C, and magnesium, and optionally a few other things - see DOSE METHOD below.
Preparation
- Save & Rinse used eggshells as you cook your breakfasts daily.
- Use warm water, and air dry them on a dish towel.
- Be sure not to discard the inner shell skins
- I have never gotten sick this way. I and my pets take them daily.
- Bake in over @ 250 for 20 minutes if paranoid about bacteria.
- Grind them in an electric coffee/ spice grinder for 60 seconds.
Alternatively; you can soak the shells in apple cider vinegar for a few weeks until they're completely dissolved and dose the eggshell-vinegar decoction. I don't do this. Do your own research on that method.
Dose Amount
On average: 1 tsp of powdered eggshells contains 900mg calcium
- Check how much calcium is already in your dog's food
- Calculate your dog's daily recommended allowance of calcium
- According to the NRC, healthy adult dogs generally require 50 mg of calcium per kilogram of body weight. In pounds; it's ~ 22.5 mg per 1 lb of body weight. For example, a 5 kg dog (about 11 lbs.) needs 250 mg of calcium per day, a 25 kg (about 55 lbs.) dog needs 1250 mg per day, and a 50 kg (about 110 lbs.) dog needs 2500 mg per day.
- I generally disagree with that much calcium. Too much can cause calcium deposits, and displaysia of the hips.
- As dogs age, they need less calcium or you cause arthritis, adjust down 25-50
- Considering all the above, you should get a rough idea of how much eggshells to add to your dog's food. Watch over the coming weeks, and adjust.
- A good rule of thumb is you want to see the dog's front ankle & shin areas where paws bend to meet the legs be closer to stiff & straight, while standing up on all fours. You don't want there to be too much of a bend or bow here, between the ankle and the paw. If the dog is a healthy weight and you see a pronounced bend, they are calcium deficient. See youtube videos or search images for reference.
DOSE METHOD
- Eggshells are great, but they need extra things to help the body absorb, or else the dog's joints will just get calcified and stiff, and you can actually CAUSE HIP DISPLAYSIA & ARTHRITIS this way, by having too much calcium and too little calcium absorbing nutrients in the diet.
- Dump eggshells in feedings, preferably spread over the dog's meals evenly throughout the day.
- Add Magnesium Chloride. A good rule of thumb is a 2:1 calcium-to-magnesium ratio. (Need 500mg magnesium crystal-powder for around 1000mg calcium. Note; 1/8 tsp or 500 mg powdered magnesium chloride generally contains about 50-60 mg of actual magnesium. If you gave 500mg of actual magnesium, that would be too much and cause profuse diarrhea)
- Magnesium Oxide will be very similar dosing
- Add Vitamin C- Ascorbic acid may cause GI upset in dogs. It may not if dosed along with calcium however. Sodium ascorbate form of Vitamin C is generally recommended for dogs instead . A good rule of thumb is a 2:1 calcium-to-Vitamin C ratio - About 500 mg, or 1/8 tsp Vit C per 1000 mg Calcium
- Vitamin C given regularly during the first 2 years of life are critical in preventing hip displaysia later on in life. But it's never too late.
- Sodium Ascorbate contains buffers that make it neutral so it wouldnt cause GI upset, but those same buffers could lead to accumulation of stones in the kidneys / galbladder with extended use. Since writing this article over a year ago, I have since switched to citric acid for my dog in small amounts with no gi upset observed.
EXTRAS - highly recommend the boron - these will help bone growth & marrow health & disc gel to recuperate
- Hyalauronic Acid (dissolve 1/4 tsp + 1/4tsp sea salt in a 16 oz bottle of water & refrigerate; will take an hour to dissolve the gelatin) - take a big capful per day in the dog's food
- Boron (dissolve 1 tsp in 16 oz bottle water or pint mason jar) - take 1 tsp of the water per day
- Organic Sea Kelp Granules - They contain calcium, magnesium, iodine & many other micronutrients that help quite a bit with arthritis and hip displaysia. 1 tsp per day for big dogs.
I have a 70 lb (32kg) adult dog. So she needs approx 1500mg calcium daily.I give her approx 1000mg instead.
She gets 1/4 tsp eggshells 2x a day in her food, which is homemade so it has no calcium to begin with. So she gets about 450mg per day, but she gets 400 mg more calcium from 1/2 tsp Boswellia powder I give her, an Ayurvedic tree resin from the Frankincense tree.
So she gets approx. 60% her daily RDA of calcium and all the chondroitin, collagen, glucosamine her joints need.
Added in she gets 1/8 tsp or 500mg vitamin c powder per feed.
She also gets 200mg magnesium chlloride powder / 20-24mg actual magnesium
Do not skip vitamin C. If you skip vitamin C, the calcium will hinder Iron absorbtion and your pet will become anemic especially if no red meat is in the diet.
Recommend also; to buy braces for any injuries your dog incurs. They make IVDD / disc pain full body braces, they make knee braces, hip braces, and hock(dog's ankle) braces. Could save a simple sprain or minor break from becoming a surgery.
