Bone broth for cats is mostly about water, not magic. Cats evolved from desert animals and have a lousy thirst drive, so a lot of them cruise along a little dehydrated, especially on kibble. A warm, meaty broth gets fluid into a cat that would never drink from a bowl. The collagen and joint stuff is a nice bonus, but hydration is the real reason to bother. Below is what I’d actually buy and how much to give, plus the safety rules you genuinely can’t skip.
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Quick answer: what I’d buy
- Best overall: Open Farm Bone Broth. Human-grade, no added salt or allium, resealable pouch. The one I keep in the fridge.
- Best for hydration/low fat: Nulo FreeStyle Bone Broth. Big 20 oz pouch, twist cap, very low calorie.
- Best for picky eaters: Solid Gold Chicken Bone Broth Topper. Pre-portioned single-serve pouches, no mess.
- Best powder: Cat-safe bone broth powder. Long shelf life, mix as needed, cheapest per serving.
Is bone broth actually good for cats?
Short version: yes, within reason. Here’s what it’s doing.
Hydration. This is the big one. Cats on dry food take in far less water than cats on wet food, and chronic low-level dehydration is hard on the kidneys and urinary tract over the years. A splash of broth over dinner, or a little bowl of warm broth on its own, gets water into a cat that ignores its water bowl. If your cat won’t drink, this alone justifies the purchase. It pairs well with the moisture-first thinking in our canned cat food guide.
Joints. Simmering bones and connective tissue for hours pulls out collagen, gelatin, glucosamine, and chondroitin. Those are the same compounds sold in joint supplements. Whether that small amount does anything for joints is genuinely unclear, but it doesn’t hurt, and older cats with stiff hips seem to appreciate the warm meaty stuff regardless.
Digestion. The gelatin in real bone broth can be gentle on the gut lining. I’ve used it for a cat coming off an upset stomach, warmed slightly, and it went down when nothing else would.
Now the honest caveat vets keep repeating: a cat drinks a small volume, so the actual nutrition it pulls from broth is modest. This is a hydrating treat and a topper, not a meal. It does not replace complete-and-balanced food. To get real value from it, use it to boost water intake and tempt a fussy eater, and let the joint and gut benefits be a bonus rather than the plan. For where broth fits in a real daily diet, see how to pick cat food.
The safety part you can’t skip: human broth is dangerous
Never give your cat human bone broth, stock, or bouillon. Almost all of it contains onion and garlic, and the whole allium family (onion, garlic, chives, leeks) is toxic to cats. It damages red blood cells and can cause anemia. Garlic is roughly five times more potent than onion, and the dried, powdered forms in stock cubes still count. On top of that, human broth is usually swimming in salt.
So the rule is simple: buy a broth formulated for pets, and read the label. You want to see meat, bones, water, maybe some vinegar and a couple of safe vegetables like carrot or pumpkin. You do not want onion, garlic, “natural flavor” that won’t specify, added salt, or preservatives. A pet formula that says allium-free and no added salt on the front is what you’re after.
Low-sodium bone broth and cats with kidney issues
This deserves its own flag. Bone is where about 85% of the body’s phosphorus sits, so bone broth can carry a real amount of phosphorus along with sodium. For a healthy cat, that’s fine in small servings. For a cat with chronic kidney disease (CKD), hyperthyroidism, or heart trouble, phosphorus and sodium are exactly the things the vet is trying to hold down.
If your cat has any of those, don’t freelance it. Use only a low-sodium, phosphorus-checked broth, and clear it with your vet first, label in hand. “No added salt” on the front is a good start, but ask the vet whether the phosphorus load fits your cat’s diet. Extra hydration genuinely helps kidney and urinary cats, which is why broth is tempting here, but it has to be the right broth. Our guide to cat foods for urinary tract health covers why the hydration matters so much.
How much bone broth to give a cat
For a healthy adult cat, think 1 to 2 tablespoons a day as a ceiling, and plenty of people do it just 2 or 3 times a week rather than daily. Daily is fine if it’s a genuine low-sodium pet formula, but there’s no need to make it an everyday thing.
Introduce it slowly. Start with a teaspoon mixed into food, watch for loose stool or a fussy tummy over the next day, and build up if all’s well. It does add calories, modest but not zero, so shave the regular portion a touch if your cat could stand to lose a little.
Kittens: keep it to about a tablespoon of cat-safe broth a few times a week, treat only. Growing kittens need their nutrition dialed in, and it’s easy to unbalance a small diet, so broth should never nudge out their real food.
How to serve it
- Hydration boost: pour a tablespoon or two over meals, or offer a small saucer of slightly warmed broth on its own. Warming to just above room temperature wakes up the smell, which is what sells it to the cat.
- Food topper: stir it into wet or dry food to make a boring meal interesting again. It works well for a cat that’s gone off its usual food. It slots in alongside other cat food toppers if you like to rotate.
- Picky eaters and seniors: the smell is what gets them eating. Old cats with a fading sense of smell often eat better with something fragrant on top. If broth isn’t enough, lickable treats are another high-moisture way in.
- Recovering or sick cats: warmed broth can coax a cat that’s off its food to take in fluids. Loop in your vet if a cat is genuinely not eating, though. Broth is a bridge, not a treatment.
If your cat mainly won’t drink water, it’s also worth fixing the bowl itself. A proper cat water bowl or fountain plus broth is a better combo than broth alone.
Powder vs liquid: which to buy
Both work. They just fit different households.
Liquid pouches are ready to go. Tear or twist, pour, done. They usually taste stronger to a cat, and there’s no mixing. The downsides: once opened they only keep about a week in the fridge, so if you use broth occasionally you’ll toss a lot of it, and they cost more per serving.
Powder wins on practicality. It keeps for months in the cupboard, portions to the exact teaspoon, takes up no fridge space, and works out cheaper. You mix roughly a teaspoon into warm water (a common start is about a teaspoon of powder to three tablespoons of water), or you sprinkle it dry over food. The catch is dust and the extra step, and some cats notice the difference from a slow-simmered liquid.
My take: if you’re going to use broth most days, get powder and stop wasting pouches. If you want the occasional treat and value zero effort, get single-serve liquid pouches.
What to look for when buying
When you’re comparing broths, here’s the checklist I actually use:
- Pet-specific formula. No onion, garlic, chives, leeks, or added salt. Non-negotiable.
- Sodium and phosphorus. Lower is better, and it’s essential if your cat has kidney or thyroid issues.
- Collagen/protein. A broth genuinely simmered from bones and connective tissue, not just flavored water.
- Form. Liquid pouch for convenience, powder for shelf life and cost.
- Packaging. Resealable pouch or single-serve portions beat a tub you can’t close.
- Calories. Matters for chunky cats, so check the per-serving number.
- Flavor. Chicken, turkey, and beef are the common three. Cats have preferences, so it’s worth trying one before you commit to a case.
- Sourcing. Human-grade, cage-free, or grass-fed if that matters to you. It often tracks with a cleaner ingredient list.
Product comparison
| Product | Form | Sodium | Best for | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Farm | Liquid pouch | No added salt | Everyday use | Human-grade, allium-free, resealable |
| Nulo FreeStyle | 20 oz pouch | Low | Hydration, low fat | Twist cap, human-grade, very low calorie |
| Solid Gold Topper | Single-serve pouch | Low | Picky eaters | Pre-portioned, no mess, no leftovers |
| The Honest Kitchen | Powder/instant | Low | Shelf life, flexible use | Daily Boosters line, made for cats and dogs |
| Generic powder | Powder | Varies, check label | Budget, occasional use | Cheapest per serving, mix as needed |
The picks in detail
Open Farm Bone Broth (best overall)
This is the one I keep in the door of the fridge. Open Farm makes it in human-food facilities, and it’s genuinely human-grade, which shows in the ingredient list: no added salt, no garlic or onion, no antibiotics or growth hormones, no artificial preservatives. The chicken recipe is slow-simmered so it’s actually rich in collagen and glycine, and some recipes toss in pumpkin or carrot for a bit of fiber and beta-carotene. The resealable pouch is the practical bit, it pours cleanly and reseals so the rest keeps in the fridge for the week.
Downside? It’s not the cheapest, and once it’s open you’re on the clock to use it up. But for a broth I’m pouring over my cats’ food, I want the clean label, and this one delivers it.
Key features: Human-grade, no added salt, allium-free, rich in collagen, resealable pouch, chicken/turkey/beef options.
Nulo FreeStyle Bone Broth (best for hydration)
Nulo ships this in a big 20 oz pouch with a twist-off resealable cap, which is a nicer setup than a tear-open pouch if you’re using it daily. It’s 100% human-grade, built from turkey, beef, or chicken bones plus apple cider vinegar and vegetables like celery and carrot. What stands out is how low it is in calories and fat, so it’s a good pick if you’re mainly after hydration and don’t want to add much to the daily calorie count. The larger pouch also means better value per ounce than single-serves, as long as you’ll get through it before it turns.
Key features: 20 oz resealable pouch, human-grade, low calorie and low fat, turkey/beef/chicken.
Solid Gold Chicken Bone Broth Topper (best for picky eaters)
Solid Gold sells its chicken bone broth as a meal topper in pre-portioned, single-serve pouches, and that packaging is the whole point. There’s no half-used pouch going off in the fridge and no guessing at portions, you just tear one open per meal. It’s pitched at hydration, digestion, and tempting a picky eater, and the single-serve format makes it easy to try different meals without committing to a big container. If your cat is fussy and you want mess-free, this is the one.
Key features: Pre-portioned single-serve pouches, chicken, marketed for hydration and picky eaters, no leftovers to store.
The Honest Kitchen and other names worth knowing
A few other real brands come up when people compare broths, and they’re worth a look depending on what you need. The Honest Kitchen makes Daily Boosters bone broth for both cats and dogs, which leans toward the powder/instant side and is handy if you want shelf life. Weruva, Stella & Chewy’s, and Primal all play in this space too, across liquid and powder. There’s no single winner here, it comes down to your cat’s flavor preference and whether you want a pouch or a tub of powder. Just hold every one of them to the same label test: no onion, no garlic, no added salt.
Key features: Established pet brands, mix of liquid and powder, made-for-pets formulas, easy to find alongside the picks above.
Bottom line
Bone broth is a good buy for one honest reason: it gets water into cats that won’t drink. The collagen and joint benefits are a fair bonus, but don’t build your expectations around them. Get a pet-specific formula with no allium and no added salt, keep it to a tablespoon or two, and never reach for the human stuff in your pantry. If your cat has kidney or thyroid issues, talk to your vet before you start. And if broth alone isn’t cutting it, our cat supplements guide covers the joint and skin options that go deeper.
Related reading
- Best cat supplements for deeper support on joints, coat, and digestion when broth alone isn’t enough
- Best cat food toppers for other mixers to pair with or rotate alongside bone broth
- Best cat water bowls for encouraging hydration in a cat with a low thirst drive
- Best canned cat foods for moisture-rich wet food as another way to boost water intake
- Best cat foods for urinary tract health for why extra hydration matters for the kidneys and bladder
- Best lickable cat treats for other high-moisture treats picky eaters actually accept
- How to pick cat food for fitting broth into a complete, balanced daily diet