Benefits Of Chaga Mushroom Extract For Dogs

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Chaga mushroom extract is sold as a supplement for dogs, and the most useful things to know are the dose and two cautions. This page covers those first, then what chaga is and what the research does and does not show.

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Is chaga safe for dogs?

Our Borvo Nutrients Chaga Mushroom Extract is made for dogs and comes with a daily dose by weight. Ask your vet before using it if your dog takes medication or has a health condition.

Daily dose

  • Small dogs under 10 kg: 0.25 g, about one pinch or the tip of a teaspoon
  • Medium dogs, 10 to 20 kg: 0.5 g, about ¼ teaspoon
  • Large dogs over 20 kg: 1 g, about ½ teaspoon

Two cautions

Chaga may amplify the effects of blood-thinning medication. If your dog takes a blood thinner, ask your vet before giving chaga.

Chaga is also high in oxalate. In human case reports, large daily doses taken over months led to kidney injury, including a man who took 10 to 15 g of chaga powder a day for three months. A dog with kidney disease, or a history of urinary stones, should only be given chaga on your vet's advice.

What is chaga?

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a fungus that grows on birch trees in cold northern regions. It is a parasite of the tree, and its hard black outer layer looks like burnt charcoal. It has a long history in folk medicine. Borvo's chaga is grown on birch trees in Finland.

A Chaga mushroom conk with its rugged, dark outer surface, alongside smaller pieces of Chaga that have broken off, revealing the orange colour inside, against a stark white background.

The extract contains beta-glucans (about 11.5% in our product), triterpenoids, betulinic acid, sterols and melanin. Beta-glucans are polysaccharides, a type of complex carbohydrate, rather than antioxidants.

What the research shows

Most research on chaga comes from laboratory and animal studies. Work on dogs so far includes tests on dog cells in the lab and one very small trial in working dogs. None of it shows that chaga treats cancer, bowel disease or infections in dogs, so we do not make those claims. Chaga is sold as a supplement for general immune and antioxidant support, and it does not replace veterinary treatment.

Extract compared with raw powder

Extraction concentrates the beta-glucans and triterpenoids. Our extract is made from the fruiting body only, using ultrasonic extraction that breaks the cells into smaller fragments. We are not aware of studies in dogs comparing extract with raw mushroom powder, so any difference in results is not proven.

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Product image of Borvo Nutrients Chaga Mushroom Extract for Dogs jar beside text highlighting benefits: “Cellular Defense, Oxidative Balance, Healthy Aging.”

How to feed chaga to your dog

Chaga extract comes as a powder. Measure the dose for your dog's weight and mix it into wet or dry food. If your dog turns it down, stir it into plain bone broth without onion or garlic. There are more ideas on our feeding ideas page.

Choose a chaga product from a reliable source that states what it contains, which part of the mushroom it uses and how it was grown.

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