Organ Meat

[Tracydr]

Quote:
I feed my dogs, cat and ferrets raw only. They all love the organ meats. It is very good for them, though gizzards and hearts are considered muscle meat, while liver is an organ, nutritional wise. I find some dogs will only eat liver frozen, I think it is the texture. Dogs and even some cats will eat the heads and feet too. The feet are great for dogs with hip/joint problems. The only thing I wouldn't feed them is the crop, intestines and (most) feathers. A few feather won't hurt them, and may even be good, kind of like fiber for us. Some people suggest feathers and hair may help keep the intestinal tract clean.

Do you have any problems with your dogs trying to catch the chickens, since you feed more "recognizable" parts like feet and heads? I've been a little Leary about doing this since they will easily smell and recognize that they are eating the parts of chickens out in the backyard. I'm not so worried about cut up meat without feathers but for some reason I keep thinking feet and heads may cause them to start shopping for their own meals?

 

[becky3086]

We like the gizzards and livers breaded and fried as well. We also like to eat the boil the livers, gizzards and hearts and then mix them with hot chicken sauce and eat them. I also make gibblet gravy and have made dog biscuits from the livers as well. I have not tried the feet. They are just way too nasty when I cut them off.

 

[pringle]

We usually save most organs and use them to chum the water when were catfish fishing.

 

[LittleDarlings]

Thanks for all the info!! I currently don't have chickens as I'm waiting for my hubby and teenage boys to go get the coop from a friend's, and I don't currently have a dog either. LOL I just got 2 ferrets last night. I guess you can call them rescued!

However, I do love the idea of using as much of the chicken as possible and wasting very little. So after my feathery friends have arrived, lived a good life and gone onto a better existence, I know it was ALL for a GOOD reason! (I'm not an organ eater, but my hubby loves chicken livers

)

 

[ChickyLoo]

Quote:
I feed my dogs, cat and ferrets raw only. They all love the organ meats. It is very good for them, though gizzards and hearts are considered muscle meat, while liver is an organ, nutritional wise. I find some dogs will only eat liver frozen, I think it is the texture. Dogs and even some cats will eat the heads and feet too. The feet are great for dogs with hip/joint problems. The only thing I wouldn't feed them is the crop, intestines and (most) feathers. A few feather won't hurt them, and may even be good, kind of like fiber for us. Some people suggest feathers and hair may help keep the intestinal tract clean.

Do you have any problems with your dogs trying to catch the chickens, since you feed more "recognizable" parts like feet and heads? I've been a little Leary about doing this since they will easily smell and recognize that they are eating the parts of chickens out in the backyard. I'm not so worried about cut up meat without feathers but for some reason I keep thinking feet and heads may cause them to start shopping for their own meals?

I am thinking the same thing....anyone notice if their dogs act differently with recongnizable parts being in their diet?

 

[Oregon Blues]

Hearts are muscle meat. I don't consider that to be organ meat.

Hearts and necks make lovely broth. I make the broth and then freeze it for anytime I need chicken broth for a recipe. Hearts and gizzards are really good battered and deep fried.

Since I try to keep frying to a minimum, and nobody here likes liver, most of the organ meat gets cooked into soup for the dogs, with some brown rice and some veggies.

I throw heads and feet away.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
I saved all of the feet from my first efforts, and boiled them up the other day to make stock. I haven't used it yet, just froze it, because somehow the idea of making chicken soup in 90 degree weather just doesn't cut it. But, I can see why chefs are taking to this -- using only the feet, it make a very rich stock that gelled thickly when chilled, and not a lot of fat on the top. I didn't remove the "meat" from them, either -it seemed more like fatty tissue than meat, much like on pigs feet.

I actually fed the remains to my hens. They loved it. It was another case of "don't ask, don't tell."

 

[annageckos]

Quote:
I feed my dogs, cat and ferrets raw only. They all love the organ meats. It is very good for them, though gizzards and hearts are considered muscle meat, while liver is an organ, nutritional wise. I find some dogs will only eat liver frozen, I think it is the texture. Dogs and even some cats will eat the heads and feet too. The feet are great for dogs with hip/joint problems. The only thing I wouldn't feed them is the crop, intestines and (most) feathers. A few feather won't hurt them, and may even be good, kind of like fiber for us. Some people suggest feathers and hair may help keep the intestinal tract clean.

Do you have any problems with your dogs trying to catch the chickens, since you feed more "recognizable" parts like feet and heads? I've been a little Leary about doing this since they will easily smell and recognize that they are eating the parts of chickens out in the backyard. I'm not so worried about cut up meat without feathers but for some reason I keep thinking feet and heads may cause them to start shopping for their own meals?

Sorry, just saw this. I don't have chickens right now. But my dogs have eaten all kinds of whole animals and recognizable parts. They are not aggressive at all towards other animals. They let animals from baby birds to guinea pigs, rats, ferrets and cats walk all over them. My german shepherd loves rabbit, and will eat them whole, fur, skin head and all. But I can put a live rabbit on her and she will not touch it. She will chase squirrels (which she has eaten too) but if she catches up to them she will slow down and let them get ahead of her. They know the difference between live animals and food. But they were also raised around all kinds of other animals. Look at LSG dogs. In the past (and some still do it today) the dogs were fed from the animals they protected. It didn't make them aggressive, or cause them to see their 'flock' as food.

Tracydr, I don't know where you are, but I find beef kidney at Shop Rite all the time. It usually runs about .99/lb. Also check any ethnic stores, they have all kinds of neat things to feed the dogs.