# Dog won't eat liver or kidney.



## HayleyMarie (Jul 6, 2011)

So I have a small dilema because of a small white dog. Teagan is a picky dog even I guess when it comes to raw. For example when I first started her on raw I started her off with ground up whole chicken. After I started adding chicken necks and pork she refused to eat the ground chicken. So now I have like 20 pounds of ground up chicken.

Now My dilema is that now I am adding in liver and kidneys and she is refused to eat it. She may lip it or nibble it a little, but other than that she does nothing else. Im wondering if maybe its a texture thing? Who freaking knows with that dog.

I also have to add she has had cow liver before with no issues. And she was begging for more. About a month ago I was giving it to her as a treat in small pieces while I was cutting it up to be frozen as it was on sale. 

So I gave it to her last night and she would not touch it, gave it to her this morning and again would not touch it, but she would gobble everything else right up.

So I am wondering if I should do the whole tough love thing? Or what would you do in this situation?


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## pogo (Aug 28, 2011)

My two won't eat it liver especially unless it's still fully frozen, so thats how they get it.


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## catahoulamom (Sep 23, 2010)

HayleyMarie said:


> So I am wondering if I should do the whole *tough love* thing? Or what would you do in this situation?


That's what I would do.  Or you can try cutting it up into little pieces and mixing it with canned salmon. However I give my dogs organ several times a week, and I don't really want to have to add canned salmon to every other meal, so if I were in your situation I would probably offer her the organ, and nothing else to eat until she gives in.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

When I have ground - which is rare. I make it into little meatballs and give to the dogs frozen. They love it like that but won't touch it thawed. Same with liver, we cut it into small cubes then freeze solid, that's the only way they eat it.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Are you feeding fish? If you are and she likes it, you can try dicing it up into the smallest pieces and mixing it up with chunks of fish, add an egg and mix altogether, or freeze it and give it partially frozen, some dogs like it that way. For some dogs it will get easier as time goes on with eating organs, my dogs didn't want to eat it at all when I first started raw. Now they gobble it up on its own. Good Luck.


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

YES ...Give them the liver or kidney frozen , dont thaw it out...sometimes its the texture of the thawed liver they dont like!!


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## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

Louis wouldn't eat liver at first either, even frozen. DEFINITELY not thawed out. So I tried smearing a little peanut butter on my palm and placing the frozen liver on top of that. He fell for it, and has eaten frozen liver without peanut butter ever since. A couple days ago he ate it partially thawed. He will even dance and twirl for liver. Good luck! Though I'm thinking maybe Teagan might be smarter than that  hehe

ETA: That peanut butter trick doesn't work for me when I give him raw fish though :frown: Small white dogs seem to cause small dilemmas for everybody!


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

I tried everything with Piper... small pieces, frozen pieces.... she just did not like it. The only way she will eat organ meat is if it's a bit seared/cooked. It's really odd.

Every once and while I try some old tricks again to see ... but it's still a battle. She eats everything else fine.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

My dachsund, who would eat the paint off the walls if they tasted like peanut butter, would carefully take her kidney pieces and put them in a semicircle around the outside of her bowl.

She did that for about a week - I didn't try to get her to eat them any other way. For one thing, it was very entertaining to watch her do it.

One day, she went back and ate them a little bit later. After a few days, she stopped picking them out, and now eats them along with everything else. They just took a little getting used to, I guess.


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

xellil said:


> My dachsund, who would eat the paint off the walls if they tasted like peanut butter, would carefully take her kidney pieces and put them in a semicircle around the outside of her bowl.
> 
> She did that for about a week - I didn't try to get her to eat them any other way. For one thing, it was very entertaining to watch her do it.
> 
> One day, she went back and ate them a little bit later. After a few days, she stopped picking them out, and now eats them along with everything else. They just took a little getting used to, I guess.


This is very cute lol


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## nikkiluvsu15 (Jun 9, 2010)

I already replied on the other forum, but Harleigh doesn't like to eat hers unless its frozen. However, I have a (really) small food processor and I put some liver in there... tonight she gobbled it right up! I didn't have any liver ready, so I had to let it thaw out and I don't think she could even tell it wasn't frozen :tongue:


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## cprcheetah (Jul 14, 2010)

HayleyMarie said:


> So I have a small dilema because of a small white dog. Teagan is a picky dog even I guess when it comes to raw. For example when I first started her on raw I started her off with ground up whole chicken. After I started adding chicken necks and pork she refused to eat the ground chicken. So now I have like 20 pounds of ground up chicken.
> 
> Now My dilema is that now I am adding in liver and kidneys and she is refused to eat it. She may lip it or nibble it a little, but other than that she does nothing else. Im wondering if maybe its a texture thing? Who freaking knows with that dog.
> 
> ...


Zoey was impossible at first with organs. So I resorted to lightly searing them with a little butter & garlic, then gradually I just decided to give tough love a try and now she absolutely loves them and gobbles them up plain and simple no searing, no freezing, just thawed. I think it's the texture.


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## Love my lab (Dec 9, 2010)

for liver my dog has never had an issue...it helps she is a piglet, however for some reason pork kidney slows her down a bit. I think it is taste rather then texture in this situation. But your dog may be just having the texture thing working. I know when I put the liver into little packages for the freezer it is slimy and tears apart very easy, so it must have a different feel in their mouth. Keep being persistant and it will fall into place.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Good luck, I hope you find something that works. Hopefully you won't have to resort to doing what some of us have to do - shoving a bit down their throats now and then. 
I've tried everything, frozen, thawed, 1/2 frozen, cooked, seared, baked, fried, 1/2 cooked, inserting it in ground meat, chicken, pork, beef and canned fish. A couple of months ago I posted a picture where she'd had a 1lb of ground beef with 3 or 4 tiny pieces of liver mixed in. Each piece was about 1/8" long and wide. Sure enough, she ate the beef and left the 3 or 4 tiny bits of liver still sitting on the plate. 
So, I try to think about it that maybe she just hates it as much as I hate raw onions, and thats ok, she still gets her quota, just not willingly.


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## Amy18 (May 17, 2011)

I've just added kidney to Lexie's diet and i'm really struggling with her. I very lightly sear her liver for her but i was hoping i wouldn't have to do that with the kidney. I actually don't like searing the liver but otherwise she wont touch it. Since yesterday ive been trying out the "tough love" thing ive seen mentioned on here with offering her the little morsel of kidney at every meal until she eats it and so far she hasnt eaten any all day yesterday and today, i even tried mixing with canned fish. It's hurting me to see her go hungry like this, so im wondering if i should try searing the kidney or just skip it for now and feed her something else..or continue holding out until she finally eats it. Shes a tiny little thing, 6.5lbs so is it even safe for her to go without food this long?


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

Amy18 said:


> I've just added kidney to Lexie's diet and i'm really struggling with her. I very lightly sear her liver for her but i was hoping i wouldn't have to do that with the kidney. I actually don't like searing the liver but otherwise she wont touch it. Since yesterday ive been trying out the "tough love" thing ive seen mentioned on here with offering her the little morsel of kidney at every meal until she eats it and so far she hasnt eaten any all day yesterday and today, i even tried mixing with canned fish. It's hurting me to see her go hungry like this, so im wondering if i should try searing the kidney or just skip it for now and feed her something else..or continue holding out until she finally eats it. Shes a tiny little thing, 6.5lbs so is it even safe for her to go without food this long?


Is the kidney thawed or frozen? Bambi will only eat kidney if it's totally frozen and in small pieces.


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## Amy18 (May 17, 2011)

swolek said:


> Is the kidney thawed or frozen? Bambi will only eat kidney if it's totally frozen and in small pieces.


Thawed, yesterday i tried freezing them..i cut them up into really tiny pieces about the size of my fingernail but all she did was smell it, lick it a bit and walk away. Same thing when its thawed sniff, lick, walk away, look up at me with sad eyes lol. Once in a while i'll try to trick her and sneak up on her then act like i want to eat it and she'll quickly put a piece in her mouth but a few seconds later she'll spit it out(this trick worked with liver). Is it ok to sear the kidney like i did the liver?


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