# Hearts or Gizzards



## angelbears (Jun 9, 2011)

Which is better to feed turkey gizzards or hearts? 

Thank you
Robin & the gang


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Hearts hands down. Gizzards are just tough muscle meat but hearts are packed with nutrition. I consider heart to be a necessary component to a PMR diet.


----------



## angelbears (Jun 9, 2011)

Thanks Danemama, that was my thinking, but I get near-sighted sometimes thinking they are more like humans and want variety.


----------



## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Natalie is absolutely right. Heart is to me, the the "ultiment" in boneless meat.


----------



## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

While on the topic of hearts - do you guys give a variety of heart, i.e. beef heart, pork heart, turkey heart, or is it fine to just stick to one? I am doing up a list of meats to take to the local butchers and ask them to give me prices, I figure the more specific I can be, the better options I will get. Should I list lots of different types of hearts, or just beef heart? Same goes for liver/kidney etc, should I list them from different animals, or just get one sort? One of the butchers does a "pet mince" which he said is minced offal, would this be an option for feeding organs? Or would I be better off getting the individual organs?


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

hmbutler said:


> While on the topic of hearts - do you guys give a variety of heart, i.e. beef heart, pork heart, turkey heart, or is it fine to just stick to one? I am doing up a list of meats to take to the local butchers and ask them to give me prices, I figure the more specific I can be, the better options I will get. Should I list lots of different types of hearts, or just beef heart? Same goes for liver/kidney etc, should I list them from different animals, or just get one sort? One of the butchers does a "pet mince" which he said is minced offal, would this be an option for feeding organs? Or would I be better off getting the individual organs?


i think feeding variety depends on the wallet. i do offer more than one type of heart, but only because i have access to venison, lamb and beef heart....

if my wallet said no, then i would either opt for beef heart or venison heart...to me, those are the richest in nutrients....but that's what i would do....my dogs don't get chicken or turkey other than for bone.....and my husband and i eat the offal from chickens and turkeys....

the dogs have to let us have something...after all.


----------



## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

hmbutler said:


> While on the topic of hearts - do you guys give a variety of heart, i.e. beef heart, pork heart, turkey heart, or is it fine to just stick to one? I am doing up a list of meats to take to the local butchers and ask them to give me prices, I figure the more specific I can be, the better options I will get. Should I list lots of different types of hearts, or just beef heart? Same goes for liver/kidney etc, should I list them from different animals, or just get one sort? One of the butchers does a "pet mince" which he said is minced offal, would this be an option for feeding organs? Or would I be better off getting the individual organs?


I would want prices on pork, chicken, turkey, and beef heart. Bear in mind that beef and pork heart are red meats and chicken and turkey heart are white meats. I feed alot more beef and pork heart than I do chicken and turkey heart. You want to get an idea of what you can afford versus what is most nutritious for your lab. So, yes, you want as much info as you can get. The same applies to the mince versus organs. You probably will not be feeding organ meat any time soon but if you think it's a good deal, get a little bit and toss it in the freezer.


----------



## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

I feed primarily beef and lamb hearts, since I use chicken mostly for bone and turkey/duck meat etc. is cheaper...I feed more lamb and beef in the form of heart (vs regular muscle meat). The only gizzards my dog will eat are duck gizzards; chicken and turkey ones are too tough for him. Even the duck ones give him quite the jaw work out. But he's also a tiny little fella


----------



## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

We feed turkey, pork, beef and venison heart. Chicken hearts are more a treat around here. Turkey heart is super cheap - .59 per pound so they have been getting a bit of it.


----------



## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Liz said:


> We feed turkey, pork, beef and venison heart. Chicken hearts are more a treat around here. *Turkey heart is super cheap - .59 per pound so they have been getting a bit of it.*


Wait...what?? Where????:becky:


----------



## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

I feed lamb hearts a lot because they're so cheap and it's the only part of the lamb I can normally afford. They also get some beef heart and occasional chicken hearts. I've never found duck or turkey hearts...I need to ask the butcher.

As for gizzards versus hearts, I agree that hearts are better but why not feed both?  I can only get chicken gizzards here, sadly, but I buy them sometimes for variety.


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Gizzards aren't terrible in the slightest bit. In fact, I think they are packed with more nutrition compared to normal muscle meat because they are an "organ" that is constantly working (like the heart...it always beats, and thus the gizzard works all the time "chewing" food for a bird). So in turn these are still packed with lots of nutrition because of that...still an awesome thing to feed. BUT choosing one over the other....hearts all the way. 

And no matter the question....the more variety the better. The more sources of heart you can get in the better...same thing goes for organs and muscle meats. Ideally the best organs to feed are from younger animals because they've had to work less throughout the lifetime.


----------



## Ethel (Aug 14, 2011)

Queen is almost 3 weeks on raw. So far, so good, she has firm stool. The only issue is she has little pinkish blood on the stool, every few days.
Today I got chicken hearts, can I fed them or should I wait for some time? And how much harts should I feed for a start?
Thanks


----------



## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Mine all hearts. They will pick gizzards out of their bowl and leave them though. Don't know why they won't eat it but not one of them will. Strange dogs - so we stick to hearts.


----------



## splitnightsky (Jun 20, 2011)

I haven't even been able to find any heart minus the chicken hearts/gizzards mix they sell at our store.
is there any place other than a butchers that you can find heart?
our "butcher" can't get a hold of anything that he wouldn't sell to humans, so that's not really an option for me...


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

once we got past the initial chicken backs only and we were starting to feed boneless chicken, i gave them small bites of heart and gizzards....and then they would get them for meals.....

just watch the stool.....

what do you think the little pinkish blood is from?


----------



## Ethel (Aug 14, 2011)

Sometimes I give her boneless chicken between two chicken backs or quarters. So I will try to feed her one chicken hart - would it be ok? She is about 50 lb.
I thought the blood was from sometimes too firm stools or bone fragments, if you think it may be a problem please tell me, I don't want to hurt her in any way. In the morning I saw blood, and next stool was normal, it comes every few days. I appreciate your thoughts.


----------



## Angelwing (Feb 20, 2011)

Hearts over gizzards but feeding both is best. I try to give some heart everyday to every second day, especially for the cat's benefit. But it's pretty expensive for all three kinds that I've found here (chicken, turkey, beef).


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i don't know why there would be even a little blood.....but admittedly, i no longer examine the way i used to unless i think something's too loose or too hard.....i don't look for blood.

i think feeding a chicken heart is a good idea.....it's small enough for an introduction and it's chicken so it's not too too rich....

we feed venison heart since we got a great deal on it...and i have fed lamb heart, goat heart, and a few other animal hearts....beef heart is so very rich......my dogs love it but they need bone after, immediately after.


----------



## lozzibear (Sep 13, 2010)

I have never got gizzards for Jake... never found anywhere that I can get them. He gets heart though, and it is one of his favourites (if not thee favourite! :biggrin. He mainly gets beef heart coz its the cheapest I can get, but I get him lamb hearts too for a bit more variety. They are more expensive though.


----------

