# Heart Question..



## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

I know a lot of you feed heart as part of the diet....

I got our first order of whole heart in when I picked up our May order. I've fed all but one heart so far, it was just a 20# box. 

I'm wondering how most people feed heart. Do you feed it as a whole piece?? Just throw it in the bowl and let them eat??? Or do you cut it up into chunks and feed that?? 

I'm at the point where the dogs are still adjusting to WHOLE heart instead of it being ground up in their ground beef mix. So, they get about half heart/half gr. beef. 

There is always a lot of very hard tissue what I would assume is fat??? The white stuff around the back of the heart. Do you guys feed that?? I've been cutting it off. I wasn't sure if it was good to feed or not...I do include a bit of it when I am cutting around it, but not all of it. 

TIA.:smile:


----------



## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I personally cut alot of it out also, but most people feed it as is. Fat is good is what they say! I say my dogs get enough fat without having to eat that lard looking crap. I also cut my heart into chunks for the dogs to eat as a meal by itself. Hope this helps!


----------



## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Cow's heart in it's entirety is massive! I cut mine into largish chunks and sometimes the boy chews it once swallows then brings it back up again but the second time always chews it. I don't cut any of the fat off. Sheep much smaller.


----------



## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I give Tobi about 24 ounces at a time of heart, he loves his heart!!!! we feed all of it, fat, aorta etc! best parts are the squirty parts that looks like a murder scene in the kitchen and he's just chowing down! :lol:

fat is pretty fantastic for dogs, especially active ones... I for one feed much of it and never remove anything from the heart, and he's seemingly more active and less sedate which is great because he's not burning out as much... i'll get a picture of how i feed it tomorrow morning as he's due for a 24 ouncer! :lol:

something else... he gets a GREAT workout if it's partially frozen at say the thickest part, takes him about 15 minutes to tear through it.


----------



## DoglovingSenior (Jun 26, 2011)

My guys truly enjoy their hearts! I usually cut into BIG pieces ( about a pound for each one) and throw into the cuisinart for about 4 seconds. It is not pulverized & is still in chunks that they can tear apart. 

How many feed beef kidneys-I hate these I cut it into large chunks & the smell of urine (urea?) is disgusting but they like that too Usually each gets a whole kidney. Blechhh!


----------



## Love my lab (Dec 9, 2010)

I feed hearts alot actually and the dog loves them. For the white fat around it I only cut it off if it seems to be alot(sometimes there are big chunks of it so that goes). But for the most part I leave it on and I always chunk it up. Reahven can handle full meals of heart, but there are days where she will get some heart w/ another meat cut so I pretty much chunk all boneless meat.( I like to mix and match some days) I am still in the weigh the dogs food and calculate every ounce she gets....lol...I wonder if that will ever go away???? 

For the beef kidney....yeah pretty strong smell. And if you think it smells bad when you get it then trust me, don't let it sit in your fridge for a few days then decide to cut it up. Your hands will smell horrid for a few days.....and that aint pretty...lol I thought liver was bad to cut until I got kidney.....yeah I think I will cut liver all day to kidney. But I guess its all in the name of love! My husband still can not get over how I cut through organs and meat. haha.


----------



## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone...

The beef hearts I got are probably 1.5 lbs each, they're not huge. I usually cut one up and add that into each of their meals for the morning, maybe they could eventually get to a whole heart meal. 

I'll start adding in a bit more of the fat and see how they do with it. I just wasn't sure that ALL of it was good for them.


----------



## Ivy (Mar 16, 2011)

I alternate between pork & beef heart and the boys love it. Some of the beef heart are huge up to 5lbs each, so I cut it into 1lb pieces. I leave the fat on it since they are usually not too bad. Dog love it and it's less work for me during prep time.


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we used to feed heart as part of a meal, given how rich it is.....and we used to cut the fat out....

now we don't cut the fat out....and feed as an entire meal...

we just make sure it is preceded and followed by a boney meal.....

two heart meals in a row makes for very loose stools in this doggie family.


----------



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

How often can you feed heart? We have accumulated quite a few hearts over the past few weeks!


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

some people use it in place of beef, since it's cheaper...my guys get venison hearts a few times a week....


----------



## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I just chunk it into 0.5lb meal size pieces and hand it to them. Takes them mere seconds to chomp down. I've never cut any of the fat off and they get it very often with no ill effects. I guess they can just handle it pretty well.


----------



## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

You can feed it as often as they don't get cannon butt... we feed it daily actually, He thrives on red meats, and doesn't do AS well on lesser meat sources (less energy).

We also do feed kidney, i didn't notice a urine smell though... we got it from our processor and he actually had to get it off the cow :lol: sooo very fresh, i actually grabbed a piece of it when i got home and smelled it and stuff and it just smelled like beef to me.


----------



## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I feed lucky heart quite often, maybe 3 days out of 7 (she only eats once a day) and her poops are great, I have found that lucky does better with more boneless meals and less bone in meals. I feed the lamb hearts whole, the pig heart that I buy comes already chopped into chunks and the ox heart comes sliced. I don't bother removing the fat, there is never really much fat on the pig or ox heart, just a small amount on the lamb. I feed the whole lamb hearts frozen sometimes, takes her about 15 mins to eat it but her jaw gets a good workout.


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Tobi said:


> You can feed it as often as they don't get cannon butt... we feed it daily actually, He thrives on red meats, and doesn't do AS well on lesser meat sources (less energy).
> 
> We also do feed kidney, i didn't notice a urine smell though... we got it from our processor and he actually had to get it off the cow :lol: sooo very fresh, i actually grabbed a piece of it when i got home and smelled it and stuff and it just smelled like beef to me.


pork kidney smells horrid. 

lamb, beef, bison, goat....they smell fine...but pork kidney i simply cannot stand and thank goodness, neither can my dogs 

and my dogs get venison heart pretty often.....i don't care if it gives them a soft or loose stool...as long as it doesn't give them cannon butt....but my dogs are heavily fed the red meats...they only eat chicken for bone....now.


----------



## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

Lucky will not touch pork kidney, not at all, I can really smell the pee on it ... she will eat lamb and ox kidney though if it's frozen, those are not half as bad as the pork


----------



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Tobi said:


> You can feed it as often as they don't get cannon butt... we feed it daily actually, He thrives on red meats, and doesn't do AS well on lesser meat sources (less energy).


Good because we have access to really cheap beef heart in bulk as well as bulk chicken backs.


----------



## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I buy a lot of heart because it's significantly cheaper than other red meat .. a 1lb pack of chopped pig heart is about 0.60 .. a 1lb pack of sliced ox heart is about 0.80 .. and I usually get 3 whole lamb hearts for about 1.35 ... she will get the occassional pack of stewing steak or ground beef but heart makes up about 80% of her red meat.


----------



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Heart here is a bit more than $1 per pound. 60 lbs for $67. The chicken backs are only .46c lb if you order a 20 lb case and .40c if you order a 40 lb case.

I have yet to look around more, but I like this place and it is really close to home. 

When I start feeding heart (just to keep this thread on track) I am just going to cut one piece off for the size I want and leave that piece whole. We have some smaller hearts that came from either sheep or pigs that I am just feeding whole as they are not very big. I'm not planning on cutting anything off.


----------



## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Wayne cuts ours for me, and he cuts them into strips about the size of a new york strip. We also include the white fat part as well. To me, that seems like a that would be wasted. I guess it could always be put up and saved for another time, but ors like it so we feed it.


----------



## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

We feed alot of heart, chicken hearts are treats, they love turkey heart, lamb heart, venison heart and beef heart. The larger hearts I slice into probably 1/2 inch slices just because I am feeding 60 pounds dogs and 20 pound or less dogs. If I only had big guys I would probably just quarter the hearts.


----------



## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

I feed chicken hearts and lamb hearts on a regular basis (lamb heart being a staple since I get it for under a dollar a lb). I feed beef heart every week or two, it's more expensive and kind of rich for the dogs.

I feed the chicken hearts whole and often give a bunch as a single boneless meal (a common "combo" is with gizzards since I get them from the same store). The lamb hearts weigh about 0.65 lb on average (wow, why do I know that? haha) so I have to cut them into two pieces. Like the chicken hearts, lamb hearts are often fed as a meal. Beef hearts are huge but I get mine already chopped up at the grocery store. I normally feed a chunk or two with something boney like a chicken back or a couple of duck/chicken necks on the same day I give an organ.

I need to find turkey hearts...I can get turkey breasts, wings, drumsticks, necks, and tails. But no organs!

As for the aforementioned beef kidney, that's where I draw the line. I won't buy it, it looks/smells disgusting. Pork kidneys are no problem for me but the beef ones look terrible. I even passed on ones on sale at the store the other day. I figure the pork and chicken kidneys are enough kidney variety, ha.


----------



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Beef kidney is the only thing i have ever seen my vacuum cleaner dog ptooy on the floor. She did it for several days, and eventually started eating it. But she still spits it all out of her bowl, and then comes back later to eat it when she's sure it's all that's left and that it's not magically turning into liver.


----------



## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

We feed whole chunks of beef heart to the girls all the time. At least once a week. I just cut them into appropriately sized single chunks for each dog...they do all the work from there. Its more fun for them!


----------



## DoglovingSenior (Jun 26, 2011)

Dude and Bucks Mamma said:


> How often can you feed heart? We have accumulated quite a few hearts over the past few weeks!


Hi Dude & Bucks Mamma! Jeez I smile whenever I see the pic of that little guy-are you sure that you don't want to send him to GA? He is just TOOOOOO precious!
Anyway, though technically the heart is an organ it is muscle meat and can be fed as often as your dog will tolerate it. For example, this AM my guys had Beef heart with a few chicken feet thown in. This PM they will eat chicken leg quarters & backs. Honestly none of mine have ever had a problem-they both have eaten it ALL of their lives.


----------

