# How do you feed beef heart?



## Jgk2383 (Oct 27, 2010)

Sorry for repetitive questioning but my search feature keeps freezing on me. I ordered a case of beef heart from my supplier... I havent fed it yet. My crew need bone in every meal and I have heard/read here that beef heart is very very rich. How should I proceed? They eat 2lbs per day.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

The hearts I order come frozen in 60# cases. They are whole hearts. My supplier takes a whole case frozen in a block and runs it through a band saw making cubes about 2"/side. I thake them home like that and let them thaw and pack them in quart zip locks. This makes a little over a pound for each ziplock. Each dog gets a ziplock of heart for a meal.

In your case, in the beginning, I think I would feed bout 1/4lb or less of heart w/ one or two chicken backs. Over time add more heart and less back. Within a month or so maybe you could feed a while meal of just heart. Of course this meal wouldn't be 2lbs ... more like 1 or less lbs because of the richness of the hearts.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

I get my harts as halves. I then cut them into 1 lb blocks and feed half hart half chicken backs for a meal. I sated of as RFD suggest using 1/4 lb blocks (rest chicken) then up to the 1 lb over time. I have not done a full sized meal of just heart yet.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

Case of 60! Geesh! Where can I find somewhere like that??? I have to source out heart (cow) big time. 

I usually end up ordering 60 pounds of turkey hearts for my little guys. 

Kittens/Cats can have a ton of it. Dogs usually 1-2 time a week.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

we get our hearts by the case, also....usually the beef hearts, which are pretty fair sized, are sliced...

when i intro'd heart, i gave them tiny pieces, thumbnail size, really...along with whatever they were eating, then i increased the size until they were half the meal.

my dogs are small...they eat three ounces and five ounces of food per meal, so giving beef heart as a meal is easily accomplished...they can now eat two meals of heart without bone...and then they get bone....

keep in mind, though, at least for my dogs...each heart is different and each dog reacts differently.

when i feed them venison heart, they are dogs on crack....not so much with lamb heart....


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

I rotate beef heart with duck and lamb hearts. When I get the lamb and beef heart I take it to the butcher and have him chunk it into cubes 2-3" cubes. 

I made the mistake of giving Spike a full meal of beef heart the first time he ever had it. He had diarrhea. After that I started slowly by giving him small pieces with his bone-in meals and worked up the amount so he can now eat heart for a meal with no problems.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Paws&Tails said:


> I rotate beef heart with duck and lamb hearts. When I get the lamb and beef heart I take it to the butcher and have him chunk it into cubes 2-3" cubes.
> 
> I made the mistake of giving Spike a full meal of beef heart the first time he ever had it. He had diarrhea. After that I started slowly by giving him small pieces with his bone-in meals and worked up the amount so he can now eat heart for a meal with no problems.


i'm jealous that you get duck hearts....


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

Oooooo now there's a heart I wanna feed my kittens/cats!:tongue:


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I hand the dog a 1/2lb of beef heart. 

Lily needs very little bone in her diet though. If you wanted I guess you could pair it with a turkey neck or something else bony. Or just feed a chicken quarter or whatnot at the next meal to firm things up a bit.

Ours are cryopacked individually and come in variety boxes of heart/liver/oxtails/tongue/kidney. So when I brought a box home from my parent's house I had four or so hearts, three livers, two kidneys, two tongues, and an oxtail. I didn't mean to get one with that much liver, but oh well I don't have to hack up all of them right now. Most hearts are 3-4lbs. I usually cut up hearts into 1/2lb portions because Lily gets 1/2lb or a little less at each meal (she's freakishly thrifty). I usually only feed bone in stuff with organs or else her poo gets way too crumbly. Beef heart is my staple for Lily!


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

Paws&Tails said:


> I rotate beef heart with duck and lamb hearts. When I get the lamb and beef heart I take it to the butcher and have him chunk it into cubes 2-3" cubes.
> 
> I made the mistake of giving Spike a full meal of beef heart the first time he ever had it. He had diarrhea. After that I started slowly by giving him small pieces with his bone-in meals and worked up the amount so he can now eat heart for a meal with no problems.


Oh man, I think Lily would just die if I could get her duck heart!


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Still waiting to get our order of beef heart...............finally found a place that will supply us with less than 60# at a time. 

I'll introduce it slow........a small sliver at a time and gradually increase it.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

They will love it!


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