# Chicken Hearts?



## Grandiose

Do I need to be too terribly concerned with introducing chicken hearts to the dogs??
I'm starting organs this weekend, picked up chicken livers, and also found a package of chicken hearts and gizzards ($1 for a pound, with a $.50 off coupon, so couldn't pass it up for $.50!!! LOL)
What are gizzards actually classified as?

My crew is doing fantastic  we just finished a 5 day roadtrip and had NO issues feeding raw on the road (and my dogsitter had no issues feeding the dogs that got left home their raw...) and managed to keep the meat partially frozen in the cooler with just ice for all but the last day of the trip.


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## Ania's Mommy

Good for you! Sounds like you're just truckin' along. See? It IS easy to feed raw on the road, huh?

The cannon butt scale from least likely to cause it to most likely (but much less so if done correctly) goes a little something like this:

Bone-in meat
Boneless meat
Rich muscle meat (i.e. hearts, lungs)
Organs

Also, any of the above from a white meat source (poultry or fish) are less likely to cause cannon butt than meat from a red meat source. And I would say that game meat has a an even higher likelihood. But, as I said, you're truckin' along at a nice slow pace, so I wouldn't think it would be too much of a concern.

I think slowly adding chicken hearts in would be fine at this point. And gizzards are muscle meat. I can't quite remember, but I believe that they process rocks/pebbles ingested by birds.


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## Tobi

heats and gizzards are muscle meats, mine loves them watch out cuz the hearts may squirt if they take them straight from your hand :lol: 

I wouldn't be too concerned just don't go with a full meal of just hearts and gizzards just yet imo.


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## magicre

Gizzards are secondary stomachs used by birds to grind their food before digestion and yes, they are muscle meat, just like richelle says..


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## Grandiose

Thanks guys! I thought it might be muscle, but wasnt sure.
Going to give them all a heart and a gizzard with dinner tonight...shall see how it goes over! For the most part, my digs have been very tolerant of new food additions, with at the most, just soft stools. So hopefully this goes over just as well.


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## Gucci

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I've been following the PMR Guidlines pretty well. I started with chicken backs, hindquarters, necks, turkey necks, pork necks, pork tounges, pork heart, and just fed some tilapia and catfish. I given frozen pieces of liver as snacks. I also feed about 4-6 chicken hearts per meal, I feed her twice a day. and also a few frozen ones as snacks like in Kong or whatever. They weigh around .2 and that is about 10% of her daily diet. I just was curious to opinions on whether this is too much or too little. And sorry to jack your thread I just felt this was the best place to post.


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## Tobi

Gucci said:


> Sorry to bring up an old thread but I've been following the PMR Guidlines pretty well. I started with chicken backs, hindquarters, necks, turkey necks, pork necks, pork tounges, pork heart, and just fed some tilapia and catfish. I given frozen pieces of liver as snacks. I also feed about 4-6 chicken hearts per meal, and also a few frozen ones as snacks like in Kong or whatever. They weigh around .2 and that is about 10% of her daily diet. I just was curious to opinions on whether this is too much or too little. And sorry to jack your thread I just felt this was the best place to post.


Seems perfectly fine to me! :thumb:

Using chicken hearts as great nutrient dense fillers and treats is awesome! we feed heart frequently because it is dense in vitamins and minerals, you can feed lots of heart, as long as her bowel will tolerate it of course.


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## Losech

Chicken (and turkey) hearts make great pill pocket. That's what I use them for. </ random>


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