Judy- raw question for you!
Submitted by CathyandAudrey on May 2, 2010 - 1:07pmDo you give organs every day? I have been giving Audrey chicken liver once a day, mainly because I don't want them in my fridge so long they get smelly. Is there a problem if she gets too much liver? Is that too much?
Also do you give the cod liver oil daily?
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Cathy and Audrey 
i don't give liver everyday.....
wilson is very touchy about liver.....and he has gotten panctritis from it...so i only do once a week which works for him.....i give a cod liver oil tab every day...for the omgea in it....since its only 10% of the diet i dont give it alot of thought. ....organs i mean...many people say heart is a meat vs a organ but i use heart as a organ in my diet plan...hope this helped if not holler again
Yes it does help
Audrey needs about 13oz per day, and one chicken liver is about 1 oz, (It's not exact but you know it doesn't need to be). 10% of 13oz is about 1 oz, so I thought it would be OK to give it to her a little at a time instead of a few oz a couple times a week.
I get the oil in a squirt bottle, because I have one dog that will refuse the whole bowl of food if there is a pill in it, and popping capsules to squeeze the oil out was NOT working for me. I alternate between the cod liver oil and norwegian fish oil(can't remember what kind of fish right now).
Cathy and Audrey
Liver
Hi Judy,
I was curious ... when you say Wilson is "touchy" with liver, what kind of reaction does he have. So far I have been feeding chicken, pork and beef, but just gave Hurley some liver for the first time today. I made homemade liver treats by thinly slicing beef liver and cooking it at 200 degrees until it was dry like beef jerky (about 2 hours). I read that it makes for great treats and would also count toward his organ intake. I give him 3 tiny pieces (maybe the size and thickness of a small finger nail) and I noticed that he was salivating a lot and liking his lips way more then usual, like maybe he was going to throw up, but he never did. Then later in the day, he did this odd dry heave type thing, but never actually threw up. I'm wondering if it was the liver that didn't agree wtih him. Is there anything else I should watch out for? Is liver the hardest organ to digest? Thanks!
Brandon
Hi Brandon!
I've been thinking about you, how's it going? I think we need a few updated Hurley pics.......
Have you tried feeding the liver raw at all? I'm just wondering if he has the same reaction to it. Audrey throws up cooked meat, especially steak, but never has a problems with it raw. It's so weird!
Cathy and Audrey
Hurley's Raw Diet ...
Hi Cathy,
Hurley is doing great on his diet. He needs to eat 24 oz. a day to maintain his weight of about 48-50 lbs. I've been using chicken for the base of his meals and then adding pork or beef for variety. I alternate between ground bone-in chicken breast and ground chicken leg quarters. I even grind the beef and pork. I find that it's easier to store, easier to ration out portions, he makes less of a mess when he eats and I think it's easier for him to digest. He got sick (vomiting and diarrhea) when I fed him a whole piece of a bone-in chicken breast one time. Each meal is 12 oz. and I feed 8 oz. of the chicken (again, bone-in chicken breast or leg quarters) and 4 oz. of whatever other meat I have on hand. I've found that this is the optimal amount of bone to keep his stool firm. I still remove the chicken skins because it seems like so much fat and he's doing so well on what I'm giving him now. He has no gas and firm stool right now, so I don't want to mess with it.
I also give him supplements everyday: Pet Tabs, vitamin E, glucosamine chondroitin, fish oil and probiotics. Organs are the thing that I still haven't fed yet. The treats that I made are my first attempt at feeding liver. The stuff smells so awful, I'm not looking forward to it.
I have one other question for you. Once your dogs can handle a certain type of protein, can you switch back and forth with no issues? When I introduce a new protein I start out with only 1 oz. per meal for a couple of days, then 2 oz. per meal, until we we get to 4 oz per meal. I've done this with each new protein, otherwise he gets loose stool. This method has worked great, but I'm wondering if I'll always need to do the transition thing even after he can handle a certain meat?
Below are some recent pics of Hurley. Thanks!
OH MY GOD Brandon!
You've been hiding that ADORABLE boy from us!
OOHH! I need a moment to get over the initial CUTE overload shock.................
I am going to have to insist that you squish and kiss that face for me and Audrey, he is OUTRAGEOUSLY cute!
I am so glad he's adjusted to his diet, and you got what works best for him worked out. I switch between proteins all the time, you could try it and see how it goes with one he's already had. If one of mine seems to be having tummy issues I double up on the digestive enzymes, you may want to try adding extra with a protein switch.
I was going to use the food dehydrator to make liver treats for Audrey, but my husband said the smell would be horrible, so now we use it for banana chips. What about chicken hearts and gizzards for organs? You could just grind it and add it to his food. Same witht the liver. Try grinding it and adding a bit to his regular food. I have been giving Audrey one chicken liver a day instead of trying to give bigger amounts of organs a few times a week. So far no runny poops and she seems to be doing well with it. She only gets 6.5 oz per meal so in the am when she gets her liver she's getting 1 oz liver and 5oz of whatever protein we have. AT the moment it's chicken leg quarters. We don't grind the food, my husband takes a big meat cleaver outside and chops the bone-in food up, and the boneless food we just cut into chunks. Pork seems to always be on sale here so we have been giving them a lot of pork. I recently found bone-in chicken breasts for $.99 a pound so I bought ALL of it! Occasionally they get ground beef, maybe once a month or so. I was giving Audrey an egg in the am, especailly on days where they were getting no bone, but OMG the egg farts were running us out of the house. She LOVES her egg, she even likes the shell, but we will use them sparinghly, maybe when I have a cold and my nose is stuffed up. :-)
Anyways, you need to post more pictures of that boy! He has the most adorable face!
Cathy and Audrey
Thanks!
Thanks Cathy! In addition to being pretty darn cute, he has a great personality and is a really sweet dog. I got very lucky ; )
My plan with the organs is to give him his 10% each day. I have a suspicion that part of the problem people have with organ is that they feed too much at one time, but I guess I'll find out when start. My theory is that if I'm only giving him 1.2 oz of organ per meal, how much havoc can that reek on his stomach? I think I'm actually going to start tomorrow, so I'll have to report back in a week or so to let you know how it goes.
Have you tried fish yet? I've been thinking that I may give that a try when I run out of his beef. Everyone seems to say that eggs give their dogs gas, so I'm not sure if I'm going to go there ; )
Thanks again!