Organ Meat For Dogs: Tips For Success

Are you making a major mistake in your dog’s raw diet?

You could be getting the organ meats wrong. If you are, your dog is missing out on some important nutrients and health benefits.

So let’s take a closer look at organ meats, what kind you should feed and how much you should be adding to your dog’s raw diet.

The main questions dog owners have about feeding organs are:

Which organs should dogs eat?

How much of these organs should dogs get?

So let’s start with the amount of organ meat to include in your dog’s raw diet …

The Miscalculation of Organ Meat In The Raw Diet

Many raw feeders follow the “prey model” or “species appropriate” diet. They follow an 80-10-10 breakdown. That breaks down ingredients to 80% muscle meat, 10% bone and 10% organ meat. They assume this is how dogs would eat wild prey in the wild.

But that’s not what happens …

About 50% of the makeup of most wild animals is muscle meat. Then bone measures up to be about 12%. This varies depending on type of animal, sex, age, condition…. Skin is about 16%. So that leaves about 25% organ meat by weight.

When you only aim to feed 10% organ meat, your dog is missing out on 15% of a pretty important component. And it’s an important 15%. Have a look …

The Nutrient Value Of Organ Meat

If we compare beef liver, kidney, heart and brain with muscle meat, organs come out on top. They’re more nutrient dense. They are nature’s multivitamins!

Plus each organ has its own nutritional specialty. Liver is high in retinol, known as vitamin A, and folate. Yet it isn’t as high in niacin or vitamin E. And heart is high in thiamine.

Organs are just as rich in mineral content as they are in vitamins. And each organ is unique in its minerals. Heart and kidney is where you’ll get the most zinc. Copper is more concentrated in the liver.

Organs are much more nutrient rich than muscle meat. And that’s why in the wild, carnivores eat the organs first. They are the first-eaten part of the kill.

So why would organs only make up 10% of your dog’s diet? He’s missing out on more than half of what he’d eat in nature.

Amount of Organ Meat To Include In The Raw Diet

Then how much organ meat should you be feeding?

It should be more than 10% and closer to 25%. But only if you feed a variety of organs. If you’re only giving 1 or 2 organs, then 10% may be enough.

So now let’s address question #1.

Which organs should dogs eat? It’s really quite simple. All of them!

RELATED: How to get started with raw food…

Which Organs To Include In The Raw Diet

Organ meats are far more nutritious than muscle meat. Plus they have other health benefits.

As an example, let’s look at the brain. Dog owners add fish oil to their dogs’ meals because of its DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) content. It’s an important omega-3 fatty acid that fights inflammation. But if you compare beef brain (3.9 mg of DHA) to mackerel (6.4 mg DHA) they’re pretty close in DHA. Plus brain is richer in iron, zinc, copper and folate than mackerel.

Pretty impressive information, isn’t it?

So if you fed your dog as many organs as possible, you wouldn’t need to add fish oil. Fish oil that gets heated and processed, oxidizes and goes rancid. Plus much of the source fish like salmon contain heavy metals and toxins. And that gets passed through to your dog.

DHA supports brain health. It improves cognitive function … especially in growing puppies and older dogs. Brains are tiny organs with lots of DHA … but you won’t find much in the liver or other organs.

Include Glandular Therapy

The eyes. Like the brain, they’re rich in DHA. And feeding them can be gross. Even putting them through a grinder is kind of messy. (Though it’s fun to have a freezer full of eyeballs when you send dinner guests out to get some ice.)

When you look up the benefits of DHA, you’ll find it supports the brain, nervous system and eyes. So it’s not surprising these organs are rich in a nutrient that helps them function.

In fact, this is the basis of glandular therapy. Eating an organ like the brain or eyes supports that organ.

Think about chondroitin. It’s been popular for years for joint and soft tissue support for dogs. And where does chondroitin come from? Joint cartilage. And that’s where hyaluronic acid comes from too.

Feed Glands To Support Glands

Try not to restrict to liver and just 1 or 2 other organs. Giving him glands can help support his hormones.

These glands are important to your dog’s hormonal (endocrine) system:

Adrenal (above the kidneys; regulate stress and metabolism)
Thyroid (in the neck; stores and produces most hormones in the body)
Parathyroid (in the neck, controls calcium levels)
Pituitary (part of the brain; controls adrenals and other glands)
Hypothalamus (part of the brain; links the pituitary to the nervous system)
Pineal (in the brain; affects sleep and seasonal cycles)
Pancreas (produces insulin and enzymes)
Ovaries (produce female reproductive hormones)
Testes (produce male reproductive hormones)

How About The Other Organs?

Here’s the ratio of meat, bone and organs in most animals.

Muscle 50%
Skin 16%
Bone 12%
Intestines 10%
Lungs 3%
Liver 2%
Brain 2%
Heart 1%
Pancreas <0.5%
Eyes <0.5%
Kidneys 0.5%
Spleen <0.5%
Uterus <0.5%
Ovaries <0.5%
Testicles <0.5%
Prostate <0.5%

And don’t measure an organ’s importance by its size. The tiny thyroid can make a big impact on health and hormone function. And as you can see, organs make up about 25% of the animal by weight … not 10%.

Now you’ve got to find as many organs as possible to feed them as 25% of your dog’s diet. But where do you start?

How To Source Organ Meats

Get to know your local abattoir or slaughterhouse. Most organs might not make it to your local butcher. But you’ll get good deals if you go right to the slaughterhouse. And many are becoming quite savvy about the needs of pet owners.

Try to get your hands on brain, eyeballs, spleen, pancreas, kidney, liver, heart, lung. Get the organs in the same percentage you’d find in the whole animal. Take them home and chop them up or grind them. Put them in containers and freeze. Each day you can add organ mix to your dogs’ meals to make up 25% of their diet.

But if you can’t find an abattoir in your area, whole fish can provide these nutrients.

This may be the only way some raw feeders can get all the organs and glands into their dogs. Use the whole fish from head to tail fin. Your dog will get lots of vitamin D and DHA. So if you can only source 1 or 2 organs, just add an ounce of fish for every pound of raw food.

Or, for greater convenience, add freeze-dried organs and glands to your dog’s meals. But make sure these products are from grass-fed animals.

As you see, feeding raw can be part scavenger hunt … part “Frankenprey” through organs. And great satisfaction in building your dog’s good health. It gives new meaning to the expression no guts, no glory!