Beef Heart

KING OLLIE HOUSE of BULLDOG

Well-known member
Dec 29, 2016
1,443
62
Florida
Country
usa
Bulldog(s) Names
King Ollie
Is there any point to me adding either fresh or frozen beef heart to the Zignature I normally feed. Ollie and Rambo (when he is here every other week) always eat a fish flavor of Zignature dry. Neither has ever had beef in dog food. They do get an occasional nibble of cooked steak.
If beef heart is recommended, how should I cook it. How often and how much?
Thanks in advance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

anatess

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2011
1,758
398
Country
US
Bulldog(s) Names
Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
Zignature is a complete diet. No need to supplement with anything. But, if you just like to give your dog beef hearts for the fun of it, there's no harm in it. No need to cook. You can just give it to him in little cuts for a treat. If you like, you can freeze it and give it to him frozen so it's like chewing on ice cubes. Don't give to much until your dog gets used to it. Too much of it before his stomach gets used to it could give him the runs.
 

helsonwheels

Well-known member
Jan 10, 2016
13,066
2,370
Alberta
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Nyala, Jake (R.I.P. Duke)
Is there any point to me adding either fresh or frozen beef heart to the Zignature I normally feed. Ollie and Rambo (when he is here every other week) always eat a fish flavor of Zignature dry. Neither has ever had beef in dog food. They do get an occasional nibble of cooked steak.
If beef heart is recommended, how should I cook it. How often and how much?
Thanks in advance. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Definitely give some RAW heart. Was just talking about this in another post. The problem with kibbles is to form a kibble, it needs to be heated to an extreme temperature which basically kills 1/2 of all nutrients. A lot of people donā€™t know this but yes heated to a high temp. Like anything in dog cans, youā€™re feeding them zero nutrients. Iā€™m in the food industry and I know these issues inside out. Why I always tell people if itā€™s kibbles they want to go with, definitely add toppers. You need to keep them raw. Cut them up, freeze them in small portions. I would start with 1/4cup.. per day. Donā€™t forget a topper is part of a meal. Heart is a muscle but very healthy. Get some liver too n mix them together. Btw organs, loads of probiotics!

You can add something in these photos as a topper..
261FAC43-C77E-4028-94A7-D707FEEB8DF9.jpeg309DF994-D687-479D-8CA0-D19476A851CC.jpeg93ACF426-3221-4539-806D-73348CFA4F42.jpeg
 

anatess

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2011
1,758
398
Country
US
Bulldog(s) Names
Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
Definitely give some RAW heart. Was just talking about this in another post. The problem with kibbles is to form a kibble, it needs to be heated to an extreme temperature which basically kills 1/2 of all nutrients. A lot of people donā€™t know this but yes heated to a high temp. Like anything in dog cans, youā€™re feeding them zero nutrients. Iā€™m in the food industry and I know these issues inside out. Why I always tell people if itā€™s kibbles they want to go with, definitely add toppers. You need to keep them raw. Cut them up, freeze them in small portions. I would start with 1/4cup.. per day. Donā€™t forget a topper is part of a meal. Heart is a muscle but very healthy. Get some liver too n mix them together. Btw organs, loads of probiotics!

You can add something in these photos as a topper..
View attachment 120018View attachment 120019View attachment 120020


Excellent post Helene! Not only are nutrients cooked out of the kibble process, preservatives are also added to the kibble.

That said, I just want to make a slight correction. Zignature doesn't have "zero nutrients". In the USA, the AAFCO organization runs nutritional analysis on pet food for minimum amounts of 10 amino acids, 11 basic vitamins, and 12 basic minerals that are required in a specific target dog profile's diet. Although pet food manufacturers are not required by government legislation to go through the AAFCO nutritional analysis to sell pet food, Zignature is one of those pet food manufacturers that do. Zignature is AAFCO certified to be nutrient complete for the target dog profile on the bag (e.g. puppies have different nutritional requirements than seniors, etc.).

Why this is important: certain vitamins and minerals can be harmful if overdosed especially for dogs with specific ailments.

Beef hearts should be fine though. It has a very high level of B12 and iron which is also already present in Zignature but you're gonna have to ingest a boatload of beef hearts to reach toxicity level in dogs.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,581
3,673
Gilbertsville, PA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
When I use to feed kibble, I would buy the organs from the butcher and give as treats or toppes to Banks/Nitschke
 

helsonwheels

Well-known member
Jan 10, 2016
13,066
2,370
Alberta
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Nyala, Jake (R.I.P. Duke)
What I meant by 1/2 nutrients is basically all kibbles are heated to a high point n definitely you will lose a lot of nutrients. Anything Thantā€™s heated to a high temperature kills a lot of nutrition value. Like what they do to our milk. In a can you lose a lot more as itā€™s boiled n sits there till cooling. What companies do is yes add vitamins. But then you have like Science Hill added too much Vit D and dogs were dying from overdoes D.

At the end of the day whatever works for your dog. I personally will never go back to kibbles.
 

Most Reactions

šŸ“° Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Top