Chicken livers question

[klmno]

Are cooked chicken livers bad for dogs? I don't mean a lot of them- say just one or two per dog.

 

[Suz]

Nah.

My dogs love liver.

They are rich, though. I wouldn't feed them to the dog.....sounds like yours might have snitched a couple?

Suz

 

[Marguerite]

WHat were the livers cooked in?

The livers themselves are OK in moderation (yes, they are rich). We used to freeze chicken livers then get a chunk out of the freezer and put it into the cat's bowl. The cat would lick the livery ice cube and purr loudly the whole time. Wonderful to keep the cat occupied.

Marg

 

[klmno]

I bought some fried liver (chicken) today to eat with my left-over vegies tonight but I bought more than I can eat. I was thinking I could take off the breaded part and give a couple to the dogs.

 

[witzend]

I'm sure that a couple would be fine. They are pretty rich, so make sure they do their business before bed.

 

[klmno]

LOL!! Ok- maybe I''ll just give a small nite tonight and give them the leftovers tomorrow- before I cook on the grill and they have more time in the yard.

 

[gcvmom]

They're fine for dogs. My mom used them as training treats for hers. They LOVE them!

 

[GoingNorth]

Many dog foods, IAMS, etc, are made on a liver base. Wild canids eat the liver first when they kill prey. It's the best part.

I'd rinse off any seasonings/remove breading. Cooked liver is actually somewhat constipating. Raw liver can have the opposite effect. The only issue you might have is that the livers might give a dog gas if they aren't used to eating them.

My dog is on a compounded lamb-based raw diet and gets a healthy portion of lamb liver in his food. He does very well on it.

Dogs love "offal", the stuff most of us don't eat. Much of it is very nutritious and tasty to them. In Europe dogs are routinely fed raw innards of various sorts, including lungs, etc. They do great on it.

 

[Marguerite]

Actually, that's one reason why parasites such as hydatids are so successful - dogs eat the infected liver of the intermediate host and thereby get infected with the adult tapeworm. It's not a problem for the dogs, only for the intermediate host (sheep, or human).

Marg

 

[GoingNorth]

I'm aware of the hydatid issue (an intermediate stage of tapeworm development where the growing worms become encysted in various tissues).

Hydatids are not an issue in the US other than in deer, rabbits, and squirrels. The lamb my dog eats is sourced from Australia and New Zealand.

Here in the US, the most common way for dogs and cats to get tapeworms is for them to eat an infected flea (fleas are the most common vector for tapes in the US) by accident. That type of tapeworm does not form hydatid cysts.

 

[Hound dog]

Here in the US, the most common way for dogs and cats to get tapeworms is for them to eat an infected flea (fleas are the most common vector for tapes in the US) by accident. That type of tapeworm does not form hydatid cysts.

Or the occasional infected mouse.

My dogs love chicken liver but I cook it and don't use seasoning and such. Usually they're split between the cats and the dogs though. Mine are aquired buying whole chicken to roast.

 

[Marguerite]

I remember reading a wonderful article on parasites entitled "Guests and Hosts - you can dress a biologist up but you can't take him out to dinner".

I'll say no more. Some of you may be eating.

However, chicken livers were not mentioned.

Marg

 

[GoingNorth]

I'm not an official biologist, but am fairly heavily self-educated in biology (actually, I never finished high school and only have a few art courses and some techical training).

One does have to be careful if one has family or friends with weak stomachs. There are just some topics you DON'T discuss at meal time.

 

[Marguerite]

I'm not an official biologist, but am fairly heavily self-educated in biology (actually, I never finished high school and only have a few art courses and some techical training).

School of Hard Knocks, as we used to say.

My mother never finished high school. In fact, she barely made it into high school, her parents were chronically ill and needed her at home to care for the house and her younger siblings. I seriously think she was heading to be the maiden aunt, the dutiful daughter who remains single and cares for the family and her parents, until she got pregnant at age 27 and "had to get married".

But she taught herself from books, read avidly and I remember when I was a uni student studying Physics (among other things) and having a decent discussion with her of Special Theory of Relativity.

So never disparage self-education.

I spent some of my years growing up, living in the country. The ads there are different - they're aimed at farmers who only are indoors at mealtimes, and so it's the only time that advertisers have a hope of hitting their mark. I well remember trying to eat dinner while watching ads for sheep drench and worming medicine!

Marg

 

[GoingNorth]

Marg...Ick!

I once had an old-time vet show me how to drench (dose with liquid medication) a horse using a wine bottle because he couldn't find his drenching syringe.

I got soaked and the horse was less than pleased, too! (maybe that's why they call it drenching?)

I think we'll pass on some of the really icky parasites sheep get...bots and screwworms are bad enough. The other stuff is REALLY gross.