What happens if I give chicken liver to my dog?

Learn how to feed the puppy who comes to our house is an exercise in severity: we must know what they can eat and what they can never eat.

But even if we live as a family, with small children who love dogs as much as we do, learning what is allowed and what is forbidden will be a discipline for everyone, for the family.

It is useless for us to take great care of him if, in a moment in which we are distracted, one of the little ones hits the dog a piece of chocolate, some grapes or a piece of avocado which was left in the refrigerator. Three elements that are nothing short of deadly for any dog.

So, in addition to knowing that there are super prohibited and permitted, we must see our beloved dog as one of us. They need to eat a little bit of everything, combining proteins, fiber, vitamins, carbohydrates, a little rice, a little pasta, a little fruit and vegetables. But don’t repeat the same food every day.

chicken liver, seen in many publications, has a bad reputation as a dog food. But it’s not a bad food if you know how to handle it. It happens that in the past our grandmothers always gave chicken liver to dogs. Or every day cow heart. And always the same thing: the animals began to starve and lose their natural defenses.

What happens if I give chicken liver to my dog?

Graciela Castillo, veterinary doctor (registration 5169) at the Honduras Veterinary Clinic in Palermo, tells us that “Chicken liver as such will not cause any problems with your dog’s digestion or health. It can be part of a diet, but always in a balanced proportion of protein intake. That is: we can give the dog chicken liver for three lunches or three dinners a week. But not anymore. On other days we will put other proteins such as eggs, fish, beef. And we will combine them with vegetables, fruit, fiber, carbohydrates.”

Castillo, founder of Veterinaria de Honduras 6049 (e/ Arévalo y Dorrego), provides us with key information to know what our pets eat.

“In nature,” he tells us, “when wild dogs hunt prey, They eat absolutely everything of that prey. “They eat liver, they eat muscle, they eat bone, they eat cartilage, they eat the contents of the stomachs which usually, in the case of animals like hares or deer, have grains and fiber inside.”

And he completes: “So in nature the dog eats a very balanced food. Almost as perfect as those sold in vets and supermarkets. The same as a cat: Eat a bird and the bird will also have seeds in its stomach. As wild animals, animals consume all parts of the hunted animal. So: if we can give you chicken liver for dogs but a couple of times a week. Not every day because it would be a terrible diet.”

Why it is customary to give chicken liver to dogs

The specialized site Animal Expert On its website it states that chicken liver is an ideal complement to our dog’s diet, as it provides it proteins, vitamins and minerals.

And he specifies that “organs in general are foods that offer dogs a high percentage of proteins and there are a lot of them cheaper. The only problem is finding them, since in many butchers you have to order them in advance.”

Clarifies that although dogs can eat beef, pork, lamb, turkey or chicken liver, The latter is more recommended because it contains a lower percentage of cholesterol than the others. The site also notes that chicken liver is useful as part of a balanced diet, but it is not the only component of such a diet.

Benefits of Chicken Liver for Dogs

Animal expert also offers in its excellent note a nutritional composition of 100 grams of chicken liver, extracted from Spanish food composition database.

• Every 100 grams of chicken liver we find:
• Energy: 137 kcal
• Protein: 22.12 g
• Fat: 7.14 g
• Water: 72 g
• Carbohydrates: 1.2 g
• Calcium: 18 mg
• Iron: 7.4 mg
• Sodium: 68 mg
• Potassium: 218 mg
• Magnesium: 13 mg
• Phosphorus: 240 mg
• Zinc: 3.2 mg
• Vitamin C: 28 mg
• Vitamin A: 33 ug
• Vitamin D: 1.3 μg
• Vitamin E: 0.4 mg
• Total Vitamin B: 19 mg
• Saturated fatty acids: 1,790 g
• Cholesterol: 344 mg

Is it better to give him raw or cooked chicken liver? This site, with extensive experience in pets, is inclined to give it a miss. And he argues: “It is very difficult to know the origin of chicken liver, and whether it is completely so free of parasites. Therefore it is safer to give them cooked.”

And as regards the quantity of chicken liver that we can give, on their website they inform us that “For every 10 kg of animal weight, the canine nutritionist Gemma Knowles tells us in her book Healthy Cooking for Your Dog that the amount of meat should vary from 120-150 grams per day, to which other foods such as vegetables or cereals should be added.