Lets start with some facts most of us don't know, and to be honest I didn't know until we started specializing in producing one ingredient dog treats; by single ingredient, I mean the treats we produce at K9 CRACK are made from beef and pork organs, and nothing else:
Organ meats are Mother Nature's multivitamins.
Even pre-made raw foods and kibble are almost always deficient in organs.
Finding a source of high quality organ meat can be very difficult.
These are the two questions most dog owners ask:
Which organs should my dog eat?
How much organ meat should I feed to my dog?
1. Which organs should my dog eat?
Organ meats are so much nutritious than any other food available. This is because they are densly packed with minerals that are condusive to not just good, but great health. Check out the image below.
Did you knw that if you fed your dog all the organs in the animal, you wouldn't need to add supplements?
Glandular Therapy
Feeding your dog eyes can be gross, but eyes are rich in DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid). It is no coincidence that eyes are rich in the nutrient that helps them function. Glandular therapy is the concept of eating what your body needs to be healthy. For example we have been using chondroitin to support joint and soft tissue health, guess what, chondroitin comes from joint cartlidge, as does hyaluronic acid.
What about the glands?
If you only feed your dog a couple of the organs that are on sale he could be missing out on some important hormones that could affect your dogs hormonal (endocrine) system:
Adrenal (sits on top of the kidneys and regulates stress and metabolism)
Thyroid (located in the neck, it stores and produces most hormones in the body)
Parathyroid (located in the neck and controls calcium levels)
Pituitary (part of the brain and controls adrenals and other glands)
Hypothalamus (part of the brain that links the pituitary to the nervous system)
Ovaries (produce the female reproductive hormones)
Testes (produce the male reproductive hormones)
Pineal (located in the brain, it affects sleep and seasonal cycles)
Pancreas (a critical organ that produces insulin and enzymes)
2. How much organ meat should I feed to my dog?
Most raw feeders follow the 80-10-10 rule: 80% muscle, 10% bone and 10% organ meat. It is refered to as the "prey model" or "species appropriate." The assumption is that this is how dogs would eat in the wild if they were to eat wild prey.
However this model has the math wrong! Muscle accounts for approximately 50% of a wild animal, bone 12% and skin about 16%. This means most animals are 24% organ meat by weight. So if your dog is following the "prey model" raw diet he is missing out on 14% of important nutrition. Check out the table below:
This table demonstrates that organ meats are more nutrient dense that than muscle meats, and each organ is unique in it's nutritional composition. Compared to muscle meats they are richer in key vitamins such as D and B12.
Organs are also much richer in mineral and trace minerals than muscle meat, and again each organ is different. Both beef (not seen here) and chicken heart are rich in zinc. Pound for pound organs are much more nutritious than muscle meat, and this is why wild carnivores eat the organs first.
Therefore it makes more sense to feed your dog 24% organ meat rather than 10%, but you do need a large variety of organs.
What about the rest of the organs?
Here is a percentage ratio of the meat, bone and organs in most animals:
Muscle 50%
Skin 16%
Bone 12%
Intestines 10%
Lungs 3%
Liver 2%
Brain 2%
Heart 1%
Kidneys 0.5%
Spleen <0.5%
Pancreas <0.5%
Eyes <0.5%
Testicles <0.5%
Prostate <0.5%
Uterus <0.5%
Ovaries <0.5%
While glands make up a tiny perentage of the animals weight the impact can be huge. For example the tiny thyroid gland can have a big impact on health and hormone funaction, so don't rule out organs based on size. Keep in mind, organs make up 24% of an animal by weight, not 10%.
If you can't source grass fed organ meat for your dogs raw diet, fish can be a good alternative. Fish is rich in vitamin D, minerals and DHA. For many raw feeders fish is the only way to get all or the organs and glands into their dog. Add an ounce of fish for every pound of raw food if you can only source one or two organs
K9 CRACK is a great healthy dog treat, and because we use only grass fed beef and pork organ meat you know your dog is getting a nutrient dense dog treat.