Processing Beef Heart

Today I bought beef heart and processed it. I bought it already frozen.

This is how I processed it:

~I let it thaw slightly. Blood doesn't run out as much if chopped while still mostly frozen. The blood from cow heart is especially good for them, so try not to waste the blood. I thaw and chop in a glass casserole dish, to contain the blood.

~I cut it in half fist size chunks with an electric knife.

~I laid the chunks out in casserole dishes, and put it in the freezer till completely frozen again. I think this is only safe to do if you did not let it thaw out very much to begin with. Make sure the chunks don't touch each other, or they'll freeze stuck together.

~When the chunks were fully frozen again, I put them all in a large ziploc bag.

~Now whenever I plan to feed some beef heart, I just take out a couple chunks a day prior. The bottom drawer in our fridge is devoted exclusively to the dog's raw meat. I keep the meat in two glass casserole dishes in there, and usually always have chicken in larger one, and some other kind of meat in the other.

Organ Meat

It is reccomended you wait a few weeks till your dog is used to the new diet before you start giving organ meat. Be sure to introduce the organ meat slowly.

Here is some great info on how to feed organ meats.

Some people are interested in organ meat for the taurine. If you are one of those people, there are some great links in my sidebar about taurine.