Beef (cattle) Liver--cooked vs raw, how much as percent of food - Page 1

My GSD loves beef liver. So far I have only fed her cooked liver on occasions.

I heard that too much liver as a percentage of diet is not good for most animals.

Is this true?

I vaguely recall that it is a form of Vitamin A that is retained in uncooked liver, or is it true for cooked liver?

I have also heard that this form of vitamin A in raw liver is particularly unsuitable for human consumption, but excess is also not good for dogs.

Would anyone care to clarify?

I dont know who or where  you got that info...I eat liver and onions every week and have for  40 years...I dont have a doctor nor every sick....

Raw liver is the source of many vitamins and raw meat , periond give the animal   natural vitamin C      There are so many tales that it isnt even funny...My dogs have eaten raw liver in diet for every week of their life...  Bitches in whelp and nursing get 1/2 lb of raw liver every day  with raw hamburger., or   raw neck chicken or raw wing or big hunks of raw heart with 7 grain bread,   cottage cheese, raw egg shell and all,,, green beans and last night   mustard greens left over (cooked)

Mixed with the kibble is ok or with all the above with garlic , extra virgin olive or fish or salmon oil ,  oats, pork bones , pork liver ,....

Heard a good one a few months ago...if you feed your dog raw meat it will kill your neighbors cats, dogs, birds and turn on people....so enter at your own risk.....if you believe the commercials on dog food and how great they are  ,,,,you will believe all the wives tales about raw liver....why cook it....has nothing left if you cook it...the dog needs natural vitamins...we have to cook our liver...we have a different digestional system than a dog does....

Liver ,fried onions and gravey and mashed potatoes  is the  meal of wonder and good for you....now if you are a sick person and have all the diseases that the doctors in the USA have given you with all the drugs prescribed to you for high cholestorol , high blood pressure, ghout and water retention....then    read   Kevin Treadeaus;' two books about the  Natural Cures they dont want you to Know about.......

If you have a ghout or water retention problem and take certain meds,,,,liver can be a problem as well as salt,   cooking oils and many other things....Im referring this for healthy people. and healthy dogs...start your dog out eating proper with good diet and you wont have a sick dog....or you have reduced the potential by a hugh margin , than if you just throw him a bone and a bowl of commercial dog food..

i igree  raw  liver,raw  milk  without  suger you  may add  some breed  to milk ,and egg   is good nutrions  for  dog especially  for  puppy   untill  6month  ,because  it contains  protien  and essential vitamins that  is need in aditiontion i give the dogs vitamine tabs day after day  to compensate any diffecency  ,inspite  it  costy   but  it give  you  dramatic   result  to the  wieght  ,i divided it  into  2-4 meals per  day  and   start  by small   amount    this  acording   to  my  small  experince , iprefer  fresh  meal  for  dog s but  you  should  train  your  dog  to  digest  dry  food  as  you may  need  to  feed  it  some  times  in emergency  cases  .and finally  dont  warry  the german shepherd  dogs can  eat  any  thing avialable  but  it  should  be  healthy  an  benivitial  .

Eating the liver of a certain animal can kill a human... here we go, polar bear!

www.polarbearsinternational.org/polar-bears-in-depth/physiology/

I doubt many of us would eat, feed, or even get our hands on polar bear liver.  But it IS true that one can have too much vitamin A.

Might want to pass on that husky liver too..

student.bmj.com/issues/02/05/life/158.php

yes  this  true  but  we dont  mean  polar  bear  liver , polar  bear  can eat  your  liver  befor  you  can  eat the  liver of polar  bear. we  mean  liver  of   cattel  and   sheeps  ,and some  times  chiken  ,the  toxicity  dose  for  vitamine  a  is  very  high  and  you  should  take  more  than  100tabs   of   vitamine  a  of the  therapeutic  dose  ,to  get  the  toxicity  symptoms   and   signs . in  our  area  in  africa  we  have  not  polar  bear  liver  or  husky  some  times  we get  lions and tiger  liver.

Yes, not many polar bears running around here in Florida at the moment!  But with the rich people who love keeping exotics, I wouldn't discount it altogether. ;)

Jokes and useless trivia aside, one of my favorite raw feeding sites breaks it down in percentages here: rawdogranch.com/rawdietbasics.htm

Quoted from aforementioned site:

"60% Raw Meaty Bones (meat with bone – chicken necks, backs, etc.)

35% Muscle Meat (meat without bones)

5% Organ Meat (liver, kidney, lungs, etc.)"

The dog should be fed approximately 2%-4% of its body weight depending on its metabolism and activity level.

I usually feed turkey livers and sometimes chicken livers and I also do beef kidney.  To get my picky dog to eat it, I stuff livers and kidneys in the blender along with Seafood Medley (frozen mix of squid, octopus, shrimp, mollusks, ocean miscellaney) and some canned mackerel, blend until it looks and smells like puke, then freeze it into a sheet that I can break apart into chunks.  I dispense a chunk at each meal which he loves and thus he gets organs and variety in a tasty (for him) package.  When I go fishing and come home successful, he gets the head, spine, soft fins, and all the organs.

Now if you're feeding kibble, I wouldn't add liver except as training treats or a very occasional bigger treat.  The kibble should already have the recommended daily dose of vitamin A already in it and you don't want to throw that off on a regular basis. 

"5% Organ Meat (liver, kidney, lungs, etc.)"

IMO, organ meat other than from liver, (heart, lungs, kidney, tripe or other stomach parts, spleen),  is just the same as skeleton meat in terms of nutritional composition.

intestines of land herbivores contain eaten grains.

Alpha wolves eat the most organ meats, lungs, heart, intestines, as they take the prime parts of prey when its belly is ripped open. The lesser in the pack eat more skeleton meat.

Liver is unique as it is the chemical factory of an animal, IMO.

Is it possible to get too much or different kind of Vitamin A if too much raw or cooked liver is fed?

I now tend to use liver only as a treat in training and rule it out  in proper food.

How careful are you?

The prey model diets offers 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% organ.  5% - 7% should be liver and the rest should be other offal offered by the animal.

With that said, feeding this way is "over time."  So, if you feed no liver for several weeks and then load up on it, all will be fine - well, the digestive system may remind you that too much liver has been given.

Vitamin A toxicity MAY come from feeding high doses of liver daily, but it is unlikely.

If you are using an organ as a meat, calculate this into your daily food allowance.  Weigh it out if you have too.  Also, treat foods should be small and insignificant.  It should be enough to represent a reward and that's it.