# How to feed my dog liver. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197 "2012-02-17T23:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/1 "2012-02-17T23:38:23Z")
The reason I want to do this is that my supermarket often has liver in its discount section -today I got a pound of sliced lamb’s liver for 8p. Plus, I think my dog would like some real meat. I have Googled, and found that feeding the dog liver is safe, but only in certain quantities, because the levels of vitamin A can be toxic. One site mentions breading the liver and combining it with other grains; I’m not being a chef for my dog. I’m happy to cook it, but have no idea what’s the easiest way to do so - I don’t eat meat and have never eaten liver. So… How do you cook liver? I assume just sticking it in a pan and frying for a while would be fine, but I’m not sure I’d be able to tell when it’s done because it’s looks quite different to other meats I’ve cooked and I’m definitely not chewing on itmyself. What’s a safe amount of cooked liver to give a dog? Is a small amount of raw liver safe? How small? My dog thanks you for any help you can give. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/2 "2012-02-17T23:42:32Z")
I’m going to move this to IMHO (although it would probably be equally better in Cafe Society). ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/3 "2012-02-18T00:08:36Z")
OK. I wasn’t sure whether Cafe Society (since it’s about cooking)or MMPSIMS was better, but most pet stuff seems to go in MMPSIMS so I went for that. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/4 "2012-02-18T00:14:41Z")
When I fix liver for my dogs, it’s as a treat, especially wjhen showing. Too much liver will give a dog the runs BIG TIME, and it really doesn’t take much to do it. The way I fix it: Boil it with a little garlic powder until done- I have only fixed chicken & beef liver, and don’t know if lamb would be different, but it always looks grey when done. It also smells terrible, but your dog will be salivating. Remove from water- I always save the water and pour a little over their dry. Spread it on a cookie sheet with foil over the sheet, single layer, and bake until it is dry and sort of…crispy. I have never met a dog that would not do backflips for the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/5 "2012-02-18T00:17:09Z")
I don’t have a set recipe that I use…I just Google “liver dog treat recipe” til I find one that suits me. Last time it involved the blender which was sorta gross. But the dogs sure were happy! I need to make some healthy treats…Dammit Sally is getting fat from scraps. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/6 "2012-02-18T00:20:04Z")
Same goes for me. I mixed it in the food processor with other stuff, baked it in a pan, then cut it into small pieces and froze the pieces. I gave my dog a piece or two every so often and it lasted 6 months. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/7 "2012-02-18T00:48:23Z")
If I’m roasting a chicken for myself and possibly my daughter, then I just roast the liver with the bird, or I boil it with the other giblets, and the cats are happy with it. If my husband is home, though, the cats don’t get liver, because my husband loves it and will fight for it. He’ll even order it when we go out to eat \ and keeps offering it to me \. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/8 "2012-02-18T01:06:25Z")
I don’t know about dogs, but my cat loves raw poultry livers (duck is his favorite) just about more than life itself. He can handle about one whole duck or chicken liver at a time. How big is your dog? ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/9 "2012-02-18T01:10:35Z")
Really, liver isn’t a complete and balanced dog food. It is quite high is some nutrients and short of others. No way is it the complete and balanced diet dogs need. If you aren’t eating meat, how much effort do you put into making sure you get a balanced diet? I am not knocking meatless diets, only pointing out you need a lot of information to assure yourself of a good diets. As you look at foods, raw, boiled, baked, fried, etc. each way has different nutrients available or destroyed in cooking. Now dogs don’t digest many things as well as people and it is a lot harder to find out what nutrients are available in something, between raw, little or nothing or many destroyed by cooking. I can’t imagine messing around taking chances with my dog’s diet as cheap as carefully formulated dog food is. I don’t know anybody that makes evidence based decisions that feeds anything but dog food. There are those here that claim long term success feeding raw, but I have no idea of their qualifications or a way to verify their claims. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/10 "2012-02-18T01:18:24Z")
Thanks all. 🙂 Is it possible to just roast it for longer rather than boiling or processing it first? It’s already sliced quite thinly. Boiling it then roasting it would be OK, I guess; I’ll live with the stink for an occasional dog-treat, but reducing the stink would be good. Processing it would be gross beyond words for me. How much would be good for a serving? I assume the whole pound would be too much - how about a third of a pound? But the whole pound would have to be eaten within a week at the most; would that be OK? Forgot to say - she’s a Jack Russel/Parson Russel cross, so fairly small, and a young dog in excellent health. I do have a cat as well, and from Googling it looks like he can eat liver too. He’s a year old and quite small compared to most cats, so I’m thinking he’d be OK with maybe a third as much as my small dog gets. Does that make sense? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/11 "2012-02-18T01:25:23Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Really, liver isn’t a complete and balanced dog food. It is quite high is some nutrients and short of others. No way is it the complete and balanced diet dogs need. If you aren’t eating meat, how much effort do you put into making sure you get a balanced diet? I am not knocking meatless diets, only pointing out you need a lot of information to assure yourself of a good diets. As you look at foods, raw, boiled, baked, fried, etc. each way has different nutrients available or destroyed in cooking. > > Now dogs don’t digest many things as well as people and it is a lot harder to find out what nutrients are available in something, between raw, little or nothing or many destroyed by cooking. I can’t imagine messing around taking chances with my dog’s diet as cheap as carefully formulated dog food is. I don’t know anybody that makes evidence based decisions that feeds anything but dog food. > > There are those here that claim long term success feeding raw, but I have no idea of their qualifications or a way to verify their claims. I’m not intending it to be the basis of her diet - it’s just an occasional treat, and I think 8p (about 13 cents) for a pound of meat is very cheap indeed. I don’t find it difficult getting enough iron, protein and b-vitamins in my own diet, but that’s a different topic. A lot of the links I found were about raw food diets for dogs, and I’m sceptical of them too - the sites more than the diet itself; they were too evangelical to be trustworthy - which is why I asked here. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/12 "2012-02-18T01:25:37Z")
I give my dogs liver as a treat or for training. I have big dogs, and I don’t give it to them a lot, so I’m not too worried about creating nutritional imbalances because I figure the majority of their diet is good quality kibble. It can cause digestive upset if your dog is sensitive to new foods or if you give a lot and the dog isn’t used to it. I usually bake it. I just lay it out on cookie sheet, drizzle a little oil over top and bake it at 250-300 for as long as it takes to get dry and leathery - just like Mom used to make. Then I let it cool and cut it into pieces. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/13 "2012-02-21T18:30:12Z")
I eventually roasted it and fell asleep while it was cooking, so it was definitely well-cooked. The smell wasn’t bad and the dog loved it. Thanks for the advice all. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/14 "2012-02-21T19:14:39Z")
I give mine raw liver, which is by far the most nutritious. In very small amounts because it’s quite rich. ---
**Author:** ![codgerone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@codgerone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codgerone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/15 "2012-02-21T19:18:27Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > A lot of the links I found were about raw food diets for dogs, and I’m sceptical of them too - the sites more than the diet itself; they were too evangelical to be trustworthy - which is why I asked here. I’ve had this problem too. We’ve fed raw diet to our dogs for over 10 years and are convinced of it’s benefits but a lot of the sites I’ve seen are so over the top it’s off-putting. Mrs Codgerone makes liver biscuits which our dogs and all the others we ever see go apeshit for. She’s not here just now but if you want the recipe let me know and I’ll ask her to post it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/16 "2012-02-21T19:18:54Z")
> [@papergirl](#): > > I don’t have a set recipe that I use…I just Google “liver dog treat recipe” til I find one that suits me. Last time it involved the blender which was sorta gross. But the dogs sure were happy! > I need to make some healthy treats…Dammit Sally is getting fat from scraps. Ummm, Is that Dammit, Sally is getting fat from scraps. or ‘Dammit Sally’ is getting fat from scraps. Did you name your dog Dammit [del]Janet[/del]Sally? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/17 "2012-02-21T19:19:44Z")
There is a turkey farm and farm-store near me. I buy turkey livers all the time (frozen). I simmer a few for around 30 minutes, then refrigerate. Each dog gets a lobe as a training treat every so often. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/18 "2012-02-23T11:36:11Z")
How to feed my dog’s liver? Alcohol I guess… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/19 "2012-02-23T12:15:53Z")
[ul] [li]Put some mud on your license plate.[/li][li]Pick up hitchhiker.[/li][li]Proceed from this point as usual.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197/20 "2012-02-23T15:45:31Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Did you name your dog Dammit [del]Janet[/del]Sally? That’s sure how it seemed to me. When I was in college, there was a social club that had a dog named simply “Dammit.” Comic Charlie Douglas talks about his friend [Dammit Ray](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hTVtUbhWs) (long but worth it). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-feed-my-dog-liver/613197.md?page=2)