Turkey Hearts for Dogs

Turkey hearts run about the size of a walnut, a step up from a chicken heart, and dogs eat them raw, cooked or freeze dried. Weigh one on a kitchen scale and you will know more about the portion than any chart can tell you.

Turkey heart next to chicken heart

A turkey heart is muscle, like a chicken heart, and it is firm, dark and dense. The difference is size: a chicken heart is about a grape, and a turkey heart about a walnut. Our guide to chicken hearts for dogs covers the smaller one, and this page picks up where it stops.

A raw turkey heart has a cap of fat at the top and a few tubes where the vessels were. Trim those with a few cuts of a sharp knife, and what is left is solid muscle. Size is the practical gap between the two hearts: one chicken heart is a small treat for a medium dog, and one turkey heart makes several.

USDA FoodData Central has an entry for turkey heart, raw, and one for chicken heart, raw, and that is the place to read protein, fat and water for each. This page gives no figures of its own.

Raw and freeze dried turkey hearts

A raw heart is wet, cold and slippery, and it needs a cutting board. A freeze dried heart is dry, light and firm, and it needs nothing. The dry piece is the same animal with the water removed, so it weighs a fraction of the raw heart and keeps in a cupboard if the bag is sealed.

If you cook one at home, simmer it plain in water until it is cooked through, let it cool, and cut it. Skip the salt, butter and seasoning; the heart has plenty of its own flavor.

Raw and freeze dried hearts are both uncooked products. The raw feeding notice on this site names Salmonella and Listeria as bacteria that raw products can carry, and says the same applies to treats freeze dried or air dried without cooking. Wash your hands and any surface the heart has touched. Read the raw feeding notice before you start.

Whole hearts or halves

The trade off is simple. Halved hearts suit training, because a half is a reward and a quarter is a few seconds of attention. A whole heart is a single prize, and for a big dog it is one bite or two. For a toy breed even half a heart can be too much, so cut it again and hold the piece beside the muzzle.

Count the pieces, not the hearts. A whole heart is one treat for a large dog, and for a small dog the same heart cut into eight pieces is a session's worth of rewards. Decide the piece size first, then the number of cuts.

A freeze dried heart breaks along the grain with a firm pinch. A raw heart takes a knife. Cut it lengthwise, and you see the chambers.

Turkey heart in a training pouch

A freeze dried heart is a good pouch passenger because it does not smear and it does not need to stay cold. Break it into bits no bigger than a fingernail for a small dog, and let a large dog have thumb sized pieces, then keep the pieces in a firm container so they do not crumble under the rest of the pouch.

A halved heart shows a dense interior with none of the crumble of a biscuit. In a jacket pocket it stays in pieces instead of turning to dust, which a softer, smearing treat cannot offer; the price is a harder bite.

Keep the bag sealed between sessions and press the air out. A freeze dried heart that has sat open for a week picks up the smells in the cupboard.

For a heart treat from the house line, Freeze Dried Beef Heart from Sniff and Shift is freeze dried in small batches in Malvern from Pennsylvania farm beef, and is covered in our beef heart for dogs guide. The turkey dog treats collection lists the turkey treats in stock.

Common questions

How big is a turkey heart compared with a chicken heart?

A turkey heart is roughly a walnut in size, and a chicken heart roughly a grape. Weigh yours on a kitchen scale to be sure, since sizes vary. The difference decides whether you serve one whole or in pieces.

Do turkey hearts need to be cooked?

Dogs eat them raw, cooked or freeze dried. If you cook one, keep it plain, with no seasoning, butter or sauce. Raw and freeze dried hearts are uncooked products, so read the raw feeding notice on this site for handling.

Can I use freeze dried turkey hearts as a meal topper?

Yes, crumble a piece over a bowl and let the dog work through it. Treats are not meant to replace regular food, as the raw feeding notice says. Keep the portion small, and watch your dog while it eats.