I like to give my dogs the best of everything.
They have expensive brain teasing puzzles out the wazoo, tons of toys, cozy beds a woof load of blankies and these dogs eat like Sultans. No seriously, they better than I do. Pretty much everything around Casa de Kolchak revolves around their furry little butts. They want for nothing.
I want to give them everything they might ever want, but quality is expensive, yo!
As much as I love my dogs and as good as it makes me feel to offer them the best, sometimes, just a little, I long for the good old days when I had no idea what I was doing. When a month’s worth of treats cost less than $3 and my disposable income wasn’t spent at the pet store, but rather on totally necessary, essential items (like designer bags, stiletto heels and jewelry).
I know that feeding your pet the best quality diet you can afford is one of the best things you could ever do for their health, so I do. That means that sometimes I have to cut corners in other places.
Yesterday, I talked about how some of my dogs favourite treats are the stinkiest (and how I store smelly dog treats). What I didn’t talk about was how these super smelly treats are actually some of the easiest, cheapest and best treats you can make for your dogs.
It’s SO EASY to make meaty dog treats from organ meats like heart, liver, or lung. These meats are exactly the kind of stuff most humans want to serve on the dinner table, so they have the benefit of being really affordable. At my local butcher, I can get chicken liver for less than $2/lb, beed heart for about $2.50/lb and lamb’s lung is usually super cheap too (though harder to find). The great thing about making your own treats is that you can make them in a protein that works for your dog. Chicken, beef and lamb will be the easiest to find, but my butcher has been great and they’ve ordered me bison liver, elk heart (holy the thing was huge) and quail livers (holy woof those were small).
Organ meat is also really healthy. It’s chock full of nutrients and dehydration is considered a gentle method of cooking, so you maintain much of the nutritional value. However, BE CAUTIOUS. Due to the high levels of vitamins and nutrients in these meats, you should never feed them in excess of 5% of your dog’s total diet. These are TREATS folks, not a dietary supplement!
Want to make your dog some cheap and easy DIY organ meat dog treats?
Here’s how:
You can make two kinds of organ meat treats: the light, crumbly ones (kind of like Purebites) or the hard, glossy ones (kind of like HeroDog Treats).
While I’ve made heart and liver treats both way, Koly and Fe both prefer lung treats made with the first, pre-cook method.
To make the light, crumbley treats:
Dice your organ meat into 2″ chunks. Place in a pot of boiling water and cook for 5 – 7 minutes. Drain meat and slice into smaller pieces. (If I’m making training treats, I’ll usually slice each cube into 1/2″ cubes. If I’m making treats, I go for 1/2″ slices.)
Line a baking sheet or dehydrator tray with parchment (for easy clean up, plus, these can stick if you’re not careful!)
Place baking sheet in an oven heated to the lowest setting or plug in dehydrator on the “meat” setting (if you have one).
Dry for 2 – 4 hours, until they snap crisp and there is no moisture left in the middle.
To make the dark, crispy treats:
Slice your organ meat into thin slices (This will be a bazillion times easier if it’s partially frozen.) The thinner you can slice it, the better you’re final treat will be.
Line a baking sheet or dehydrator tray with parchment (for easy clean up, plus, these can stick if you’re not careful!)
Place baking sheet in an oven heated to the lowest setting or plug in dehydrator on the “meat” setting (if you have one).
Dry for 12 – 14 hours, until they snap crisp and there is no moisture left in the middle.
Want a hot tip? I don’t call these the “smelly treats” for nothing! I like to plug my dehydrator in out on the deck, so that the smell doesn’t get all up in the house…and my hair.
Healthy, delicious dog treats don’t have to take the bank. All it takes is a little work, a little patience and bit of love.
Have you ever fed your dog organ meat? What did you make? Did they like it?
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True, dehydrating liver does stink up the house! 🙂
Last week, some one suggested that I try cooking tripe and I almost DIED. No way. Oh man, NO WAY. That’s too gross even for me.
Mom has never made any of this stuff but in Germany these stinky treats were all over the place for sale so we ate a lot of them. Here the stinkier the more expensive. I will have to send Mom to the butcher so she can start making some yummy, healthy stuff.
Great DIY. Sharing.
This is a great tip – How has Mom never thought of using the dehydrator to make my treats?!? Maybe I can get her to make a batch this weekend. Dad hunts and the heart is usually unused – I bet that would make a tasty venison snack…
OHMIWOOF! YOU THROW AWAY VENISON HEART? (Mama starts sobbing in the corner.) Do you know how hard those are to get?!
I KNOW! Mom gags when she sees them so Dad stopped bringing them home. Before, he would make what was cleverly called “venison cookies” and fry them up for dinner.
Agreed
Dehydrated organs are one of our go-to treats. My raw pet-food store keeps turkey liver year round, thank goodness.
I hadn’t realized that pre-cooking yields a different result; I assumed it was just for people who were squeamish about dehydrating raw meat. I’ll have to try it sometime.
*heaves jealous sigh* What’s it like to buy treats with grain? Lovely I bet!
The Purebites treats in the picture (I cheated because I was too lazy to make some) are *technically* freeze dried, but my pre-cooked homemade treats come out about the same texture, so I used them as my example. LOL!
I’ve made beef heart and my dogs LOVE it! But I cooked it in the oven like you cook a pot roast.
I’ve done it that way too! The only thing is that the higher/longer the heat you cok at, the more nutrient are degraded or destroyed by the heat. I’ve been slow cooking/dehydrating them since it’s a gentler cooking method that preserves more of the nutritional value.
I NEED to get a dehydrator I spend so so much on dog treats that are way over priced
retro rover
Stayed tuned Katherine <3 I MAY have a surprise coming up thanks to the lovely Vie at silvieon4.com and it's a BIG one!
Mom gets me similar treats but never thought to try it on her own! Thanks for the great post!
Sometimes I long for the old days too, just a little. Never enough to go back, of course; I don’t miss cleaning up the aftermath of those cheap treats, lol. I just wish the healthy stuff was as inexpensive as the cheap stuff. If only. 😉
This is a great idea! I need a dehydrator though because just thinking about making them in the house in the oven is enough to make me gag, hahaha. This will be the first thing I make when/if I get a dehydrator. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I would NEVER make the liver treats in my oven. I place the dehydrator by the double garage doors, opened a few inches. The smell is still awful.
Thanks so much for the tips. Now I want to make some crispy organ meat treats, but I’m going to suggest that we do it at a friend’s house. Do you think she’ll still be my friend after the scent permeates everything she owns? 😉
How cool! I didn’t know you could make those crumbly types of liver treats at home! 🙂 I’m certainly going to be giving those a try!
This is fantastic! One thing I do is fry up liver (either chicken or beef) on the stove in coconut oil. I’ll write a post about it and link back to this one 🙂 I think I’m going to be spending a lot of time on your site this year as my blog changes directions 🙂
I don’t advise organ meats, especially not beef for humans or their pets. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (like CJD & vCJD in humans, BSE in cows making them “mad cows,” scrapie in squirrels, etc. more easily transmitted in any CNS or organ part.
While fewer pets are DIAGNOSED with TSEs they are rarely autopsied for them. Since each TSE is referred to & generally studied separately we can’t get an idea of the true extent of the problem.
Butchers are one of the groups at greater risk for CJD from what I gather.
How do you store these? How long do the keep for? I have a freezer full of cow and pig kidneys, hearts, liver, tongue, ears, and feet. I was hoping to turn all of it into dog treats to free up space in the freezer.
As long as they are thoroughly dried all the way through, these can be stored in an airtight container in a dry place. (If any moisture gets at them, they will rehydrate and spoil).
can I follow the same recipe with muscle meat too?
Absolutely, but the cooking times may vary.
I buy chicken hearts and put them in the dehydrator. Some of the hearts have a little more fat than others so I do trim them otherwise you have to worry about them going rancid when you store them. If I make a big bunch I generally put them in the deep freeze in small batches and take them out as needed…:)
My dehydrator only has one setting on or off. Will this still work? I boil most of my dogs meat but wanted to try dehydrated deer lung for her as a treat.
Hi Martina, Yes – you can absolutely still make dog treats in a dehydrator with no temperature setting. I would probably cook the lung pieces in the oven just until cooked through first, then transfer them to the dehydrator just in case, the dehydrator doesn’t get hot enough to kill off any food bourne germs. Good luck!