Hi. Hope you are enjoying better weather, bluebells etc. I wondered, is it ok to feed raw pig hearts? Vespa has been fed raw for 4 years and has ox heart among other things but I've seen conflicting advice on pig hearts and pork in general. It is cheap and readily available so I'm tempted. What's the script on this one? Thanks a lot.
I did. Am told here in Canada that there is no fear of trichinosis but I froze them for three weeks ahead anyway. They came frozen.
I feed raw heart too, but don't give a lot , as with lots of offal or organ meat, it tends to be a bit rich . My terrier has the constitution of an Ox, but Lab Sam is a tad more delicate in that area which is a shame because he would eat anything , really anything
Yes that word beginning with T. That's what I was worried about. Ok so if I freeze it for three weeks that helps? Pardon my ignorance but is that the same as one of the worms (I forget which)? The ox heart is coming out at £5/kg and the pig less than £3 so it's pretty tempting! Yes Vespa would eat anything and has a strong stomach but I don't want to unwittingly give her something bad because I'm trying to save money! I'll do the freezing thing. Is pork mince the same? Thanks a lot. Have a good week.
When asking my vet about Snowie's worming schedule, she said every 6 months is fine because I'm not feeding pork. If feeding pork, I'd need to be concerned about tapeworm, and then deworm more regularly. So if you do choose to feed pig hearts, then I'd guess you'd need to make sure you're deworming properly. Snowie ate pork for his first three years on raw food and he did have a tapeworm infestation when he was 1.5 years old. It cleared up immediately with deworming -- I hadn't been deworming regularly enough. I stopped the pork because we're trying to work out his health issues and allergies, and it seemed that he made great improvements when we took him off pork. But we also took him off chicken and duck, so there are many variables at play here!
Trichinosis is to do with worms, yes. Freezing does kill off any parasites or their larvae, so I think you will be fine if you portion it up and then freeze for a few weeks. I actually don't freeze, but I don't feed raw offal and I do worm for tapeworm every 3 months.
