Turkey Gizzards and Neck.

[Ducky]

I wanted to know if I can prepare these pieces from the turkey for the cat. If so, how? I had doubts about the neck, but I thought maybe something could be done with the gizzards. Are there things I should add to them to make them more nutricious? I have some ground up egg shells, but they are not from Free Range, Organic eggs so I don't know how much nutrients they would provide.

[kim]

if you are just feeding them one time only, or as a treat, just toss them to your cat. you can feed them raw (those most cats unless very large and ambitious, will just nibbleon the neck).

[sentimentalgirl]

Where do you buy turkey (or chicken) necks?

Sometimes I give them chicken glizzards & hearts but I've never seen necks. Are they available in regular store or do I have to go to some special one?

Thanks!

[petspy]

Updated Question:

with Thanksgiving coming, my local butcher is setting aside the Turkey necks he normally discards,
that I should be able to then stock up and freeze for later use, nearly 100lbs of Turkey necks.

what would be the best way to prepare them as a raw chewy treat for my cats?
- should I be sure to crack all the neck bones with a hammer?
- should I remove any remnants of skin?
- should I rub the meat with tuna/catnip powder?
how many invertebrate long should I cut each piece?
- or - how many inches long should each piece be for a 7lb adult cat?
- are turkey necks too thick? - should I cut them in half with a meat cleaver lengthwise?
possibly exposing softer marrow and cartilage. keep in mind I'd rather the cats gnaw
on them a while for the dental benefit, than attempt to swallow down pieces as food.
- any suggestions how I should pack them for freezing and later removal by the piece?

any guidance would be appreciated
my plan is to prepare the neck pieces before I freeze them,
so it's easy to later take a few out at a time, ready to defrost and use on my cats.

[chris10]

You can crack them if you want. Turkey and chicken necks are not solid pieces of bones. And they are not hollow. But a mixture of both. They have what looks like thousands of tiny pockets of whatever. I usually say it looks like some solid spongy material. You will know what I mean when you cleave one in half.

I would remove the skin. There will be enough fat on the actual neck.

If your cat doesn't take to it at first then you could rub.

Don't cut them too short. Cats are lazy creatures and if it can be swallowed whole it will. If you are feeding as a main diet probably no more than 6oz a day.

Turkey necks are thick. Probably 3-4 times thicker than chicken necks. Its tough to say if you should cut lengthwise. If its lengthwise some of the bone will not be covered with soft meat as it goes down the esophagus. If its more for a dental treat then I would leave it whole and let the cat work on it.

I would put the necks in individual plastic baggies. If you are planning not to go through all of them within a few months then you might need to portion some of them in plastic baggies and the rest in airtight containers or seal a meal them. Then when you are ready for the others defrost them in the fridge just enough to pull them apart and place in baggies.

If you were planning for these to be the main diet I suggest you add a little more muscle meat. Turkey necks have a Cah ratio of 2.39:1 a general rule is 1.1:1 and mice are about 1.38:1 . Some say max is 2:1. If it is just a dental treat then don't worry about this.

[InterHmai]

I found some turkey necks at the supermarket but cut them too short, and my cat tries to swallow the whole thing. I had crushed it a bit, and he coughed up a few pieces of bone.

Pretty scary to watch, not sure if I should just junk the rest of it since they're all cut too short.
It's a good thing turkey necks are cheap!

[chris10]

Originally Posted by InterHmai

I found some turkey necks at the supermarket but cut them too short, and my cat tries to swallow the whole thing. I had crushed it a bit, and he coughed up a few pieces of bone.

Pretty scary to watch, not sure if I should just junk the rest of it since they're all cut too short.
It's a good thing turkey necks are cheap!

No keep them. One of my cats swallows and often chokes on whole chicken necks. I think we are on neck number 500. Somewhat shows that he is not learning from this situation and going on what they are hardwired to believe. Which is the less work the better and if it can go down it will. Most of the time though when he coughs it back up he will cut it into smaller pieces to swallow.

[InterHmai]

Thanks, gave him another piece today, didn't crush and he did great!

Now to come up with a way to stop him from dragging raw turkey neck all over the floor!