Chicken Hearts?

[hunter1]

I'm looking to buy chicken hearts for my Hunter, replacing taurine. Can anyone recommends an online store that sells this? thanks

 

[ritz]

Hare Today sells them. H-T has a minimum order of 10 pounds.
I can find chicken hearts in international supermarkets. I can also find them in regular grocery stores, but they are usually mixed with giblets.
If you're concerned about additives or what the chickens are fed, you might try your local farmer's market. I sometimes buy chicken hearts (and liver) from the local farmer's market; the vendor raise and process her own chickens so I know what the chickens are fed. She also sometimes throws in other delectables like lungs and anything else inside a chicken. She sells the heads separately.

 

[hunter1]

Yeah Hare today has it, but 10lbs. is too much and it's not ideal to freeze for months at a time. I'll try local stores and talk to the butcher if they can set them aside for me.

 

[nbrazil]

Have you tried all the local options? 

Yeah Hare today has it, but 10lbs. is too much and it's not ideal to freeze for months at a time. I'll try local stores and talk to the butcher if they can set them aside for me.

That is exactly what I was going to suggest. Hey, you can get livers and gizzards, so why not hearts?

 

[tdonline]

Funny, I buy chicken hearts from my local farmer's market, but for me.  Just had some for lunch.

For cats, do you give it to them raw or cooked?  My cats eat canned food primarily.  Will giving them chicken heart result in too much taurine?

 

[pinkdagger]

You could cook them, but I give it raw. Nice and chewy for the cats (when my friend, who has also eaten chicken hearts told me they're still chewy cooked, I think I gagged, lol). Mine only get 1 a week along with some other raw parts because I don't feed bones or supplements, so I don't want to worry about balancing. I did find this though:

Aside from energy, vitamins and minerals, the heart also contains amino acids, specifically large amounts of taurine. Muscle meat in general contains fairly high amounts of taurine, an amino acid which is necessary for healthy heart and eyes in cats. Generally, the amount of taurine in chicken meat depends on how much work the muscle does, with darker meat indicating harder-working muscles and a higher level of taurine. The heart, being the hardest-working muscle in the body, contains the highest amounts of taurine. In my research, I have not been able to find any evidence that cats can get too much taurine, as any excess is metabolized and excreted in the urine.³

http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-how-much-heart-is-too-much

We get ours from the (chain) grocery store. A few of the more multicultural areas will carry them even in generic stores, but if they don't, I just head to Chinatown or an Asian supermarket. We don't have any butchers or markets nearby.

 

[tdonline]

Thanks Pinkdagger.  I'm full of taurine...well at least for awhile after a chicken heart meal 

 

[ritz]

I Fed raw, so I feed them raw. Note that raw giblets are tough, good exercise for the jaws!