What is long, thick, rock hard........... OH, not that! I am talking about frozen turkey necks. All I can say is Reagan better be something special. In my efforts to deal with her tummy woes, I have had to find her a replacement for chicken backs. This ails me because in my opinion chicken backs are an excellent raw meaty bone for greyhounds. They are large enough to require chewing, a nice combination of meat, bone, skin, fat, and organs all in one little package, inexpensive, and sold fresh in bulk.
An obvious low-fat option for Reagan is turkey necks. For the last several weeks, I have found myself frequenting several local grocery stores hoping to score a package of turkey necks. Turkey necks, once plentiful, have all but disappeared from Kroger shelves. Is there a crazy new flu going around causing neck-less birth defects in turkeys?...... I bet the real reason is that there are a bunch of crazy people out there feeding their dogs raw meat and bones, popularizing those less popular cuts of meat. Freaks!
At the grocery store, turkey necks are chopped in half and neatly packaged in groups of 3 or 4. Grocery store turkey necks are rarely more than about 6 inches long. Until the other day, I have avoided buying turkey necks in bulk. Why? I will tell you why.
1. Bulk turkey necks come frozen together in a 30 pound block. How am I suppose to divide that up for storage?.....
.... with a hammer, an ice pick, and time to partially thaw in a bath tub.
2. Bulk turkey necks are ginormous. Huge! They make women blush and grown men cry.
I had to buy larger plastic containers and the turkey necks still barely fit!
3. A foot long and so thick you can barely get your hand around..... get your mind out of the gutter..... turkey necks frozen together in a 30 pound block all for a cost of 2 1/2 times the price of chicken backs. Fantastic!From a digestive standpoint, Reagan is doing great on turkey necks, veggie mix, Kefir, probiotics, organ meat, and brown rice. She is still on Metronidazole, so coming off of that will be the true test. Her coat still looks awful if not worse. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth is one cause of malabsorption, but there are other causes as well. It is always possible that her coat and her gut problems are not related at all, but two separate problems.
Happy Friday!
