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!
11 Comments:
TOO FUNNY!!!! If someone told me a year ago that I'd be pre-occupied with all things related to turkey necks, I'd tell them they were insane! I did find that Publix would order what I need. But, my Kroger has had a nice little stock of "dog food". The cashier about fell to the floor when I told her it was dog food.
Recently, when I was buying kidney, heart, and liver... the cashier asked "whatcha making?" :-).
Jen
Oh, and I'm so proud to say that Larry's food bowl looks similar to the one you have pictured. That's an accomplishment for me since I was basically dumbfounded when I first began reading your info on raw diets. Yeah!!! :)
I still haven't gotten brave enough to start the pups on RAW food yet. But I have been keeping track of where I find things like turkey necks. Our local WalMart has been keeping quite a bit of them as of late. Maybe try there...if you ever run out of your 30 lb block. lol
LMAO!!!!! Oh the dirty dirty things going on in your house... That is too funny!
Be grateful you can just throw a turkey neck down for her to eat! Our Ms Princess won't eat slimy and won't put much effort in chewing! Electric grinder here we come *eyeroll*
Its funny, I've gotten numerous hits from Europe today when the word "mature" was searched. Naughty!
Jen
all grocery stores here (aus... or at least queensland) sell chicken necks, brisket bones, lamb off cuts. not as much turkey because they're not as turkey mad. but you're so right, those necks look like zombie willies.
Turkey necks have been a staple for my dogs for years, and yes they are obscene looking!! But they also seem to be the best thing for most dogs with digestive issues.
Thawing tip: well actually I have 2 tips.
1. I usually thaw cases in the tub also, but I don't try to chisel them apart. I just dump the frozen blocks of turkey in the tub (I usually do 2 cases at a time, I've got a lot of big dogs), then half fill the tub with warm water. Close bathroom door (very important, I have found dogs elbow deep in the tub playing Bobbing For Turkey Necks) and wait a few hours. Drain the tub and you should be able to pull the turkey necks apart easily. It doesn't hurt at all to thaw and re-freeze - at the most it will dry out the edges a bit but won't affect nutrition.
2. I haven't had as much luck with this technique but a friend of mine has her hubby just drop the frozen block (removed from the box of course) onto the driveway a couple or three times. She swears he can break the necks apart pretty well while they are still frozen that way.
Way too funny, you sick twisted freak! :-)
I usually pack turkey necks in gallon sized ziplocks. I also thaw in the tub and I just pluck the necks off of the block as they thaw instead of trying to repack them all at once. They also pack better when they aren't completely frozen.
I hope this helps Reagan. Poor little girl! I also hope she recovers from her injury quickly!
It wasn't really that bad. I poured water over the necks, pulled a few apart with the ice pick and hammer, and then gave it some time to thaw. Repeat. They are just so big and inflexible. I could only get 2 in each container or gallon sized Ziplock bag. Since Reagan has issues, I do try to handle her meat with more care like you would for a human (keep it cold, minimize refreezing, thaw in the fridge). I think I was able to accomplish that.
Jen
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