What nutrients are in organ meats that make them a requirement in a dog's diet? What less disgusting food could be fed instead of organ meats?

My dogs get turkeys hearts too..... for some reason they will not eat raw liver, I think it's a texture thing with them, but they will eat it if it's cooked.

In the wild, when a wolf, coyote, fox etc, kill there prey, the first thing they eat is the internal organs, lungs, heart etc.

My dogs eat raw chicken wings like they are popcorn, crunch, crunch and there gone. They have no problem devouring cornish hens either.

Dobe, if your dog has never eaten "raw" before, maybe try something like small peices of steak. What your dog may like is if the meat is partially frozen....maybe partially frozen hamburg in little balls... at some point if your dog likes raw meat, try a frozen chicken wing. If your not quite comfortable tossing your dog a raw chicken wing, smash the bones in it a little first.....

One thing I like to recommend for peope just starting to change diets is to stay with their current diet, and add a tablespoon of live culture yogurt to every meal for a week or so.  Then start making changes.  Some people prefer to do a complete switchover all at once, others prefer to go slower.  I think fasting a day or so before changing the diet can be helpful, as I don't think kiblle and raw mix that well. If you are going to do some of both, I would do it on different meals, or even different days. That said, I'm sure plenty of people have done mixed meals and their dogs have been fine!

agilitynut, Brodie, Kyp!, and Arie