Liver treats; how much is too much?

[VTJess03]

Can too many liver treats cause any problems? I am trying a new treat (all it is is freeze-dried beef liver chunks) and the container recommends 1-4 treats daily depending on the size of the dog. She absolutely loves them, though, and it is making her training on some new things go much faster. When I am trying to get her to learn something new, I treat a lot, and don't want to cause her any problems.

Besides making her fat, can the liver cause any problems for her? How much do you guys think would be too much?

[BC_MoM]

I usually break treats down into little bits and pieces... it's amazing what dogs will work for. :p

[CathyBogart]

Liver CAN cause an overdose of a ceratin vitamin....I'm having trouble remembering which one. It IS very good for them though, so don't be afraid to feed them!

What I've read is to make sure liver doesn't make up more than 10% of a dog's diet. I also break up my liver treats for Jasper, and they don't seem to motivate him any less.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

Large amounts of liver can cause Vitamin A toxicity, which affects muscles and bones. I don't know if that applies to dehyrated liver, but it probably does. I give Bailey a couple dehydrated buffalo liver treats each day, he loves them!

[dragondawg]

The maximum daily allowance for Vitamin A recommended by AAFCO (the folks that set the standards for the evil dry dog food industry) is 250,000 IU per kg of food.

[VTJess03]

Thanks guys! I was actually worried more the minerals (i.e. iron and magnesium) causing toxicity, but I thought it would be more a long-term thing and I have to keep switching up treats since Belle gets bored with them. I normally do break treats up, but these are actually crunchy, and pre-cut into small pieces, so it's very difficult for me to make them smaller.

I don't remember, is Vitamin A fat-soluble or water-soluble? I do remember that water-soluble won't build up in the body (like Vit. C -- extra just gets flushed out). Unfortunately, since there is only one ingredient, that probably varies in quality (beef liver), I don't have any kind of analysis on the container as far as vitamins/minerals, so don't know how many IU of Vitamin A she'd be getting from x number of pieces. Just the basic protein, fat, crude fiber, and moisture content.

Anyway, I am relieved by your responses. It doesn't seem that I'll cause her problems by treating a bit more than the container recommends, as long as I don't go waaayyy overboard (and that was all Belle was worried about :D )

[dragonfly]

Vitamin A is fat soluble.