Turkey- Toxic to our yorkies?
 

Turkey is a good quality meat that is highly digestible and has good quality amino acid profile. It is not toxic to dogs (as already noted by Jean Fritz). Turkey is indeed considered a high tryptophan protein and, as noted, tryptophan is an essential amino acid.


Where the earlier rumor could have been started is that aromatic amino acids (like tryptophan) can build up in the blood during liver failure.


The higher concentration of aromatic amino acids to branched chain amino acids (i.e. valine, isoleucine, and lysine) in blood can result in high brain uptake of certain amino acids that contribute to unusual brain neurotransmitters. This is one of the proposed mechanisms of hepatoencephalopathy: the seizures, and neurologic signs that sometimes occurs with severe liver failure. In other words, feeding a very high tryptophan concentration is typically avoided in animals with liver failure and I suspect this is where the concern arose over Turkey and Yorkies. On a relative basis (compared to other proteins) - turkey is high in tryptophan, however, it is also pretty high in branched chain amino acids - so the overall effect is not significant for most dogs. I would be more concerned about controlling total protein intake and assuring good protein quality than completely avoiding turkey as a protein source for shunt dogs.


In severe cases, it may be necessary to feed low AA:BCA proteins (like cottage cheese) along with protein restriction - but this is unnecessary for most.


And, for corrected Yorkies or Yorkies without shunts - Enjoy the turkey!

Turkey
 

I hate to disagree, but my breeder and my Vet said Turkey and pork is not for yorkies, I trust what he sais and my breeder actually gave me an article I will have to look for it.

mine wont eat turkey anyways.....SMART GIRLS!

Actually, the problem with turkey and dogs is NOT the tryptophan, but the fat in turkey SKIN. Too much of it can cause pancreatitis. The meat itself is of no concern and is a common ingredient in many dog foods, raw, canned, and dry.

For that matter, ANY fatty cuts of meat are not good for dogs.

Agreed.

I had never heard anything bad about turkey? I JUST bought some ground turkey too....to mix into rice and veggies...just to give them variety ( I usually make chicken breast or ground chicken). So I shouldn't feed this to my girls?? I guess I need to do a search....

Ground turkey is fine as far as I know...It's in many books and is listed as an ingredient for many dog food recipes. The skin is where the problem lies...It has too much fat and their little bodies can't handle a lot of fat. I use ground turkey for home cooked meals for Emma all the time.

thank you! I remember back in "the old days" there wasn't so much thought about what to feed your dogs! Seemed easy....now my head hurts everyday! LOL!

turkey
 

My husband thinks I am crazy everytime I tell him she cant have this, but with that being said, yorkies are so prone to pancreatitis and they are so small once they have pancr they are prone to have it again it is very serious and some even die so I follow what the vet and breeders say and steer away from turkey, mine does love chicken and rice though.

That's totally understandable...If someone's yorkie has a sensitive digestive system, then you have to be very careful what you feed. I agree 100%.

But we feed an only homecooked diet in our home, and we've read several books on dog nutrition. This comes from vets with decades of experience with homecooking for dogs, and many recipes call for ground turkey.

Feeding a homecooked diet is not like feeding table scraps...Feeding table scraps are not good for dogs because all of the seasonings and salt and the amount of fat in the foods we eat with all the oils and butter and such. I agree, we don't give our dogs anything off of our plates. No way! I don't want them to end up with pancreatitis. We cook specifically for them what they can have, no seasonings or sodium.

I am not sure what is correct or not, but I know my vet said to stare clear of turkey and pork...so that is what we do. Mojo enjoys chicken and the occassional lean ground beef w/ his vegies.

hey
 

Ok, all of these posts have convinced me to stick to the ol' regular dog food. I would hate to feed something harmful to my yorkies. Thanks so much for the input.

turkey
 

Dont forgo all food there are a lot of options for cooked food like I said mine loves chicken and rice, I boil the chicken breast then put in into the chopper, she also loves yogert, cottage cheese, cheerios,and apples are now her favoite snack.

I agree, don't just not feed real food because of a discussion on turkey. Tead some books on dog nutrition, you will see that dog food is not necessarily the way to go...
Please, go to your library, or amazon.com and order Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Health for Dogs and Cats...
Regardless of whether or not you feed turkey, this book is amazing.
And if you choose not to give turkey, you can use ground chicken or lean ground beef as a substitute.
My dogs eat apples, watermelon, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken, and all kinds of stuff... You just have to make sure that what you're feeding is okay for their digestive systems. There are some foods that you're supposed to stear clear of.