Ingredient file // Animal protein
Freeze-Dried Lamb Heart
Real lamb muscle, not a heart supplement
Freeze-dried lamb heart is raw heart muscle with the water pulled off under vacuum, leaving dry meat that is mostly protein and fat. It adds real meat, but its heart-health story has no dog evidence behind it.
Role in the food Supporting nutrient- What it is
- Lamb heart muscle that has been frozen and dried under vacuum, so it is dry but still uncooked.
- Made from
- Hearts from slaughtered lambs
- Main job
- A raw meat inclusion
- Typical amount
- Not published
- Watch for
- Raw meat bacteria, since freeze-drying does not cook
- Not the same as
- Lamb meal
Straight answer
Is Freeze-Dried Lamb Heart safe for dogs?
Count it as meat, not as medicine
Read it as a small amount of raw lamb muscle on top of the real recipe. The protein, taurine and fat that matter come from the meats and meals listed above it. Ignore heart-health claims, and if someone at home is at risk from food poisoning, ask the brand whether the heart is pathogen-treated.
- Why it is in the food
- A raw meat inclusion
- How common
- Listed by 1 of the 3,204 foods we track
Our read // In our catalog
In 1 of every 3,204 foods we track
Share of foods that list it
<1%
1 of the 3,204 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All dry dog food.
Each square is 1% of the catalog
Where it sits on the label
Median position 20. In the top five of 0 foods, so it is usually a minor ingredient.
Above the salt
Usually listed after the salt, which caps it at roughly 1% of the recipe in 100% of foods.
Price per lb
Median of the cheapest bag price across 1 priced foods, 31% above the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.
Who leans on it
100%
of the foods that list it are from Instinct. 1 brand use it in total.
What it is
How it is made
Hearts come off the lamb slaughter line as muscle that sells poorly as meat for people. Freeze-drying turns them into a light, dry meat that ships without a freezer and never meets cooking heat.1,2,6,8
- 01 // Source Lamb hearts Heart muscle from slaughtered lambs. AAFCO counts heart as meat, alongside skeletal muscle, tongue and diaphragm, not as a by-product.
- 02 // Process Frozen solid The raw hearts are frozen so the water in them, about 77% of their weight, turns to ice.
- 03 // Process Dried under vacuum Under vacuum the ice turns straight to vapor. No cooking happens, so bacteria survive; freeze-drying is how labs store live bacteria.
- 04 // Output Freeze-dried heart Dry, raw meat. In a chicken heart test, freeze-drying raised CoQ10 per gram about 3 times by removing water.
What is in it
Composition, dry matter
71
% protein
Protein in lamb heart once the water is gone. Fresh heart is 76.7% water, so the same meat reads only 16.5% protein raw.
Why it is in the bag
Real lamb protein, likely in a small amount
- Main nutrition
- Supporting nutrient
- Does a job
- Mostly filler
Heart is lamb muscle, about 71% protein and 24% fat once dry, so it adds real protein, not bulk. How much it adds depends on where it sits. Labels list ingredients by weight, so near the top it would be a main protein source. Listed after the meats, meals and starches, it is likely too small to change the food's nutrition. Our read on why brands add it anyway: a named, freeze-dried meat looks good on the bag.1,2
-
01
A raw meat on a dry food
Freeze-drying removes water without cooking heat, so a brand can add a raw named meat to a dry food. It is the same method labs use to store live bacteria.8
-
02
Protein without the water
Fresh heart is 16.5% protein and 76.7% water. Dried, it is about 71% protein, so each gram adds protein instead of moisture the plant must remove.1
-
03
A named meat on the label
Heart counts as meat under AAFCO's definition, so it appears as a named lamb ingredient rather than inside a by-product line.2
How much No source publishes how much a kibble holds. Ingredients are listed by weight, so a late position means a small share.2
Our read // The claims
What the evidence supports
Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.
-
Brands say
Freeze-dried heart is a concentrated protein
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Plain arithmetic. Raw lamb heart is 76.7% water and 16.5% protein; with the water gone, protein is about 71% of what remains, and fat rises to about 24%.1
-
Brands say
Heart is real muscle meat, not a by-product
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
AAFCO's meat definition includes heart muscle with skeletal muscle, tongue and diaphragm. That is a labeling fact, and it does not make heart more nutritious than other lamb cuts.2
-
Brands say
Lamb heart gives dogs taurine for a healthy heart
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Animal muscle is the richest taurine source, and raw lamb carries about 44 mg per 100 g. No dog study has fed heart for taurine, and in 131 dogs, lamb and rice diets gave the lowest blood taurine.3,4,5
-
Owners say
Freeze-drying makes raw meat safe
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Labs freeze-dry bacteria to keep them alive. A Guelph veterinary researcher says it probably makes no difference to Salmonella or Listeria, and FDA found Salmonella in 15 of 196 raw pet food samples.7,8
Straight answers
What owners ask
-
Q01
Is it just filler?
No, it's meatIt is lamb muscle, about 71% protein once dry, so every gram carries real nutrition. The fair criticism is quantity, not quality: the label never says how much is in the bag.1,2
-
Q02
Is the heart in my kibble raw?
Ask the brandFreeze-drying applies no cooking heat, so freeze-dried heart is raw meat unless the brand says it was treated to kill bacteria. Ask whether it is mixed in before or after the kibble is cooked.8
Who uses it
Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps
Top brands, by foods that list it
Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.
Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it
- Lamb Meal 100%
- Lamb 100%
- Tapioca 100%
- Peas 100%
- Canola Oil 100%
- Mixed Tocopherols 100%
- Citric Acid 100%
- Pea Protein 100%
- Montmorillonite Clay 100%
- Natural Flavor 100%
- Salt 100%
- Potassium Chloride 100%
On the shelf
Foods that list Freeze-Dried Lamb Heart
1 food in our catalog lists it, highest on the label first.
Sources
What we read
Checked October 1, 2026.
- 1 Lamb, variety meats and by-products, heart, raw (USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy, FDC 172527)
- 2 What's in the Ingredients List?
- 3 Taurine concentrations in animal feed ingredients; cooking influences taurine content
- 4 The potential protective effects of taurine on coronary heart disease
- 5 Plasma and whole blood taurine in normal dogs of varying size fed commercially prepared food
- 6 Determination of Coenzyme Q10 Content in Food By-Products and Waste by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Diode Array Detection
- 7 Get the Facts! Raw Pet Food Diets can be Dangerous to You and Your Pet
- 8 Freeze dried vs fresh vs frozen raw pet foods
- 9 Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats