turkey heart

What it is

Turkey hearts are the cardiac muscle of turkeys — lean, taurine-rich tissue that reads nutritionally as very dense meat. They appear in turkey-based wet foods and freeze-dried treats.

Why it's in pet food

Same logic as every heart: named protein, natural taurine, no mystery. In single-protein turkey recipes they carry the organ slot without breaking the species story.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Turkey heart is a named protein source to the engine — the word "turkey" is what it reads. When it is the first ingredient it earns the 15-point fresh named-protein bonus on the ingredient-quality pillar; in any other slot it earns nothing, because only named meals score in the second and third slots. No deduction applies — an organ sold under its own name is the transparent version of what "by-product" hides.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list turkey heart

No food on the shelf lists turkey heart yet. Scan a bag that does and its label joins the catalog — versioned from the day it arrives.

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food
• ACVN — taurine essentiality in cats

Related ingredients

• beef heart
• beef kidney
• pork liver
• tripe
• turkey gizzard
• turkey liver

Further reading

• By-products and meals, without the panic
• Protein quality vs quantity — why the % is only half the story