Labrador's Reaction After Owners Discover It Chewed Defrosting Turkey Goes Viral

A pet owner's Thanksgiving meal didn't turn out as planned after their cheeky Labrador decided to take a bite out of the defrosting turkey.

Remembering to take the bird out of the freezer in time to defrost and cook is one of the biggest challenges in the run-up to the holidays, which caught out Justin Litchfield.

Rather than letting it thaw in the fridge, as is recommended, Litchfield left the frozen meat on the counter instead, with the website BBC Good Food claiming you should traditionally allow 24 hours for every 2 kilograms of turkey.

Seemingly thinking nothing of it, he left the centerpiece unsupervised in the kitchen, which is where it caught the attention of his dog.

While the humans were distracted, the golden lab seized the opportunity to chew the bird, and took bites out of what Justin called its "ass."

He filmed the result, with the pink meat now sporting a few tell-tale bite marks.

Litchfield filmed the hilarious incident and shared the clip to his TikTok account, @justinlitchfield1, saying: "So we left our turkey out to defrost and came home and its whole ass is gone."

The video starts by showing the chewed-up bird, before capturing the dog's innocent reaction, as he stares at the turkey, while Litchfield then films himself laughing.

He seemingly confirmed they still ate the turkey, as he captioned the clip: "My dog has it coming to him. We're just gonna let the raw turkey do it's thing though."

The clip has amassed more than 16 million views since being uploaded on Thursday and can be seen here, as people found the pooch's reaction hilarious.

Danielle Malone commented: "I've never seen a look so guilty."

While Aniela thought: "He looks so innocent."

Sarah Tousignant wrote: "I can't just picture gnawing away, so good though, inconspicuously leaving it on the counter. Just one more bite they won't even notice."

Kdawg insisted: "This dog is innocent, he's been framed."

Agreeing, Tesla Boisseau added: "His eyes are saying the house was broken into."

While Bella & O'Hara said: "In his defense, he did leave you enough. He only took his share."

In the comments, Litchfield confirmed his dog had survived eating raw poultry.

"PSA: my dog is fine for people worried about him" also if you saw me defrost the turkey on the counter no you didn't," he joked.

Website Pure Pet Food claimed a dog's digestive system is equipped to handle raw meat, including turkey.

They said: "Yes, dogs can eat raw turkey but it's more likely to make them sick than cooked meat, especially if they aren't used to eating raw.

"Raw turkey meat, like any raw meat, also has a small chance of carrying bacteria like E. Coli or Salmonella so you need to be careful of cross-contamination."

Although they pointed out raw turkey neck is a great treat for dogs as it counts as a "raw meaty bone," and gives them a "boost of protein, calcium, and phosphorus."

And responding to numerous people claiming he should have thawed the bird in the fridge, Litchfield pointed out: "Guys if I defrosted it correctly we would have missed out on a good laugh. Happy Thanksgiving."

Newsweek reached out to Litchfield for comment.

Update 11/30/21, 4:16 a.m. ET: This photo in this article was updated.