Venison in Dog Food - Dog Nutrition DB

Venison is an uncommon ingredient in dog foods, used as a source of animal protein in mainly premium and novel protein diets.

Contents

Fresh Venison

In culinary terms, venison can refer to the meat from any antlered ungulate such as deer, elk, moose, caribou, antelope, or pronghorn.

But in dog food terms it is mostly a synonym for deer. Deer are hoofed ruminants belonging in the family cervidae.

When a dog food contains “venison” as an ingredient, it generally means deboned fresh deer meat. Fresh meat can include small amounts of fatty tissue, sinew, nerves, skin, or blood vessels^[1].

So, “deboned venison” is basically the same as “venison“.

Most venison in the United States is sourced from New Zealand and Australia, the world’s largest producers of free-range venison.

A price spike some years ago led many US pet food brands to remove venison from their dog food recipes. As a result, venison is still mainly used in premium and novel protein products.

With only about 2.250 tons of venison used each year in dog foods, venison is still an uncommon ingredient compared to beef (≈136.000 tons), lamb (≈59.000 tons) or pork (≈9.000 tons)^[2].

Venison is a red meat and provides a gamey flavor.

Due to the wild nature and diet of deer, their meat typically has higher moisture and protein content, a greater variety of amino acids, and lower calorie and fat content than beef, pork, or lamb.

According to Deer Industry New Zealand, deer is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins such as niacin, zinc and iron.

Please note that game meats can be high in purines. That’s not relevant for most dogs but can be important for some.

Nutrients in 100 g^[3]	Deer^a	Beef^b
Water	71.2 g	58.1 g
Energy	157 kcal	293 kcal
Protein	21.8 g	15.8 g
Fat	7.13 g	25 g
Ash	0.88 g	0.77 g
Amino acids
Arginine	1.29 g	1.03 g
Histidine	0.646 g	0.512 g
Isoleucine	0.929 g	0.697 g
Leucine	1.64 g	1.23 g
Lysine	1.76 g	1.3 g
Methionine	0.505 g	0.405 g
Threonine	0.818 g	0.61 g
Phenylalanine	0.818 g	0.615 g
Tryptophan	0.192 g	0.08 g
Valine	1.05 g	0.774 g
Fatty acids
Saturated	3.36 g	9.57 g
Monounsaturated	1.34 g	11.4 g
Polyunsaturated	0.394 g	0.609 g
Cholesterol	80 mg	75 mg
Minerals
Calcium	11 mg	21 mg
Iron	2.92 mg	1.79 mg
Magnesium	21 mg	15 mg
Phosphorus	201 mg	145 mg
Potassium	330 mg	244 mg
Sodium	75 mg	66 mg
Zinc	4.2 mg	3.87 mg
Copper	0.14 mg	0.056 mg
Manganese	0.014 mg	0.009 mg
Selenium	10 µg	14.3 µg
Vitamins
Vitamin C	0 mg	0 mg
Vitamin A	0 µg	4 µg
Vitamin E	0.45 mg	0.17 mg
Vitamin K	1.2 µg	2.4 µg
Thiamin	0.547 mg	0.044 mg
Riboflavin	0.287 mg	0.151 mg
Niacin	5.7 mg	3.8 mg
Pantothenic acid	0.69 mg	0.446 mg
Vitamin B₆	0.464 mg	0.301 mg
Vitamin B₁₂	1.87 µg	2.11 µg
Folate	4 µg	8 µg
Choline	87.9 mg	51.6 mg
Betaine	12.9 mg	8.4 mg

^aground, raw
^b75% lean meat, 25% fat, raw

Venison By-Products

Some manufacturers use venison by-products.

These are the secondary products “other than meat” that are not used for human consumption for various reasons.

In general, mammalian by-products include blood, bone, fatty tissues, or organ meats such as venison tripe, kidney, liver, spleen or lungs.

By-products are not generally inferior to meat. And version by-products are often labeled as properly named ingredients making it more transparent what goes into dog food.

While connective tissues indeed provide low nutritional value ingredients like venison bone can provide additional minerals and organ meats are nutrient-dense ingredients.

Venison Meal

Venison meal can be sed as a protein source for dogs. It is a concentrated form of venison, processed into a protein powder.

To create venison meal, venison tissues are ground and cooked at high temperatures to remove moisture and fat, a process called rendering.

This technique recycles venison by-products into a high-protein meat meal that can be included in pet food.

Venison meal is an affordable option to supply animal protein to dogs, and it’s considered a nutritious and safe ingredient.

Nevertheless, the quality of rendered venison meal can vary depending on the raw materials used or the rendering protocol.

And there is little information available on the nutritional composition of venison protein meals.

Fresh Venison

Venison By-Products

Venison Meal

Further Reading