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Questions
Can dogs eat venison? Yes. Properly sourced venison can form part of a raw diet, and for dogs that have eaten mostly chicken, beef or lamb, it may also be a genuinely novel protein.
In New Zealand, venison has another advantage: we have access to wild, free-ranging deer alongside farmed venison.
But “venison dog food” can mean very different things.
An 80:10:10 venison mince containing meat, bone and organs is nutritionally different from boneless venison meat, venison organs, bones or a mixed-protein food.
This guide explains how wild venison fits into raw feeding, when venison can genuinely be considered a novel protein, the difference between the common feeding formats and what to know about wild sourcing and safety in New Zealand.
Looking for the food? Shop our Wild NZ Venison 80:10:10 Raw Dog Food or explore our Wild & Novel Protein collection.
Venison can be a useful red-meat protein within a well-planned dog diet.
Like other red meats, venison provides high-quality animal protein along with naturally occurring nutrients including:
iron;
zinc;
vitamin B12;
vitamin B6; and
niacin.
Venison is also generally considered a relatively lean meat.
However, the exact nutritional profile depends on the animal, cut and finished product.
A bag of boneless venison meat will not have the same nutritional composition as an 80:10:10 mince containing meat, edible bone and organs.
That distinction matters more than simply seeing the word venison on the packet.
It can be.
A novel protein is a protein your individual dog has not eaten before.
There is no universal list of proteins that are always novel.
For a dog that has eaten chicken, beef and lamb for years, venison might be genuinely new.
For another dog that has regularly eaten venison kibble, venison treats or raw venison, it clearly isn't novel anymore.
Before choosing a novel protein, consider everything your dog has previously eaten, including:
dry or wet dog food;
raw meals;
treats;
chews;
mixed-protein foods;
table scraps;
flavoured supplements; and
flavoured medications.
For a wider comparison of less-common proteins, read our Novel Proteins for Dogs NZ Guide.
Not automatically.
Venison is often marketed as a “hypoallergenic” dog-food protein because it is less commonly fed than beef or chicken.
That is not quite the same thing.
No animal protein can be guaranteed not to cause a reaction in every dog.
The useful feature of venison is that it may be genuinely novel for an individual dog.
When veterinarians investigate suspected food allergy, they may use a carefully controlled elimination diet containing a novel protein the dog has not previously eaten, or a hydrolysed veterinary diet.
The Merck Veterinary Manual explains that strict elimination and subsequent dietary challenge are used to confirm food allergy.
Treats, chews, flavoured medicines and other foods can interfere with that process.
If your dog has persistent itching, recurring ear problems or ongoing digestive symptoms, work with your veterinarian rather than simply rotating unusual proteins until the symptoms change.
Venison is meat from deer.
Our wild venison is sourced from free-ranging deer in New Zealand's South Island.
That is different from farmed venison.
Wild deer forage naturally and enter the pet-food supply chain through controls applying to hunted animals rather than conventional livestock production.
That does not mean “wild” automatically makes a product nutritionally superior.
What matters when choosing a dog food is still:
where it was sourced;
which parts of the animal are included;
whether other animal species are present;
how it was processed;
how it has been stored; and
how the food fits into your dog's complete diet.
We offer venison in more than one format because the products perform different jobs.
Our Wild NZ Venison 80:10:10 Raw Dog Food is made from 100% wild New Zealand venison and contains approximately:
80% meat;
10% edible bone; and
10% organ.
It is minced and formed into convenient portions.
There are no mixed animal proteins.
This makes it a straightforward way of feeding venison meat, bone and organ together.
Our Wild NZ Venison Meat Cubes contain:
100% boneless wild New Zealand venison muscle meat.
There is no bone and no organ.
That makes boneless venison useful when you want to:
build your own raw meals;
control the individual components of the bowl;
add another red meat to a protein rotation; or
use a simple single-ingredient animal protein.
But boneless meat does not perform the same nutritional role as the 80:10:10 product.
Not automatically.
An 80:10:10 ratio describes the approximate proportions of:
80% meat + 10% bone + 10% organ.
It is a useful raw-feeding structure, but the ratio alone does not prove that a food contains every essential nutrient in the correct amount for every dog and every life stage.
Nutritional adequacy depends on the complete diet.
That is especially important for:
growing puppies;
pregnant or lactating dogs;
dogs with medical conditions; and
dogs eating one recipe exclusively over long periods.
For more on building a raw diet, see our Raw Dog Feeding Guide NZ.
No.
Boneless venison is muscle meat.
It provides valuable animal protein and naturally occurring nutrients, but it does not provide everything required for long-term feeding by itself.
Most obviously, boneless meat does not provide the calcium supplied by edible bone or another appropriately formulated calcium source.
Depending on your feeding approach, a complete raw feeding programme may also need suitable amounts of:
organ meat;
essential fatty acids;
appropriate vitamins and minerals; and
other ingredients required to meet your dog's nutritional needs.
This is why it is important to read the actual product description rather than treating every packet labelled “venison” as interchangeable.
Venison is generally considered a relatively lean red meat.
That can make it useful when you want to include red meat without relying on particularly fatty cuts.
However, “venison is lean” does not mean every venison dog food has the same fat content.
Fat levels vary according to:
the individual animal;
the cut;
how much visible fat is included;
whether organs are included; and
whether the food contains other ingredients.
A pure boneless venison product and a mixed venison recipe can have very different nutritional analyses.
When fat intake is particularly important, use the analysis of the specific food being fed.
Venison may be useful as one ingredient in a lower-fat feeding plan because it is generally a lean meat.
But the fat content of the complete diet is what matters.
A lean venison ingredient could still be combined with much fattier foods.
This distinction becomes particularly important for dogs with conditions such as pancreatitis.
A medical condition should not be managed simply by choosing a meat that is commonly described as lean.
If your dog requires a medically controlled low-fat diet, discuss the complete feeding plan with your veterinarian.
Our 80:10:10 venison product contains meat, bone and organ, but all of those tissues come from one animal species: deer.
That makes it single-species.
This is different from some venison foods that combine venison with:
chicken;
turkey;
salmon;
beef;
lamb;
tripe from another species; or
mixed organs.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a mixed-protein recipe.
For everyday variety, it may be perfectly appropriate.
But it matters if you are deliberately choosing venison because you want to know exactly which animal proteins your dog is eating.
Always read the full ingredient panel.
Wild animals enter a different food-supply chain from farmed livestock.
New Zealand has specific requirements around hunted animals supplied for pet-food processing.
MPI documentation includes:
processor-approved hunter requirements;
supplier declarations;
harvest information; and
poison-use controls.
You can view the current MPI pet-food documentation here:
Commercial traceability matters particularly with wild animals because pest-control poisons may be used in parts of New Zealand.
This is an important New Zealand-specific issue.
MPI advises recreational hunters not to eat or feed dogs offal from wild-caught animals because some pest-control residues can concentrate in organs such as the liver and kidneys.
MPI explains the issue here:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/safe-levels-of-chemicals-in-food/residues-in-wild-animals
That advice should not be confused with commercially processed wild pet food entering a controlled supply chain.
Commercial wild material is subject to sourcing and processing controls, including documentation relating to where animals were harvested and potential poison exposure.
This is one reason buying through an established pet-food supply chain is very different from simply feeding organs from an animal hunted or found in the wild.
We would not recommend simply allowing a dog unrestricted access to a hunted deer carcass.
There are several things to consider, including:
where the animal was harvested;
whether pest-control poisons have been used in the area;
the handling and storage of the carcass;
bacterial contamination;
the size and hardness of bones;
the quantity of organs consumed; and
New Zealand guidance regarding wild-animal offal.
If you hunt recreationally, check current MPI, DOC and landowner information about poison use in the area before consuming or feeding material from wild animals.
Dogs can eat appropriately selected raw meaty bones, but raw bones are not risk-free.
The right bone depends on:
the dog's size;
chewing style;
dental health; and
previous experience with bones.
Large weight-bearing deer bones can be extremely hard and may increase the risk of tooth damage in dogs that chew aggressively.
Choose bones carefully and supervise your dog.
Never feed cooked bones.
Cooking changes the structure of bone and makes it more brittle and prone to splintering.
Our 80:10:10 venison contains minced edible bone, which is a different feeding format from giving a dog a large intact deer bone.
There is no special feeding percentage that applies only to venison.
For many healthy adult raw-fed dogs, approximately 2–3% of ideal body weight per day is commonly used as an initial estimate for total daily food.
It is only a starting point.
Actual requirements vary with:
age;
activity;
metabolism;
body condition;
reproductive status; and
the energy density of the food.
Use our Raw Dog Food Feeding Calculator NZ to get a starting amount.
Then monitor the dog in front of you and adjust as required.
If your dog is already eating raw food, introduction can be straightforward.
Start with a modest amount of venison.
Keep most of the meal familiar.
Avoid adding several new proteins at the same time.
Increase the amount gradually if your dog remains comfortable.
Monitor appetite, stools and body condition.
If your dog develops persistent vomiting, diarrhoea, lethargy, pain or other concerning symptoms, stop and seek veterinary advice.
If venison is being used as part of a formal elimination diet, follow your veterinarian's specific instructions instead.
Yes, venison can be used as an ingredient in an appropriately formulated puppy diet.
But growing dogs have specific nutritional requirements.
They require appropriate levels and ratios of:
energy;
calcium;
phosphorus;
protein;
essential fats;
vitamins; and
trace minerals.
Neither plain boneless venison nor an 80:10:10 ratio should automatically be assumed to provide everything a growing puppy requires.
If you are feeding a puppy a homemade raw diet, use a properly formulated plan.
Venison can be included regularly where the dog's total diet remains nutritionally appropriate.
The number of different animal proteins a dog eats is not, by itself, a measure of dietary balance.
A dog eating five different meats can still have an unbalanced diet.
Likewise, feeding venison regularly is not inherently a problem if the complete diet supplies the nutrients the dog requires.
The overall feeding programme matters more than simply counting proteins.
There is no universally best novel protein.
Each offers something slightly different.
Available as both a 100% wild NZ 80:10:10 blend and boneless wild meat, giving you flexibility depending on how you build your dog's meals.
Another wild New Zealand protein available in several feeding formats.
Read our Goat for Dogs NZ Guide.
A distinctly New Zealand wild protein that may be novel for many dogs.
Read our Possum for Dogs NZ Guide.
Available as a single-species whole-hare product containing meat, bone and organ.
Read our Hare for Dogs NZ Guide.
A particularly lean boneless red meat sourced from Australia.
Read our Kangaroo for Dogs NZ Guide.
A simple boneless red-meat option and an uncommon protein for most New Zealand dogs.
Read our Horse Meat for Dogs NZ Guide.
For the broader comparison, read our Novel Proteins for Dogs NZ Guide.
Raw venison should be handled using the same sensible hygiene precautions as other raw animal products.
We recommend:
keeping frozen food frozen until required;
thawing portions in the refrigerator;
keeping raw pet food separate from ready-to-eat human food;
washing hands after handling raw food;
washing bowls and utensils after feeding;
cleaning preparation surfaces thoroughly; and
not leaving raw meat somewhere warm for extended periods.
New Zealand Food Safety has reviewed the microbiological risks associated with raw meat pet food.
Further information:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/70305/direct
Extra care may be appropriate in households containing young children, pregnant people, elderly people or anyone with reduced immunity.
Yes.
Properly sourced, processed and handled raw venison can form part of an appropriately planned dog diet.
It may be.
Venison is novel only when your individual dog has not eaten it before.
No animal protein can be guaranteed hypoallergenic.
Venison may be useful as a novel protein for a dog that has not previously been exposed to it.
Venison is generally considered a relatively lean red meat.
The actual fat content varies between animals and products, so use product-specific nutritional analysis when fat intake is important.
They have different sourcing systems, but “wild” does not automatically mean nutritionally superior.
The important considerations are traceability, product composition, processing and how the food fits into the complete diet.
Not automatically.
80:10:10 describes the approximate proportions of meat, bone and organ.
It does not by itself prove that every required nutrient is present in the appropriate quantity for every dog or life stage.
Boneless muscle meat contains only small amounts of calcium and should not be relied upon as the calcium component of a raw diet.
Appropriate calcium needs to be provided elsewhere in the feeding plan.
Yes, venison can be included in an appropriately formulated puppy diet.
The complete diet still needs to meet the nutritional requirements of growth.
Commercially sourced organs can form part of pet-food products where appropriate sourcing and processing controls have been followed.
MPI advises recreational hunters not to feed untreated offal from wild-caught animals because some environmental and pest-control residues can concentrate in organs.
Appropriately selected raw bones may be fed to some dogs, but very hard deer bones can damage teeth.
Choose the type and size carefully, supervise chewing and never feed cooked bones.
The Raw Dog Food Co supplies 100% wild New Zealand venison in both an 80:10:10 meat, bone and organ blend and boneless meat formats.
Shop Wild NZ Venison 80:10:10 Raw Dog Food
Choose the format that fits your dog's wider feeding plan.
Shop Wild NZ Venison 80:10:10 Raw Dog Food
Shop Boneless Wild NZ Venison Meat
Browse Wild & Novel Protein Raw Dog Food
Read our Novel Proteins for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Possum for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Goat for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Hare for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Kangaroo for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Horse Meat for Dogs NZ Guide
Read our Raw Dog Feeding Guide NZ
Use our Raw Dog Food Feeding Calculator
If your dog has a medical condition, is growing, pregnant or lactating, or you are investigating a suspected food allergy, seek individual advice from your veterinarian or an appropriately qualified animal-nutrition professional.
Ministry for Primary Industries — Documents for pet food, animal feed and nutritional supplements
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/animals/pet-food-animal-feed-nutritional-supplements/documents-for-pet-food-animal-feed-and-nutritional-supplements
Ministry for Primary Industries — Poisons and other residues in wild animals
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/safe-levels-of-chemicals-in-food/residues-in-wild-animals
New Zealand Food Safety — Microbiological Safety and Suitability of Raw Meat Petfood
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/70305/direct
Merck Veterinary Manual — Cutaneous Food Allergy in Animals
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/integumentary-system/food-allergy/cutaneous-food-allergy-in-animals
Can dogs eat horse meat? Our NZ guide covers horse meat for dogs, novel proteins, lean boneless raw meat, nutrition, feeding amounts, dietary balance and safe raw feeding.
an dogs eat hare? Our NZ guide explains wild hare for dogs, hare vs rabbit, novel proteins, whole-hare raw food, meat, bone and organ, plus practical feeding, sourcing and safety advice.
Can dogs eat goat? Our NZ guide explains wild goat for dogs, novel proteins, raw goat mince, boneless meat, bones and organs, plus practical feeding, sourcing and safety advice.
