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Ingredient file // Animal protein

Venison Lung

Lean organ protein, novel only if truly new

Venison lung is the deer's lungs, a lean organ meat that goes into raw frozen foods and dried treats. It adds protein and iron like other meat does. Its real value is keeping a recipe to one uncommon species.

What it is
The lungs of deer, a light, lean organ meat fed raw in frozen foods or dried as treats.
Made from
Deer lungs left over from venison slaughter
Main job
Lean protein from one species
Typical amount
Not published
Watch for
Raw handling, and other meats in the recipe
Not the same as
Venison muscle meat or venison liver

Straight answer

Is Venison Lung safe for dogs?

Read the whole list, not just the deer

Venison lung is real animal protein, lean and iron-rich, and a fine part of a venison recipe. If you chose venison as a novel protein, check every meat on the list, since any lamb, beef or chicken defeats the point. In a frozen raw food, handle it like raw meat.

Why it is in the food
Lean protein from one species

Our read // In our catalog

In 1 of every 1,068 foods we track

Share of foods that list it

<1%

3 of the 3,204 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 2 brands. 1 dog food topper, 1 wet dog food, 1 frozen dog food.

Each square is 1% of the catalog

Where it sits on the label

Median position 5. In the top five of 2 foods, so it is usually a main ingredient.

Top five List position, heaviest first

Above the salt

100%

Almost always listed before the salt, so there is more of it than a pinch.

Price per lb

Foods with it $40.83
All foods $3.25

Median of the cheapest bag price across 1 priced foods, 1156% above the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.

Who leans on it

67%

of the foods that list it are from ZIWI. 2 brands use it in total.

What it is

How it is made

Deer killed for venison leave organs alongside the meat. AgResearch in New Zealand has analyzed lung among venison offal as a candidate for new food products, and US rules keep livestock lungs out of human food.1,2,9,10

  1. 01 // Source Deer at slaughter Deer killed for venison. The lungs come out with the heart, liver and other organs during evisceration.
  2. 02 // Process Kept out of food US rules bar livestock lungs from human food, after 1969 work found dust, pollen, spores and rumen contents in airways.
  3. 03 // Process Chilled and frozen Raw lung is about 80% water, so it is chilled and frozen fast, or dried for treats.
  4. 04 // Output Frozen or dried lung Ground raw into frozen dog food, or dried into treats that test near 77% protein as sold.

What is in it

Composition, dry matter

82-85

% protein

Protein on a dry basis in raw lamb lung and a dried deer lung treat. Once the water is gone, lung is mostly protein with little fat.

Crude protein, deer lung 85.1%2
Crude protein, lamb lung 82.3%1
Crude fat, deer lung 9.1%2
Crude fat, lamb lung 12.8%1
Ash, deer lung 5.8%2
Iron, lamb lung 315 mg/kg1

Published deer lung data are scarce, so raw lamb lung stands in beside one brand's dried deer lung. Raw lung is about 80% water, and the deer figures are brand-declared for a single product.1,2

Why it is in the bag

What the manufacturer gets

  1. 01

    Lean animal protein

    Dry lung is over 80% protein and low in fat, so it raises a recipe's meat protein without adding much fat or many calories.1,2

  2. 02

    Keeps a recipe single-species

    A venison food that uses deer organs as well as deer muscle can stay on one protein, which matters for dogs eating it as a novel protein.4,5

How much No dog trial has fed venison lung at a set amount; the closest data are poultry assays of freeze-dried beef, pork and sheep lung.3

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.

  1. Brands say

    A lean, high-protein organ meat

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Raw lamb lung is 16.7% protein and 2.6% fat, about 82% protein on a dry basis. A dried deer lung treat lists 76.6% protein and 8.2% fat. This is measured composition, not a promise.1,2

  2. Brands say

    Lung is rich in iron

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Raw lamb lung carries 6.4 mg iron per 100 g, about 315 mg per kg dry. True, but a complete food meets its iron target with or without lung, so it fixes no gap. No deer lung figure is published.1

  3. Brands say

    Lung protein is easily digestible

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    In rooster assays, six freeze-dried raw meals, three of them beef, pork and sheep lung, ranged 90 to 96% for amino acid digestibility. Pork lung had the top protein efficiency ratio. There is no lung-only figure, and no dog or deer data.3

  4. Vets say

    Venison is a novel protein for allergic dogs

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Venison did not appear among the triggers in 297 food-allergic dogs, and the authors warn the list mirrors past feeding habits. In a 40-product test, 23 novel or hydrolyzed diets held undeclared species, and the kit could not detect deer.4,5

  5. Critics say

    Lungs are unfit because people cannot eat them

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    The US human-food ban traces to 1969 USDA work that found dust, pollen, fungal spores and inhaled rumen contents in livestock airways. That is a contamination concern, and no study shows harm to dogs fed lung.9

Straight answers

What owners ask

  1. Q01

    Is it just filler?

    No

    Dry lung is about 82 to 85% protein with little fat. It is organ meat that supplies real animal protein and iron, not bulk.1,2

  2. Q02

    Can my dog catch CWD from deer?

    No, lab only

    A test-tube method seeded dog brain tissue with CWD prions from 2 mule deer and 2 elk. After repeated amplification rounds, no dog prion protein misfolded, while classical BSE and sheep BSE did. That is lab evidence, not a live-dog study.7

  3. Q03

    Why is lung banned for people?

    Contamination

    The 1969 rule rests on dust, spores, pollen and inhaled stomach contents found in livestock airways. It is a cleanliness rule for human food, not evidence that lung is poor nutrition for dogs.9

Who uses it

Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps

Top brands, by foods that list it

  1. ZIWI 2 / 11
  2. Stella & Chewy's 1 / 85

Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.

Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it

  1. Venison 100%
  2. Venison Liver 100%
  3. Venison Tripe 67%
  4. Venison Heart 67%
  5. New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel 67%
  6. Lecithin 33%
  7. Parsley 33%
  8. Water Sufficient for Processing 33%
  9. Chickpeas 33%
  10. Lamb 33%
  11. Lamb Liver 33%
  12. Lamb Kidney 33%

On the shelf

Foods that list Venison Lung

3 foods in our catalog list it, highest on the label first.

ZIWI Air-Dried Venison Dog Food TopperZIWIZIWI Air-Dried Venison Dog Food TopperTopper // No. 4 on the labelStella & Chewy’s Venison Blend Frozen Raw Dinner Patties Frozen Dog FoodStella & Chewy'sStella & Chewy’s Venison Blend Frozen Raw Dinner Patties Frozen Dog FoodFrozen // No. 5 on the labelZiwi Venison Wet Dog FoodZIWIZiwi Venison Wet Dog FoodWet // No. 6 on the label

Sources

What we read

Checked October 1, 2026.

  1. 1 Lamb, variety meats and by-products, lungs, raw (USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy FDC 174359) USDA FoodData Central, via GetFoodFacts, n.d. // Database
  2. 2 Premium deer lung Perro (Delipet AG), n.d. // Industry
  3. 3 Protein quality of various raw and rendered by-product meals commonly incorporated into companion animal diets Journal of Animal Science, 2007 // Journal
  4. 4 Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats BMC Veterinary Research, 2016 // Journal
  5. 5 Undeclared animal species in dry and wet novel and hydrolyzed protein diets for dogs and cats detected by microarray analysis BMC Veterinary Research, 2018 // Journal
  6. 6 CVM GFI #158 Use of Material from Deer and Elk in Animal Feed U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2018 // Government
  7. 7 Unraveling the key to the resistance of canids to prion diseases PLOS Pathogens, 2017 // Journal
  8. 8 Get the Facts! Raw Pet Food Diets can be Dangerous to You and Your Pet U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2018 // Government
  9. 9 Would you like some lungs with that? Food Safety News, 2023 // Industry
  10. 10 Deer offal characterisation Bioresource Processing Alliance (New Zealand), n.d. // Industry
An ingredient on its own tells you very little. What matters is how much of it there is and where it sits in the list. That is why we weigh the top five rather than reacting to any single name further down. Back to the wiki

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