I have a friend here that hunts deer every year (please do not turn this into a flame if you are anti-hunting) and he typically gets me venison for a small fee. This is the first year that I have had my greys and would like to give them some raw. I have given them the best cuts from what I have left over from last year's season. My question is this, I can get some of the lesser cuts ground up, and typically the butcher will add pork or beef fat to the ground mixture to make it easier to cook (venison is very lean so it burns quickly in hamburger form), would the addition of fat be a problem for my greys? I have read on other posts that raw fat given can cause Pancreantitus <SP?>. Is this something that I should be concerned about? If so, I will simply tell the butcher to NOT add any fat when processing my deer. Thanks.

Chad

I don't know about pancreatitis but I know my dogs can digest raw fat much easier than cooked fat (which gives them explosive diarrhea). I'd be curious how much fat is added. Because venison is so lean, it could be that the fat makes it similar to the fat content in regular ground beef - which I would say is fine and something that many people feed.

If you are giving it raw, I wouldn't worry about having any fat added

Agreed with what Trudy said. This is purely anecdotal and from my own experience, but if fat is going to cause a problem, it's usually pork fat. I've seen far less problems from beef fat, even fed straight up. Unless you have a hound that really needs to gain weight, I'd just keep it simple and give the venison plain.

Lynn

If your dogs have had ground beef before, they'd probably be okay with the venison. If you're worried, just give them a little bit at a time to get their bellies used to it.

I think the OP is intending the venison be for both the dogs and for the humans, and that's why he wants to add fat, to make it more palatable when cooking it for the humans.

Yes, I should have been more specific. I want to be able to make some burgers for myself, if so inclined. But most of the meat will be for my houndies.

I do believe that they mostly mix in pork fat, since it is cheaper than beef fat.

Thanks for the comments, it puts my mind at ease.

Chad

Have them mix up some for you and have them leave the rest pure for the dogs.
They shouldn't have a problem doing that.

We ground our own venison burger and what we did was add about 10% regular hamburger, not the extra lean kind. It was some of the best burger I have eaten, we used it in chili, spaghetti sauce, etc... You can have the butcher make two kinds, some with fat for the humans and some without for the furkids. I will not be getting a deer this year but hope to next year, and am looking forward to all the wonderful RMB's we will be able to get for Frankie! We butcher our own deer; I make sausage, burger, steaks and stew meat typically. The deer we hunt on DF's family's property eat the alfalfa they grow in neighboring fields and is some of the most tender, mild venison I have ever eaten, you have me drooling!