[Grizcat68]

I'm looking at supplementing my dogs diet with some venison. This question is for the owners that use venison, do you worry about CWD (Chronic wasting Disease) or is all your meat tested. I'm just starting to do some research on this and was hoping that someone could "jumpstart" my learning.

 

[whiteleo]

Well, all the venison that I have got was from a hunter and processed through a butcher and the Venison that I have ordered through our raw fed co-op is grassfed farmed venison, kept to as much a normal diet and no outside medicines as possible.
Haven't had a issue but I believe that there was a thread on here about this topic that the wasting disease was in the head or something, I could be way off base.

 

[DaneMama]

CWD is only transmitted from one deer/elk to another. You and your dog would not be at risk for contracting the disease. People do worry about the prions mutating or changing to be able to infect people and other animals but who knows if or when that would ever happen. The prions are found only in the central nervous system of deer or elk and there is nothing that can kill them (people aren't even sure what prions are). The meat that I have ever gotten was from butchers and because CWD is common here all butchers are required to test for it.

 

[RawFedDogs]

Natilie is exactly right. CWD does not pass from elk/deer to canines or humans. There has never been a wild wolf found dead from CWD. They eat elk/deer all almost exclusively.

 

[magicre]

awesome....'cause in august, i'm getting venison and venison heart, liver, and lungs....

num, num.

 

[DavinL3]

To clarify one point on CWD

Hi all, saw this forum come up on my Google Alert. I am the CWD Coordinator for the Wildlife Program here in WI. Everything you have all stated is for the most part true, but I saw one misstatement that I wanted to correct. CWD causing prions are CONCENTRATED in the central nervous system, BUT they are PRESENT in meat, blood, and other organs, only at much lower levels.

And yes, it is true that CWD has not been known to natually infect other animals other than cervids (elk, deer, moose, etc.). The authorities on these things won't state that the risk is zero, but it is at leat very low.

 

[RawFedDogs]

The authorities on these things won't state that the risk is zero, but it is at leat very low.

Today the risk is zero. Sometime in the future that may or may not change. Wild wolves and other preditors are helping keep down the number of cervids affected by CWD by killing off and eating those animals that are infected. Those preditors are not affected by CWD.

ETA: Thanks Davin for your infomation. :smile: