# Whole Raw Rabbits Safe?



## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

I found a local rabbit farmer that sells Whole Prey Frozen Rabbits. Nothing was done to the rabbit - fur and eyes are still there.

Would you feed this to your GSD?

The rabbits are gassed. Is that safe to feed your dog a gassed rabbit? If so, should I be freezing the rabbit for a certain length of time before feeding it to my dog?


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

I would feed it!


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## Uniballer (Mar 12, 2002)

Does he know that his animals are free of tularemia? I have read that tularemia is not easy to kill without cooking the meat. The linked article says, "live bacteria have been found after 3 years in rabbit meat stored at -15°C."


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## Packen (Sep 14, 2008)

spacenuts said:


> I found a local rabbit farmer that sells Whole Prey Frozen Rabbits. Nothing was done to the rabbit - fur and eyes are still there.
> 
> Would you feed this to your GSD?
> 
> The rabbits are gassed. Is that safe to feed your dog a gassed rabbit? If so, should I be freezing the rabbit for a certain length of time before feeding it to my dog?


Don't know about the gassing part but whole wild rabbits have done no harm to my dogs, they catch and eat them regularly. People told me that it was dangerous but my dogs assured me that they could handle it


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

I am not sure about the missing part but my last GSD ate a few he caught leaving only the ears and toenails.


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

not sure about the "gassing" part. I really dislike autocorrect.


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## Packen (Sep 14, 2008)

You wil need to check out the type of gas/chemical used and if it somehow dissipates 100% from their bodies after killing em or if it is something that has a half life of a certain time and changes from poison to harmless after a certain amount of time. It just creeps me out a bit though.


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## bill (Nov 8, 2013)

I would ask my vet. Personally I would worry about; worms and disease.

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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

bill said:


> I would ask my vet. Personally I would worry about; worms and disease.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


meh......coyotes and wolves live off them. My vet had no concerns.


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

bill said:


> I would ask my vet. Personally I would worry about; worms and disease.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Ehh...I've order whole from a local source and from rabbits4u.com and have fed without a problem to my pup -always negative fecals and other than wellness exams no vet visits for my pup knock on wood!


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## bill (Nov 8, 2013)

Saphire said:


> meh......coyotes and wolves live off them. My vet had no concerns.


They get worms also!

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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

With most people using flea/tick/heartworm medications I really can't see the risk as most include wormers.

I've not heard of coyote or wolf populations being harmed by eating rabbits although they may have much stronger immune systems from eating prey and no medications monthly.

I don't use Hartford or flea topicals and still not worry about my dog eating wild rabbits he catches....free meal.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

The 'gas' most people use to kill small prey animals is Carbon Dioxide - made from dry ice. Suffocates the animal by removing the oxygen from the container the animal is in.

Tularemia is very rare now and most cases are from exposure to wild rabbits - not farm raised ones



> In the United States, although records show that tularemia was never particularly common, incidence rates continued to drop over the course of the 20th century, so between 1990 and 2000, the rate was less than 1 per 1,000,000, meaning the disease is extremely rare in the US today.


As for worms, the main type of worm to get from rabbits is Tapeworms from the FLEAS that use the rabbit as a host. If you are feeding wild caught rabbits I would freeze for 2-3 days to make sure the fleas are dead.

My gang catch, kill and consume several wild rabbits each year and have been doing so since we moved in here over 10 years ago. Only once have I had to treat for tapeworms.


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## Packen (Sep 14, 2008)

CO2 is perfectly harmless, I was mentally picturing Phosgene or something similar


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> The 'gas' most people use to kill small prey animals is Carbon Dioxide - made from dry ice. Suffocates the animal by removing the oxygen from the container the animal is in.
> 
> Tularemia is very rare now and most cases are from exposure to wild rabbits - not farm raised ones
> 
> ...


Agreed. :thumbup:


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I was picturing some big poisonous scary gas, but if its something harmless, I will feel better. I will ask her to make sure.

If I feed my GSD one of these, I'm sure he'll just leave behind what he doesn't want.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

My pet bunnies don't like this topic at all. HA!


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> My pet bunnies don't like this topic at all. HA!


Poor rabbit -my dogs have got them too-would never take a pic-when Anja got one I called the vet to see if I could bring it in-thankfully she didn't laugh at me


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

Oh and I've started raw-but think I will leave rabbit off the menu-lol


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## Suka (Apr 9, 2004)

Check out Rabbit info at Raw Dog Ranch Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch


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## TAR HEEL MOM (Mar 22, 2013)

I don't feed raw, but I did break down and give my GSD and my Lab a couple of deer forelegs yesterday, fur and all. They have had an absolute ball. I have never seen them so happy with any bone or toy. Only problem is the shepherd decided to bury his in the frozen yard and has made the top of his nose raw using it to try to cover the bone in the ice and freeze


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

So I bought my GSD a whole prey 3lb. rabbit - he didn't touch it! It's still lying there frozen the snow 3 weeks later. Guess I'll have to toss it in the garbage.


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

spacenuts said:


> So I bought my GSD a whole prey 3lb. rabbit - he didn't touch it! It's still lying there frozen the snow 3 weeks later. Guess I'll have to toss it in the garbage.


Maybe he senses its off?


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

Did you give it to him frozen?


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

Saphire said:


> Did you give it to him frozen?


It was still partially frozen, but alot of it was thawed. I think the day I gave it to him, it was somewhat warm out so it would have unthawed even more.

I don't think he knew what to do with it. I was disappointed, but I guess this proves he's not much of an animal killer.

What a waste of $9 though!


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

I bet if it was a live bunny he was chasing, he would know exactly what to do with it.

Is his regular diet raw?


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## spacenuts (May 30, 2013)

His regular diet is not raw, but he has been fed raw on many occasions.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Make a flirt pole out of it 

David Winners


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

One of my foster dogs killed a bunny, he left it by the door for us like a cat. My fiance went outside to clean it up and Dexter came out of no were behind him and ate it whole, it was a small size baby bunny. That was last summer.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

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My female shepherd some years back would catch and eat the unsuspecting wild rabbits that were stupid enough to go through her yard. She would eat the front end head and all and leave the hind quarters. ??????? She at times would also persue them over the fence into our neighbors yard catch them and bring them back over the fence into her own yard.


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