Feeding rabbit to dogs?

Question
Hi!

We have a beagle-chow mix and a husky-wolf mix, and they both eagerly chase down rabbits while walking through the woods.

The other day, Molly, the beagle mix, caught one. She let it go when it screamed, and it took off just fine. Molly looked at me like she had done something wrong. Was I incorrect in praising her? I don't mind if she chases them, and she caught this one because it got cornered in the barn. I'm not worried about her catching others...she's too slow!

Beyond that, a neighbor of ours raises meat rabbits. I was wondering...is it bad to get one and split it between the dogs? Do I cook it, or feed it raw? I've seen some places online where they advise not to feed any 'exotic' animals, and they list venison and rabbit on there. Something about an allergy diet? My grandfather used to breed hunting beagles, and after a hunt, he tossed the dogs that had brought in the rabbits the guts and 'discards'....I never noticed anything wrong with the dogs, but I was also about 8 at the time.

I would greatly appriciate your thoughts on this.

Answer
Hi Amanda,

It's probably best not to allow your dogs to chase wild animals of any kind. If they catch one, as your dog Molly recently did, they run the risk of contracting disease or parasites.

It's wouldn't be bad to get rabbit meat from your neighbor, and feed it to your dogs. Rabbit isn't considered to be an exotic animal, they're domesticated. In fact, many dog show breeders claim that the best coats come from feeding rabbit meat to their dogs. Rabbit has a lower in percentage of fat, cholesterol, and calories than chicken, turkey, beef, and pork. It's also highest in percentage of protein. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has stated that domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man.

You should just be sure that your neighbor slaughters the rabbits in a humane manor.

You may want to introduce the rabbit meat gradually, but that's true of any diet change. Too much of an unfamiliar food can cause diarrhea, so go easy with it at first.

I am not a fan of feeding raw meat of any kind to dogs. With raw meat there is always the risk of salmonella poisoning. Cooked bones of ANY kind are not safe to feed a dog because they can splinter. That said, if you ask ten different experts at the allexperts.com site how they feel about feeding raw meat to dogs, you might get ten different answers.
Even if you decide to let your dogs eat raw rabbit meat, you should  not let your them eat the entrails, because rabbits are intermediate hosts for tapeworms which can infect dogs.

To be on the safe side, cut the meat off for the dogs. It only takes a minute or two to do, and it can save you from a big vet bill. You can cook/bake rabbit in any way that you'd cook chicken meat.

I hope that helps!
Bon Appetite!


Patti