How to do feet?

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GBov

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I have someone wanting a few rabbits feet so go on, how do I preserve them?

As a start I put 10 feet into a strong salt brine and its in the fridge now. Was going to just slow dry them in the oven but then thought someone here might know. :D
 
When I did Dobby's feet, I put them in a borax bath for 24hrs, took them out and dried the fur, then put them in pickling salt for 3mths. The instructions I found said that you only had to put them in the salt for a month, but I didn't want to look at them again for a while, so...

They turned out pretty well.
 
Those several months methods are unnecessary. This method will forever preserve any reasonable sized animal foot without risk of bacterial growth in nearly 5 days.
Materials:
-70% or 90% Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol
-Borax
-2 containers large enough to hold the feet
-Sink
-Paper towels / cloth
-Liquid dish or hand soap
-Animal feet

First take your chopped-off rabbits' (or any animals') feet and wash them in a sink using a bit of soap and by bathing it in a container of water. Continue this until the water stays clear, this indicates enough of the blood and dirt has washed off .

Take the rabbits' feet and put them in a container (does not need to be much larger than what is needed to fit the feet) of either 70% or 90% Isopropyl Alcohol. This alcohol is also known as Rubbing Alcohol which you can get cheap at any local pharmacy. Leave the feet in this container for a minimum of 48 hours (there is no maximum, the longer the better, but any more than 3 or so days is probably unnecessary).

Once the soaking time for your feet in alcohol is completed, prepare a saturated Borax solution in a container of similar size. Do this by dissolving Borax powder into warm water while stirring until no more Borax dissolves, but rather gathers at the bottom of the water in the container. 20 Mule Borax is an old powder laundry detergent that you should be able to find at any big retailer like Wal-Mart or Target. Take the feet out of the alcohol, squeeze them lightly in a sink or outside just to get any excess alcohol out of them.

Next, place the feet into the Borax solution and stir briefly. Let the feet sit again for a minimum of 48 hours in the Borax solution. Once again, you can leave it for as long as you need in this solution, but more than 3 or 4 days is likely unnecessary. Once you are done soaking, take the feet out of the solution. Wash them briefly in the sink to wash off any attached Borax crystals on the fur.

Dry the outside of the feet using a paper towel just until the fur feels dry and fluffed. Leave the feet out anywhere you wish (preferably inside) and they will dry to completion. You can tel if they are completely dry by trying to bend the joint that connects their lower leg (calf) to their foot. If it does not bend, all of the muscle inside has dried and the foot is 100% preserved and safe to be handled.

How it works:

The Alcohol works very fast and displaces all of the actual water (H2O) that is inside the feet. It works very fast due to its volatile nature. Once you take the feet out of the alcohol bath, they now are fully moisturized with Alcohol rather than water. At this point, you could technically leave them out to dry and they would be preserved, though they would still be susceptible to long-term bacterial growth when dry.

Instead, to seal the deal, you bath the feet in Borax solution. Because the Alcohol is still just as volatile, it is displaced by the Borax solution just as fast as it displaces the water. Now the feet are fully moisturized by a Borax solution. Borax is a anti-bacterial chemical that will inhibit growth of bacteria in the feet. As the Borax-saturated feet dry, the solution leaves microscopic Borax crystals inside the muscle and tissue of the feet, making them 100% preserved from bacterial growth or rot.
 
lereg15":2wanp41q said:
How much borax do you use for the solution?

I just read his instructions. He said, "by dissolving Borax powder into warm water while stirring until no more Borax dissolves, but rather gathers at the bottom of the water in the container."
So, the amount of borax would depend on how much water you had. Use as much as will dissolve.
 
I know this post is a little older, but I'm hoping I can get some feedback.

I just "finished" the wet part of the process for my very first feet. They were in alcohol for 3.5 days and the borax solution for almost 5 days (because I just didn't have time to pull them out sooner.)

I encountered an unexpected issue:
Three of the four front feet had about a 1 inch "sleeve" of skin and fur longer than the bone... and it didn't occur to me that the alcohol and borax solution might not penetrate that sleeve if it wasn't flipped inside out. After rinsing and towel drying, I did think to flip them inside out and found that there was still very pink meaty-looking muscle tissue in there. It smelled like alcohol, but it looked identical to the pink flesh you would cook - not white and sort of dehydrated like the bits of flesh and bone on the tops of the hind feet. So, not wanting to soak them again if it isn't necessary (or advisable) I dipped the newly-exposed tissue in dry borax, leaving the sleeve pulled down to keep the tissue in the open air. I'm hoping that will further dessicate that tissue and prevent bacteria and odors... and that once dry, I can brush off most of the dry borax, then flip that fur sleeve back right side out - forever encasing the borax and flesh inside that sleeve. Do you think this will result in anything unexpected or unpleasant down the road? Will the sleeve dry so stiff that I cannot flip it back the right way? <br /><br /> __________ Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:51 am __________ <br /><br /> I guess What I need to know is do I need to flip that sleeve back right-side out NOW before it dries - and if I do that, will the borax stuck inside the sleeve cause any long-term negative effects?
 
Question-

How long after they are pulled from the borax solution will it take before the TOES are no longer flexible? The front feet feel dry already, the sleeve of skin has pretty much turned hard and can no longer be peeled open... but the toes are still as easy to bend as the day they were cut off the buns. They are not going to stay flexible forever, right?
 
alforddm":26dolwkx said:
I dry mine in my dehydrator. You can also pack them in salt but they need to be dried.

You do this after the 3 days in alcohol and three days in borax solution? I got the impression that air drying was the final step in this method....
 
What if you're looking to dehydrate the feet for dog treats? I have a few friends looking to buy them off me after our butcher days as treats for their dogs. I don't have a food dehydrator, could I use an oven? How would that work?
 
i don't even use borax on mine, lol. i just soak them in alcohol for a couple days then set them out on a towel in front of a fan to dry. it usually takes 3-4 days before they're totally dry, but it makes it nice so you can make sure they dry in a position that is pleasing. a friend of mine even dried bobcat paws this way, which are way more meaty than rabbit feet. i think borax is to help if you live a really humid area, but i live in houston, which is horrible humid year-round, and i've never had problems. makes it nice and easy haha, no spending weeks or having to move the feet from solution to solution.

i would imagine that alcohol-only would be okay for dog chews as well? the theory is that the alcohol replaces the water in the meat and tissue then evaporates which dries them out, so theoretically there shouldn't be any more alcohol in the foot once you give it to your dog. my dog is way too big to get more than 3 seconds of entertainment out of a rabbit foot or ear so i haven't really looked too much into it though. i'm curious to know if it's an acceptable method, because i'd love to sell ears/feet that won't do well for keychains as dog chews for some extra cash and a way to use more of the animal.
 
LPH_NY":1unlpr6i said:
alforddm":1unlpr6i said:
I dry mine in my dehydrator. You can also pack them in salt but they need to be dried.

You do this after the 3 days in alcohol and three days in borax solution? I got the impression that air drying was the final step in this method....

I used this method post by slightlyredneck on youtube. I just put the feet in alcohol for 4 day then squeeze out as much alcohol as possible. Then I rinse them in running cold water. Then I place them in a1 1/2 cup mason jar with two tablespoons of borax for four days. Then I use a blow dryer to dry the fur, stopping every so often to brush the mats out and continue with the dryer until all fur is dry. Then I just sat them on a paper towel for a couple days to air dry the inside portion of the feet. They turn out great as for how long the will last with out rotting I could not tell you. Since this is the first pair of feet I have done and they just got finished last week. :D
 
I would just dry in the oven following instructions for jerky. If you're drying for dog treat you don't want to use rubbing alcohol. I suppose you could use something like Everclear but that would probably get expensive.
 

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