Edible

Is there any instances that render a domestic rabbit inedible for human consumption?

I prefer,... to not to eat rabbits that are "sick".. other than that.. "brining" older rabbits ,- in the fridge for a couple of days...makes them a lot more tender....[ brine,= 1 cup rock salt to 1 gal water...]

michaels4gardens":3bpthxwb said:

I prefer,... to not to eat rabbits that are "sick".. other than that.. "brining" older rabbits ,- in the fridge for a couple of days...makes them a lot more tender....[ brine,= 1 cup rock salt to 1 gal water...]

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Sick from an unknown illness? What’s your thoughts on eating a rabbit that had a runny nose? Or eye snot? Something minor?

I don't worry about "minor things", -- personally, I cull all rabbits with any kind problem , and eat them ..
Rabbits hide their pain/ illness so well, that unless they are very sick.. you won't even know they are sick, unless you know them very well and notice "off behavior," , or notice food or water consumption has changed...

There isn't anything that isn't rendered harmless when you cook the meat, and there isn't much to start with anyway that might pose a problem for a rather healthy human. I don't discard meat because of some illness or issue, if that would make much sense wild rabbits, or any game, would be unedible no matter what.

Only sick rabbits I didn't eat was when there was a myxo outbrake and I had no freezer back then, buried some I had to cull, but that was more a storage problem.

Thank you both for your replies. Being new to this all, the internet can be your best friend and worst enemy. You can read tons of great information, but you can also read stuff that makes you think they’re just crawling little fluffy diseases.

Luckily RT seems to have quite a few knowledgeable people that are willing to help newcomers out!

Chubbybunnies":2pfqkr59 said:

Thank you both for your replies. Being new to this all, the internet can be your best friend and worst enemy. You can read tons of great information, but you can also read stuff that makes you think they’re just crawling little fluffy diseases.

Luckily RT seems to have quite a few knowledgeable people that are willing to help newcomers out!

Click to expand...

Best place EVER!!!

I have found that anything to do with the gut = dog food as it tends to give an off flavor to the belly meat. Taint, it is called. The dogs don't mind, I do.

Having said that, the only way I know the flavor of taint is having eaten it. :lol:

Anything like nose or eyes, those get culled and eaten. Ulcers get carefully cut out and buried. I had a line of rabbits very prone to them many years ago now, often the only way to know one had one was to find it when butchering, they really do hide their weaknesses really well.

An old buck, in my opinion, MUST be brined or it tastes gamey. Yep, I know that one from experience too.

The internet could put one off breathing, never mind eating something slightly off normal :roll: and don't even get started reading about wild game, the amount of misinformation out there, blimey!!! :shock:

I agree with the other posters. Risk is minimal from eating a domestic rabbit with minor health problems.

Runny eyes or nose could be signs of pasteurella, the dreaded "snuffles". It won't make the meat inedible, but it is a serious disease for the rabbits and can spread among them quickly.

Also, keep an eye on the rabbit's liver when you butcher. There is a disease called coccidiosis that results in white or yellow nodules on the liver. If you find this, discard the liver but the rabbit meat is unaffected and may be consumed.

If you haven't been saving the livers, please give them a try. Rabbit liver is far tastier than you can imagine. Saute in butter with a little salt and pepper, just until the liver is cooked through. You can cook the kidneys and heart along with it. Rabbit liver is so good, even liver-haters often love it.

I used to get it all MaggieJ, until my kids caught me enjoying it, all fried in garlic butter over pasta.....

Mmmmmmm.

Now, I have to share. :roll:

At least you still get some rabbit liver, GBov. All I have is the memory of it.

Forgot to mention, that the gall bladder must be carefully removed from the liver so it doesn't break and spoil it. It's a little greenish sac half hidden between the lobes of the liver, attached by a thread-like strand. It can be pulled off carefully - do not squeeze! - or carefully cut out along with a bit of the liver. At first I used to cut most of the liver away so that if I goofed and broke it, I only lost a small piece of the liver.

MaggieJ, I don’t think I could get the lovers down. I am a very open minded eater, will eat anything twice, but I’m going to have a hard time stomaching that. I think the dogs are just going to get it.

GBov, what are you currently raising? Do you find Rex’s have a harder time in Florida with the more dense fur?

I was just looking for IF YOUR RABBIT HAS THIS, DO NOT EAT!! Lol since I’m not eating the inside, steer clear of the intestines and gull bladder and I’m good to go.

I have done some dressing out in the past, so I have a basic knowledge, but I am far from a professional. I sure it will come with many hundreds rabbits though.

I plan to cull relentlessly and only keep and continue to invest in the best and the direction I want to go in. My wife gets attached, but the whole reason I started was to produce my own meat, while giving it the best life until the end.

Oh MaggieJ, that made me so sad! One of the best foods ever and so hard to get if you don't have your own. I would post you some but can you imagine the state of them if they got delayed? Ewwwww!

CB, I have had Florida White, New Zealand, Local Mutts, Angora, Lion Head and Rex - both mini and proper - and of them all, the Rex do very well indeed. Funny enough, the Florida Whites I had did very poorly in the heat, their ears are too small for Florida so they cant exchange body heat very well.

Angora did surprisingly well and the NZ always looked miserable but no heat losses, unlike the FWs which would die in the heat way to easily.

Kits born in the heat of the year sometimes grow bigger ears to help with keeping cool but it can cause the ears to flop over, which is a fault if showing. I always thought it was cute.

Local Mutts are good for learning on but I love having a goal with my rabbits, it makes them so much more interesting and fun. Right now my goal is to get the stellar fur and shoulders of Full Monty (my castor buck) into the harlequin and tricolor rex we got a few months ago. They have the color and the in your face friendliness that I want but their fur is just slightly not good enough and they need beefier shoulders. Both for the look of them and because shoulder meat is the richest on the rabbit and I use the hides for blankets and pillows and the shoulder area is the toughest on the hide so more of it is better.

Your goal is great, happy bunnies = wonderful meat. It won't stop there though, new goals will creep in as rabbitosis gets an even firmer hold on you.