Ruptured stomachs on processing rabbits

[ColdBrook]

We sent 6 rabbit kits to freezer camp over the last few days from one litter of American Blue Chinchilla cross bunnies. They were 9 weeks old and just over the 5 pound mark. Method of dispatch was a pellet rifle, after which they were hung up by the hind legs for 10 minutes to bleed out. When we processed them, (bringing them in from the bitter cold outside to do the work in the kitchen) 5 of the 6 had ruptured stomachs.

We've never run into this before. Saturday, we butchered a litter of 5 from a different line that were around the same age (NZ cross kits) and none had that problem. I'm bewildered as to why all these kits had blown out stomachs. The rest of the internal organs looked fine. The kits, alive, were beautiful, healthy, active bunnies. - no health issues at all with the litter of 10.

Anyone have any explanation as to why this happened?

 

[mystang89]

Are you sure it wasn't from the butchering process? Maybe a slip of the knife? Only as because everywhere I look on the net it says they die when the stomach ruptures.

 

[ColdBrook]

That's what I thought with the first one, but after 5 of them had that and we were ultra careful after that first one to make sure it wasn't something we had done, and none of the other rabbits in any other litter having that problem when using the same processing method, I wondered if it had something to do with the breed? Something with the weather? Something with the way the gasses released? I'd have absolutely chalked it up to user error had it just been one!

 

[Dood]

When I first got my rabbit wringer I occasionally popped the stomach from pulling too hard but since you used a pellet gun here are some theories :

- the stomach is attached to the back bone area by a thin membrane that should be cut rather than pulled off to avoid the stomach from tearing (Grumpy's video shows it well)

- Just like every other genetic trait that can select for this trait may have been inadvertently choosen or was inherited from mom or pop

- The dilute colour in many animal species is associated with digestive disorders and the thin stomach wall maybe a side effect of selecting for good blue colour.

 

[Miss M]

How very odd! The only stomachs we ever ruptured were in our first litter, and happened because we weren't careful enough with the knives.

Dood's theories sound good to me.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

How odd. I have never seen anything like that.

I have accidentally ruptured a stomach before, and remember how hard it was to rinse the "grittiness" off of the meat. :x Were you able to salvage it?

 

[grumpy]

Don't know for sure, but the meat may well be tainted with the offal of the stomach contents.
Sort of like processing a gut-shot deer. That's always a nasty, smelly, job.

grumpy

 

[michaels4gardens]

I wonder- did you remove the feed from the rabbits to be butchered the night before butchering? could it be a full stomach at butchering? - I have never seen a ruptured stomach before [unless I got wild with the knife,] or did not free it from the membrane holding it to the back. In most of my rabbits the stomach will fall free when the verticle incision is made, -- but I have a line that has a tough membrane that holds the stomach in place, -- and-- if I pull on the stomach/ before I cut the connective tissue- it sometimes rips --I supose if I had a stomach full of feed, the weight of the stomach pulling on the connective tissue could cause it to rip when I opened the rabbit.

 

[BlueMoods]

Was it very cold outside where you bled them out? If so, then you dressed them where it was warm, the cold would shrink the stomachs, then the warmth expand them and, by then, they are easy to tear anyway so, the simple bit of pulling to skin and open the body cavity could easily tear the stomachs.