Safe to eat rabbit with wry neck?

[Luvmykiddos]

I have a rabbit that is starting to show signs of wry neck. We were going to send him to freezer camp today anyways, but I'm not sure if the meat is still okay to eat? I've read many different opinions as to what causes wry neck and since no one seems to agree on a cause, I thought I might ask here.

 

[ladysown]

cook the meat well through.

 

[Luvmykiddos]

Always!

Guess I was just concerned that while some of the reasons for wry neck didn't sound too concerning, one possible reason for wry neck is a parasite that attacks the brain. Naturally, the idea of eating something that has a parasite like that would concern me it could pass to us and that same parasite would do the same thing to us. :shock:

I just didn't know if anyone had any experience with this and what their thoughts may be on it. Thanks for your input!

Now my concern is that I seem to have come down with a poison ivy rash and I was handling all that meat yesterday. Eek!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I would discard all of the organs (don't feed them to your animals either), but it appears the meat would be safe.

From Barbi Brown's website:

It is an immune disorder caused by a tremendously opportunistic protozoa (microsporidia) that resides primarily in the kidneys in many (if not all rabbits) and when the immune system is compromised the parasite replicates ( by injecting spores through a polar filament into the host cells) and begins to migrate from the kidney through the blood stream to any organ in the body but most commonly the brain where it develops cysts on the brain. Another common depository is the eye which results in a chronic weepy eye. I believe that the location of the cysts on the brain causes a variety of symptoms and the severity thereof.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

 

[akane]

Cooked meat has no parasites.

 

[Happy]

Any disease caused by a parasite would be safe to eat, if thoroughly cooked. Any disease that is caused by a prion, such as mad cow, would NOT be safe to eat if thoroughly cooked. I don't know of any rabbit diseases caused by prions, but I know little to nothing about rabbits.

 

[Luvmykiddos]

I would discard all of the organs (don't feed them to your animals either), but it appears the meat would be safe.

From Barbi Brown's website:

It is an immune disorder caused by a tremendously opportunistic protozoa (microsporidia) that resides primarily in the kidneys in many (if not all rabbits) and when the immune system is compromised the parasite replicates ( by injecting spores through a polar filament into the host cells) and begins to migrate from the kidney through the blood stream to any organ in the body but most commonly the brain where it develops cysts on the brain. Another common depository is the eye which results in a chronic weepy eye. I believe that the location of the cysts on the brain causes a variety of symptoms and the severity thereof.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

I didn't see any signs of weepy eye, so hopefully that's not the cause then!

Cooked meat has no parasites.

Any disease caused by a parasite would be safe to eat, if thoroughly cooked. Any disease that is caused by a prion, such as mad cow, would NOT be safe to eat if thoroughly cooked. I don't know of any rabbit diseases caused by prions, but I know little to nothing about rabbits.

That's very good to know about the difference between cooked meat that had parasites versus prions. To be honest, I hadn't heard of prions before and didn't realize mad cow was a prion, not a parasite. This is the kind of information I was looking for and knew a wise veteran would fill me in! Thank you!

Guess I'm so used to grocery store shopping for meat, I've never had to think about these things, but now I'm having to learn first hand. I might have grown up half my life on a farm, but I was never told the nuts and bolts of these things. Something I hope to change with my children. Thank you all for your wonderful help!

 

[Happy]

IDK if you did any research, but prions are malformed proteins. Most prion-based diseases are classified as cancers, and most are not transferable through digestion. Mad cow is the only one I know of that can. And you're welcome, but I'm no veteran, just a guy with a bio degree.

 

[Luvmykiddos]

IDK if you did any research, but prions are malformed proteins. Most prion-based diseases are classified as cancers, and most are not transferable through digestion. Mad cow is the only one I know of that can. And you're welcome, but I'm no veteran, just a guy with a bio degree.

I did do a little research, but I didn't see anything about cancers. So this is good to know! CDC only said , "Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals."

Any additional thoughts on their definition you could shed some light on?

 

[Happy]

CDC would only concern themselves with transmittable prions, so it makes sense that they'd not list cancer, it's a little different (and might not be considered a prion from a purely medical perspective, I'm bio, not medicine). But it sounds like they're only listing mad cow too. I'm pretty sure mad cow covers it then.

Basically, when a protein malforms and causes a disease, it's called a prion. Since these won't be cooked out, they're dangerous. AFAIK, this only includes mad cow, but I've heard (but not verified) a similar malady in sheep that is transmitted through the lungs, so haggis would be out. Diseases caused by live parasite will be prevented by cooking, this includes most animal diseases. Once the animal is butchered, age can allow for certain bacteria to build up poisons that can't be cooked out. The most notable of this class of disease is botulism, which is harmless as a bacterium, but releases botulinum, which is a paralytic poison. Botulinum, you might be interested to know, is the active ingredient in botox.

Unless you want me to expound how a string of amino acids becomes a protein, you've got as much knowledge as I can give you about prions.

 

[Luvmykiddos]

Happy, that is fabulous information! Thank you! I'm definitely going to research this a bit more, because I'm fascinated by it. I appreciate you taking the time to get me started on my search!

 

[OneAcreFarm]

CDC would only concern themselves with transmittable prions, so it makes sense that they'd not list cancer, it's a little different (and might not be considered a prion from a purely medical perspective, I'm bio, not medicine). But it sounds like they're only listing mad cow too. I'm pretty sure mad cow covers it then.

Basically, when a protein malforms and causes a disease, it's called a prion. Since these won't be cooked out, they're dangerous. AFAIK, this only includes mad cow, but I've heard (but not verified) a similar malady in sheep that is transmitted through the lungs, so haggis would be out. Diseases caused by live parasite will be prevented by cooking, this includes most animal diseases. Once the animal is butchered, age can allow for certain bacteria to build up poisons that can't be cooked out. The most notable of this class of disease is botulism, which is harmless as a bacterium, but releases botulinum, which is a paralytic poison. Botulinum, you might be interested to know, is the active ingredient in botox.

Unless you want me to expound how a string of amino acids becomes a protein, you've got as much knowledge as I can give you about prions.

The most common human version of spongiform encephalopathy is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(CJD). The bad thing about these is it is almost impossible to kill them. When I worked in surgery, we had a patient that we did a brain surgery on come up positive for CJD. We had to throw out $50,000 worth of stainless steel surgical instruments because you cannot guarantee sterility after exposure to CJD, no matter WHAT you do to sterilize the instruments... :shock:

Here is some more info:
CJD belongs to a family of human and animal diseases known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Spongiform refers to the characteristic appearance of infected brains, which become filled with holes until they resemble sponges under a microscope. CJD is the most common of the known human TSEs. Other human TSEs include kuru, fatal familial insomnia (FFI), and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease (GSS). Kuru was identified in people of an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea and has now almost disappeared. FFI and GSS are extremely rare hereditary diseases, found in just a few families around the world. Other TSEs are found in specific kinds of animals. These include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is found in cows and is often referred to as “mad cow” disease; scrapie, which affects sheep and goats; mink encephalopathy; and feline encephalopathy. Similar diseases have occurred in elk, deer, and exotic zoo animals. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm