Almost makes me wish my dog was a vegetarian LOL....
Yuko, he did ingest some of the fur, right? Watching that video made me wonder if that's why my pup likes to eat pieces of fabric; he'll rip up his rag or crate cover and swallow the pieces. I had to stop covering his crate for a while, cause he would pull in the cover through the wire holes. Maybe he's just craving FUR!

 Quote: Sandy Moore

Yuko, he did ingest some of the fur, right?

Some? More like ALL of it! My dogs consume the entire rabbits and don't leave so much as a strand of fur behind. All that's left once they're done is splattered blood on the snow

This is Moka, my 11-year-old shepherd eating a deer head:

please check your URL bbcode syntax!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHi3NWY12Fk

My pup and her took turns on that head and by the time they were done, the only thing left of it was the deer's jaw and teeth.

I like your theory Sandy! My pup also loved chewing on soft fabrics as a baby (still does, under my supervision) but he never consumed any of it. He just shredded it and looked very pleased with himself
I guess dogs know if something's edible or not (well, some dogs... I've heard some pretty strange ingestion stories lol).

So if my dogs can handle tough deer hide, I don't worry about a rabbit's skin... I assume there's nutritional value to the skin/hide since they're always so eager to eat it up. I'll look into it!

Michele, yeah... I've been getting those wolf comments from astonished neighbours who sometimes pop in during feeding time to watch

I have also had to deal with the "raw meats will make your dogs vicious killers" myth from uninformed observers... to those people, I just show them how my dogs interact with my own rabbits.
My dogs are actually really good with my pet rabbits. Moka cleans the baby bunnies, lets them hop all over her and protects them when they're playing in the yard (all while munching up a fresh rabbit carcass that I gave her!). As for my pup... well, he's just finally learned not to chomp down on the (live) bunnies in my presence.



Jenni, that's good to know (interesting hint, about Steve's neighbourly interactions lol).

I'm actually very paranoid about parasites and worms from raw, so I'm very cautious about feeding wild prey. Usually I stick to farm-raised, government inspected human grade meats - deer included. And when I do feed wild prey, I take all the precautions I can, including long freezing.

But so far, my fears haven't played out. I get my dogs checked frequently for worms (especially after eating that deer head!!!) and so far, a clean bill of health for both puppy and senior, every time

My pup is getting more discriminating about what he ingests but somehow he can't get over eating the fabric shreds. Even that is getting less than before, thank goodness. But just when I think we've got it licked, something shows up in the aftermath. I'd rather it be fur than a long piece of fabric, if you know what I mean!

Wow, maybe you should start finding sources for fur/skin for Lear!

The great thing about natural prey's skin/fur is that it's very easily digested by the dogs. At first I expected the whole thing to come out the other end (and was worrying about it, lol).

However, no trace of the rabbit's fur in the aftermath. It's pretty cool how everything is so easily dissolved. I could show you their poop from eating skinless chicken thighs and poop from eating a whole rabbit (or deer head!) and you would be challenged to find a difference. I certainly can't tell them apart

Wow, that's cool...had no idea the fur would be digested like that and figured it would show up later. That's good to know.

As far as finding a source for skin or fur here, I can't even get a source for chicken backs. Every store I ask says they can't even get them cause the restaurants in the area have a high demand for them. Makes me careful what I order in restaurants now. No chicken ANYthing!

Well, Yuko, you certainly do have a "wolfy" boy! Was there something wrong with that rabbit that made your breeder friend donate it to the doggy food-fund? Or is that what the breeder raises the rabbits for?

You're an impressive woman! I wouldn't have a problem feeding my dog a freshly killed rabbit, but I would have a hard time doing the killing, especially if I raised rabbits! I realize that's the hypocrite in me, though. If I'm going to eat it (or feed it) then I should be willing to kill it!

Sandy:

This is probably something you've already explored, but have you talked to butchers as opposed to stores? I can't get anything but "normal" pieces of chicken from my local Stop and Shop, but my butcher has tons of backs/necks etc., and cheap, too.

I've been doing research on who has what in my area because I'm getting close to taking the plunge into all raw. I've been using those BARF meat patties so far.

On a side note:

When I asked the butcher if he has people that come in to get chicken parts for their dogs he told me that he has many who do, but that he doesn't do it with his dogs because of the bones.

I explained to him that the raw bones don't cause a problem and he said that it's not the choking he would be worried about. He said he regularly gets his hands badly cut from the bones in chicken necks. He said they're really sharp, even raw. I have to admit, it set me back a bit and made me worry!

I haven't given up though! While I do think my butcher is in a position to know about the sharpness of animal bones, I also don't think he can hold a candle to the thousands of people who feed raw here on Leerburg with nothing but positive results. Just look at Yuko's dog! Could he possibly look any healthier? He glows! And I can't help but think that giving her dog all of that freshly killed, natural prey makes her dog look at her like one helluva pack leader. She could lead my pack any day!!

Jenni: It is not a good idea to feed a dog raw wild game EVER! Wild game can carry a multitude of parasites and diseases such as trichinellosis. If people are feeding wild game they need to know this stuff, and at the very least what temps to freeze it prior to feeding it. Yuko is feeding a farm raised rabbit which is fine.

Amber when the butcher uses a knife and cuts through the bones he does leave sharp edges on the bones. Thats why it is good we feed our bones whole and not frozen.

Host animals represent a very specific habitat for a parasite. It's not that certain animals simply may not be carrying a given parasite, it's that they CAN not. Parasites have evolved to exist in their habitats the way anything else has, and that measns to the exlusion of most. However, they're usually viewed as indiscriminate hijackers of of any higher animal...but that couldn't be further from the truth

Take the weakest, sickest, most immune-compromised bunny, and inject it directly with human malaria and it'll still be a complete non-issue. Square peg, round hole.

Again, it boils down to understanding the risks of what you decide to feed. Making a blanket statement regarding "wild game" is fine if you simply don't want to look into the specifics.

But when I can feed my dog for free, and the trade off is an occasional worming of rather benign species, that's a fair trade.

Susan, why was your caution about trich directed to me? I have said nada about freezing/not freezing, etc. in this thread, however, I've mentioned feeding frozen venison in others. You have successfully confused me . I think we've satisfactorily discussed trich and parasites in other threads on wild game feeding that I can make a statement about perspective and parasites. Are they fantastic? No. Are they the absolute end of the world? No. Steve's dead-on. Each raw feeder needs to assess the risks involved in feeding a certain meat, weigh them, and take precautions within reason. People are phobic about parasites; I was just trying to offer a little perspective to what's often a "blanket statement" way of thinking about the hazards of raw feeding.

If I had to choose between feeding my mutts raw wild game and vaccinating them, I'd toss 'em a fresh deer head in a heartbeat-possible hazard vs. known hazard, in my (probably f'd up) way of thinking .

Please point me to it if I said something misleading that I've missed.

Yuko, I should send you my Christmas card from last year if you want something to gross out the neighbors. My aunt threw it and screamed. I thought it was rather tame.