# Wild rabbits, hepatitis, and dogs...



## fleabuskitty (May 25, 2012)

Does anybody know if dogs can eat raw meat from a wild rabbit that was possibly infected with hepatitis (as wild rabbits tend to be) without issues? Would freezing kill the virus?
I ask because I have access to dozens of free wild rabbits for my dogs, we just have to go to our neighbor's house in the evening and shoot them :tongue: My dogs love the whole rabbits we buy them at the butcher's shop and rabbits are the perfect meal for the Great Pyr puppy :smile:


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I haven't heard of that. We have three wild ones in our freezer now that Wayne shot on our property.


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## fleabuskitty (May 25, 2012)

People that I know have told me that wild rabbits can carry hepatitis? After much googling, all I've found out is that a lot of people feed their dogs raw wild rabbit with no issues, so I guess it'll be fine :smile:


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

I have fed hunted jack rabbit. I froze it for 2 weeks then thawed and fed. They loved it!


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## blue_dog (Mar 28, 2012)

This is good to know. We have some very young rabbits hanging around our yard and my neighbour was concerned about her golden getting a hold of one. I hadn't thought of it until she mentioned it. If he can catch one than free meal I guess, lol.  They're pretty cute though.


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## fleabuskitty (May 25, 2012)

I'm planning to freeze them for a while in case of worms and such. Yay, tons of free meat! Of course, the Great Pyr pup can eat two rabbits in a day and they love rabbit, so it won't last long :tongue:


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## pogo (Aug 28, 2011)

I know they can carry myxomatosis, but this can't be transferred to your dogs anyway so they are still fine to feed


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## kaliberknl (May 9, 2012)

Wild rabbits are often infected with Tularemia which is very dangerous to both man and dog.


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## fleabuskitty (May 25, 2012)

Is there a way to destroy that without cooking the rabbit?


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

fleabuskitty said:


> Is there a way to destroy that without cooking the rabbit?


You can cut it open and look at the liver for yellow spots before feeding it.


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## kaliberknl (May 9, 2012)

You do not want to touch wild rabbits. Ask your physician and veterinarian about Tularemia.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

No you can feed wild rabbits. I just did not long ago after a 3 month freeze. Tularemia is highly contagious. If you are feeding before winter, I would handle the rabbits with gloves as you can get it just by touching them and field dressing them. I check my rabbits for tularemia by checking their liver. If it has yellow or white spots, burn it and don't stick around the fire either. If not, it is safe to feed. By the way, you can get tularemia by bug bite (ticks, biting flies, mosquitoes) and dirt too. It is a nasty bacteria. 

After the first big freeze of winter, this usually kills off the rabbits infected with it, though I still check to be sure. 

No sense letting good rabbit go to waste. Rabbit is an expensive meat. I am currently looking to add more rabbit to my dogs diet as they apparently love it. 

Never heard of an issue with hepatitis. A quick google search didn't bring up much so I am assuming it is not a big issue. I don't think you could tell if it had hep just by looking at it (like you could with the more common tularemia) so how would you know either way?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I have been feeding wild rabbits, and will continue to. I think the risk is pretty low, and like all wild game its best to just freeze it first.


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## fleabuskitty (May 25, 2012)

Ok, I was planning on feeding them skinned and such since a whole rabbit is too much for Dan and Jackie (plus, we used to have a couple pet rabbits that Dan loved cuddling with. It might upset him ). Well, the person who told me that rabbits carry hepatitis said that if the liver is white it is infected and because of this they always wear gloves when cleaning rabbits. Maybe they got hepatitis confused with Tularemia. So I guess we will go rabbit shooting and have a fire on hand to burn infected ones XD


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