# What to do with rabbit parts?



## cabevizzo (Jun 3, 2009)

For those of you in surburban areas, what do you do with your rabbit parts after butchering? Obviously hide is tanned and used. Someone mentioned blood going in the garden, some parts to dog, and the rest in compost. Can blood go directly into a garden, or would it have to compost in the garden dirt first how poultry droppings have to composted first as they are "too hot"? What parts go to the dog and do you feed them raw or cooked? I understood that meat and dairy cannot go into regular compost...wanted to verify this and wondering if there is a special composting system used for meat/bones. Any other ideas on what to do with heads, guts, limbs, feet, tail, etc. on a small lot? I'm not sure about burying or throwing in with regular garbage. Thank you!


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## Jesse L (Nov 6, 2008)

Alot of people will sell the other parts that are unused for animal comsumption.


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## crickett (May 31, 2009)

Can you use the feet for those key chain things? Oh, and the innards, (heart, liver, brain) can be used as catfish bait! Although I've heard of people using the brain to cure the hide. I'm not sure how that's done though.


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## Cece6 (Feb 21, 2009)

I never thought of using the guts for catfish bait, great Idea!!!
But I wouldnt waste the liver and kidneys, I am saving those up in the freezer for a fry up.
Im not sure what to do with the head, It seems like alot of waste to throw out.
We just double bag our guts and throw them in the garbage.I think I will always plan my butcher days on Sunday so they guts wont sit in the trash all week.The blood is dumped in a hole and buried.I dont want animals digging in my garden so I havent tried it in there yet.
I tried giving the ears and stuff to the dogs and they wont touch any of it.The cats wouldnt either.But they will eat rabbits they catch themselves(go figure)..


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## crickett (May 31, 2009)

Maybe if you fried them? My own dog and cat will eat anything, including bees, lizards, and grasshoppers! HA HA!  (don't mean that I feed them those things, they go catch them by themselves!)


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## ladysown (May 3, 2008)

heads are good sellers to the raw fed dog crowd. I sell mine for $1 each.

if you have ***** around...don't bury the blood or guts. blood into the toilet or down a drain. the guts can go into the freezer (double bagged) until garbage day. OR find a lonely country road and dump them there. They will be cleaned up quickly by critters.


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## bbkaren (Oct 28, 2008)

ladysown said:


> heads are good sellers to the raw fed dog crowd. ...


I KNOW there's nothing wrong with this at all. And I guess I'm just still squeamish...

But when I think of giving the dogs a bowl of rabbit heads it just seems...macabre lol

I would like to investigate the whole raw feeding thing, and feeding the whole rabbit doesn't bother me at all--it's just creepy for me to envision a bunch of heads.



Must work on desensitivity training...


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I won't feed the heads to my dog - she likes to carry them around and let them "age" a bit and the idea of hitting one with the mower turns my stomach!

I put them in the kennel with her, but she'll hide them and wait until I'm letting her out and then while I'm busy, she'll sneak back in and bring them out. There are times I wonder if I'm going to miss that dog when she's gone . . .

Since I don't live in town, I take the "parts" out to the back corner and leave them in the trees. It's far enough from the house that even the dog does not go back there by herself.

Cathy


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Cece6 said:


> I never thought of using the guts for catfish bait, great Idea!!!
> But I wouldnt waste the liver and kidneys, I am saving those up in the freezer for a fry up.
> Im not sure what to do with the head, It seems like alot of waste to throw out.
> We just double bag our guts and throw them in the garbage.I think I will always plan my butcher days on Sunday so they guts wont sit in the trash all week.The blood is dumped in a hole and buried.I dont want animals digging in my garden so I havent tried it in there yet.
> I tried giving the ears and stuff to the dogs and they wont touch any of it.The cats wouldnt either.But they will eat rabbits they catch themselves(go figure)..


Have you tried giving the guts to the dogs? That's the most nutritious part and the part canines eat first when they kill an animal.


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## denaliguide (Aug 30, 2008)

we'd feed our dogs salmon heads all summer and they loved them. Rabbit heads arent a lot different to me, once you get used to butchering them.
I like selling my extra parts to the raw feeders as I know they wont be wasted.

DG




bbkaren said:


> I KNOW there's nothing wrong with this at all. And I guess I'm just still squeamish...
> 
> But when I think of giving the dogs a bowl of rabbit heads it just seems...macabre lol
> 
> ...


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## ladysown (May 3, 2008)

it's not a bunch of heads...it's usually one at a time.  and depending on the dog..it won't be around long enough to creep you out.


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Cliff said:


> Have you tried giving the guts to the dogs? That's the most nutritious part and the part canines eat first when they kill an animal.


Define "guts". I can see my dog eating heart, kidneys, liver. I can't see him eating lungs, stomach, large and small intestine. Maybe it's just me. I just can't imagine anything wanting to eat poo-filled intestines, and the stomach is full of grass and stuff the dog won't like. I would love to have a good use for intestines, stomach, and lungs.


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## Bamboorabbit (Jan 22, 2009)

While I agree with you on the intestines the lungs are no problem and are included in our dogs raw diet.


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## Willowynd (Mar 27, 2005)

I have fed headless, skinned rabbit to the dogs before (I normally feed raw anyhow), I plan to feed the dogs with the rabbits I raise. My concern is that if I feed them recognizeable parts, that they will associate the live animal with food. I have had a dog before when I raised rabbits that cleaned out my rabbitry in one afternoon about 19 yrs ago....so call me gun shy. Took me 18 yrs to finally start up again. So I feed anything that does not have fur or feathers on it and defeet everything. So any guts, wonderful...but I would not feed heads of anything but fish. I would think if you could find raw feeders that want heads though, that would be a good market. I am interested in hearing other ideas for the heads. So far the only ones I have had were from deaths or a malloclusion (so put down) and the heads and feet all went in the burn pile. I would like to make rabbits feet to sell, but so far have not bought the supplies to do it.


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## sandman (Aug 30, 2008)

ive been raising rabbit soley for dog food and occational one for me, he eats EVERYTHING. fur head guts stomach everything. i mean u wont even find a little tuft of fur on the ground. if ur gonna try feeding to the dog and he doesnt want any part of it. dont feed him for a day and then the next day toss in the head intestines and whatever else u wont use and im sure he will eat it. after that he will probably love those snacks. oh and i feed myne raw and whole. worst case scenario there are lots of raw feeders these days that would love to take that stuff off your hands.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Ha! Bud D won't eat the fur. I have to take it off everything except the feet and head. Then he's fine with it.

Never gave him all the guts before, but don't know why not. He's forever digging under the cages to get at the bunny berries -- he thinks they're fine snack food! 

He also love the lights (lungs). They're the first thing he wants when I'm butchering. Cats get the kidneys sometimes. The liver and heart, though, are for the humans. We love 'em!


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

turtlehead said:


> Define "guts". I can see my dog eating heart, kidneys, liver. I can't see him eating lungs, stomach, large and small intestine. Maybe it's just me. I just can't imagine anything wanting to eat poo-filled intestines, and the stomach is full of grass and stuff the dog won't like. I would love to have a good use for intestines, stomach, and lungs.


Actually the stomach contents are one of the first things wild canines eat. I read something about the partially digested contents providing them with something they need, don't remember details.
They eat the poop that comes out of the intestines if they can, so why not the intestines? Remember they're dogs, you're thinking like a human.


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## sandman (Aug 30, 2008)

cliff i believe the content of stomach and intestines give beneficial bacteria to the dogs allowing them to digest food better and get more out of it. similair to green tripe.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Our rabbits have a lot of green ingesta (eg grass and other plant materials), the dog also gets a serving of "vegetables" with his rabbit.

Bud D Dawg eats a lot of grass on his own. We think he may be part goat, as he prefers weeds to lawn grasses.


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## KWink (Mar 2, 2021)

Well I've made Scottish Haggis before from scratch, and it's just a big sausage made with the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep stuffed into a cleaned stomach bag with toasted oats and spices... When everything's ground up it all looks the same, and it's nutritious as long as the animal was healthy.


turtlehead said:


> Define "guts". I can see my dog eating heart, kidneys, liver. I can't see him eating lungs, stomach, large and small intestine. Maybe it's just me. I just can't imagine anything wanting to eat poo-filled intestines, and the stomach is full of grass and stuff the dog won't like. I would love to have a good use for intestines, stomach, and lungs.


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## Wellbuilt (Dec 25, 2020)

I don’t use the head and haven’t tanned a rabbit hide in 25 years . 
I put every thing in the stew pot , hart , liver , feet 
I can’t compost food stuff here ,is brings in the bears . 
any thing I clean go’s to the dump or I wrap it up in news paper with cotton twine and throw it off a cliff on the other side of the mountain , every thing gets eaten .


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