Rabbit Hearts and Livers

[rabbitatfarm]

Growing up, I watched my uncles reward their dogs with the heart and liver. Now I think many would agree that is not a good thing because of bacteria, disease, etc. I'm just wondering has anyone ever cooked them? I like the heart, gizzard and chicken livers so I'm wondering what about rabbits. After all. some eat "mountain oysters." I would think cooking them, if not for humans, would make them safe as a dog food supplement. Any thoughts or experience?

[Gabby's Beagles]

YUCK lol ! My uncle also used to reward his beagles with heart and liver. I won't do it for reasons you mentioned plus worms.

[warddog]

The only bad thing about internal organs is that they harbor parasites. The bacteria should NOT be an issue unless the one cleaning the rabbit contaminates the internal organs with fecal contamination. This would be absolutely no different than eating beef, pork, chicken turkey or any food animal internal organs. The internal organs are considered to be bacteria free until they are contaminated by the processor. NOW, if one was to thoroughly cook them as they would normally do meat and poultry then you will have cooked the crap out of them and they will be safe to eat. You will also have cooked the life out of any parasite and they too would become an ingredient at that time. I have condemned many food animal internal organs for parasitic lesions in my 30 years as a meat and poultry inspector. By the way mountain oysters are very good too!

[ericwaddle3]

I always save and eat the livers from my tame rabbits, never have a wild one though.

[mybeagles]

I feed heart, liver, kidneys, head, front leg to dogs every hunt. Not sure why you think it's so dangerous. How do you keep a dog from eating all the other nasty stuff they come in contact with when they hunting? My dogs eat raw chicken every day, raw venison, raw fish.

I give a PPO wormer every 3 months but don't get loose stool or appearance of any worms.

Am I missing something? I was told by vet nutritionist that feeding a raw diet creates a very acidic stomach which doesn't allow parasitic worms to survive. Maybe that's part of it.

[Crow]

I feed heart, liver, kidneys, head, front leg to dogs every hunt. Not sure why you think it's so dangerous. How do you keep a dog from eating all the other nasty stuff they come in contact with when they hunting? My dogs eat raw chicken every day, raw venison, raw fish.

I give a PPO wormer every 3 months but don't get loose stool or appearance of any worms.

Am I missing something? I was told by vet nutritionist that feeding a raw diet creates a very acidic stomach which doesn't allow parasitic worms to survive. Maybe that's part of it.

Save this front legs. When u get a big mess fix em like chicken wings & toss them with your favorite buffalo wing sauce. We call em rabbit wings (I know not the most original) and they're always a big hit.

[adirondackjoe]

just so i'm clear. i've always feed mine some heart and liver. is it bad? if it is i'll stop. also the front legs are my favorite part of the rabbit.

[Bigboy kennel]

Don't see anything wrong with it.

[likeemfast]

I think Houndsmen would eat them

[Hippy]

Have for many years feed every thing but the entrails-Heart, Lungs, Liver and Kidneys- ----To each his BUT we all know they eat a whole lot worse things that we do not know or want to know about

Jim

[pcable]

Was just talking to my Dad earlier about my Grandmother and how good she liked rabbit liver and onions! My uncle would bring them to her when his friend killed tame rabbits. She absolutely loved them!

[gunslinger]

You guys gonna make vegetarians out of your dogs before you now it, if you have a good worming program then you have nothing to fear. Like has been said your dogs eat a whole lot of things worse than that and they will like you better if they get a reward. Plus it helps them keep their strength up while your hunting all day.

[tom summers]

I have been doing it for nearly 40 yrs learned from my dad and I do not have an issue with worms in my dogs.

[steve w]

Mine get the organs as well as an occasional head or shot up part, not to mention they catch one every now and then and the first thing they eat is the guts.I can't say I never see any worms but I'm not bothered with them constantly.

[warddog]

As I have previously stated the only problem with internal organ eating is that they are the most probable place tapeworms infiltrate through their life stages. The tapeworm in rabbits uses the liver as the primary vehicle of the life cycle. In beef, pork and other red meat mammals as well as fish tapeworms use muscle tissue which can consists of any muscle within their body. The eggs hatch in the intestines and then migrate to the organs to mature. When I kill any wild animal I always inspect the viscera (internal organs) looking for possible signs of disease and or parasitic infestation. The lesions I mentioned previously look like small white spots on an infected liver which could very well be scar tissue from a previous infection or actual tapeworm cysts. These could also be TB as they have kind of the same appearance as a small tapeworm cyst. If you see this type of TB cyst in the internal organs and you can squeeze one between your index finger and thumb to rupture it, you will feel the contents are gritty or like small sand particles. if they do not have this texture the cyst is not TB but could be that of a tapeworm. Infected livers tend to have the appearance of light or white sawdust sprinkled in them that could be an indicator of tapeworm infection at one time or another. The tapeworm cyst has the appearance of any other cyst which is a small balloon looking thing with fluid inside that is adhered to the internal organs. Of course everyone is aware of trichina in pork which is not heard of much any more as consumers have learned of proper cooking to destroy the parasite. Proper heat treatment is the intervention for all these things and that is why internal organs should be cooked to temperatures that destroy not only the parasites but bacteria as well. Actually the guts of mammals are the perfect environment for the growth of all these things as it has everything needed for development and the parasites migrate out of the acid or PH of the internal stomach to it's surrounding tissues outside. The bacteria is also not dangerous either as long as it is confined inside the walls of the gut but as soon as they are allowed to be released they grow at a rapid pace in their quest for survival.