Rabbit

[icvanstra]

Not sure if I should put this in Medical or Feeding....

when I called the dogs in this morning Cino was extremely fixated on something in the yard, but it was too dark for me to see what it was.

when it got lighter I took a look and found a torn up rabbit. After laying in the snow for an hour it was still "soft" so I'm presuming that the dog's (probably Cino) just got lucky and caught a rabbit instead of finding a dead one. Over the summer I've seen quite a few rabbit's in the yard ... why they have taken refuge in the "dog area" of the yard I will never understand.

I cleaned up all the pieces that I could find, couldn't get all the fur (it was all over the place), and dug the blood out of the snow as much as I could.

So... my question is. What should I watch for? Or should I just be proud of my boy for catching his own meal and not worry about it?

....

Also, The rabbit was reported to leave behind his parents, 3 grand parents, 167 siblings, his spouse, 185 children, 589 grand children and 1087 great grand children...

[vneerland]

Also, The rabbit was reported to leave behind his parents, 3 grand parents, 167 siblings, his spouse, 185 children, 589 grand children and 1087 great grand children...

My condolances to the rabbits family. I hope he had a will. Dividing his assets over this children might otherwise turn out to be difficult.

As far as worry. Not until mrCino starts to turn green, or starts to spray out front or back side. I have had rabbit catchers, usually the smart dogs that observed the hook patten that they make when they flee, and anticipated the next move. One also applied that to cats (aim ahead of them) unfortunately. Arras once found a litter of newborn rabbits in my yard. I could not run fast enough to prevent him from snacking on it while they squaled with their tiny voices. Horrible guilt on my behalf, to this day. Arras survived the ordeal though.
For now, just assume that Cino hunted a fresh one. And if so, this might not be your last catch. (rabbits are pretty good when pan fried with mustard, BTW)

[Christie M]

Damn - Cino is lucky! Dante and Willow LOVE rabbit!! You should have let him finish it!!

As Judith mentioned, any diet change can cause stomach upset. So that is one concern. The only other thing is potential for him to pick up Tapeworms. You won't see evidence of that for quite a while if it did happen. Then the rice like segments will be hard to miss. A little dewormer from your vet and he will be fine.

I used to have a cat that would sneak out of the house by hiding under and in between the dogs legs in the morning. He would go out into the kennels with my dogs, and then quickly hop the 6 foot fence and hunt. Once he hopped through the open window while I was teaching a puppy socialization class - with a scream baby bunny in his mouth. That was GREAT socialization

Another time he caught a juvenile rabbit that was pretty big. I watched him laboriously drag the thing from the very back of the field. He then dragged it up and over the six foot fence, into the dog kennel. Poor cat worked SO hard just to have Dante pick it up and gulp it down whole. Cats really can have very expressive faces

[Marjolein]

Ivil is jealous! She has recently tried to catch a rabbit and finally found out what that heavy thing on one side of the collar was for...
Normally I would not expect anything weird, here thet sometimes eat raw chicken (bought!!) or cow bones, no problems. Just keep doing the worm-check

[vneerland]

@Christie:
I love the tales of the cat providing the distraction during puppy class. Feeling very sorry for the lost bunnies though.

Ivil is jealous! She has recently tried to catch a rabbit and finally found out what that heavy thing on one side of the collar was for...
Normally I would not expect anything weird, here thet sometimes eat raw chicken (bought!!) or cow bones, no problems. Just keep doing the worm-check

Ivil figured out what an Ecollar is then?
And I am sure that she ate more than just bought raw chicken. Your brindle is the worst critterer that I have ever 'met'.

[syzygy]

Well, dogs *can* get leptospirosis from eating rabbit poop--any sort of rodent pee or poo, actually, but since most dogs are vaccinated, probably not a worry. Rabbits are mostly known for carrying tularemia, which dogs and people can get--so watch for signs of that--like lethargy, fever, stiffness, etc. Probably highly unlikely. Wash your hands well after handling ooey-gooey rabbit bits. Many of my Borzoi folks hunt jackrabbits in open-field coursing and I have not heard of any problems there. Just keep an eye open for any changes in the next two weeks.

Rabbit stew is really good btw .

Ellisa

[Christie M]

Well, dogs *can* get leptospirosis from eating rabbit poop--any sort of rodent pee or poo

]

Rabbits are not rodents and I had not heard of that. Is it true that lagomorphs can spread Lepto? I personally don't vaccinate against it.

[Marjolein]

Ivil figured out what an Ecollar is then?

yup, and where I could warn her on a very low intensity level when she was getting in "the pose" (fixating, one paw up), I had to turn it all the way up, pressing several times with loud "sqeeukkks" as a result when she was actually chasing a rabbit... She kept running untill she really couldn't anymore because of the thing in her neck I felt bad a bit because I was too late, had missed "the pose". But hey, you can only discipline when you go looking for the problem I'm guessing next time she will only need one or 2 corrections to stop her
And to think she is so week in other area's

[vneerland]

Rabbits are not rodents and I had not heard of that. Is it true that lagomorphs can spread Lepto? I personally don't vaccinate against it.

Rabbits are not rodents? (for the dutch members: knaagdier) Is that status reserved for rabbits in Holland or Texas then?

[Christie M]

Rabbits are not rodents and I had not heard of that. Is it true that lagomorphs can spread Lepto? I personally don't vaccinate against it.

Rabbits are not rodents? (for the dutch members: knaagdier) Is that status reserved for rabbits in Holland or Texas then?

Rabbits belong to the order lagomorpha. The differ from rodents due to dentition and other things. I stole this from Wikipedia:

Lagomorphs differ from rodents in that:
they have four incisors in the upper jaw (not two, as in the Rodentia);
they are almost wholly herbivorous (unlike rodents, many of which will eat both meat and vegetation; the few recorded exceptions within the Lagomorpha occur among members of both Lepus and Ochotona, and involve the occasional foraging for carrion as a supplementary winter food source);[4][5][6]
the male's scrotum is in front of the penis (unlike rodents', which is behind); and
the penis contains no bone (baculum), unlike in rodents.
However, they resemble rodents in that their teeth grow throughout their life, thus necessitating constant chewing to keep them from growing too long.

[Marjolein]

Rabbits are not rodents and I had not heard of that. Is it true that lagomorphs can spread Lepto? I personally don't vaccinate against it.

Rabbits are not rodents? (for the dutch members: knaagdier) Is that status reserved for rabbits in Holland or Texas then?

Rabbits belong to the order lagomorpha. The differ from rodents due to dentition and other things. I stole this from Wikipedia:

Lagomorphs differ from rodents in that:
they have four incisors in the upper jaw (not two, as in the Rodentia);
they are almost wholly herbivorous (unlike rodents, many of which will eat both meat and vegetation; the few recorded exceptions within the Lagomorpha occur among members of both Lepus and Ochotona, and involve the occasional foraging for carrion as a supplementary winter food source);[4][5][6]
the male's scrotum is in front of the penis (unlike rodents', which is behind); and
the penis contains no bone (baculum), unlike in rodents.
However, they resemble rodents in that their teeth grow throughout their life, thus necessitating constant chewing to keep them from growing too long.

wow, I never knew that, neither did my school teacher