My dog eats rabbits whole

danny7299 · Jan 3, 2010

We have two outdoor dogs that guard the top of our farm land, this summer one caught and killed a rabbit (adult) , to my surprise after a little crunching , the dog swollowed the rabbit whole

I was just wondering what happens to the bones and skin , do they just pass through? Or do they stay in there?

exbdc · Jan 3, 2010

We have two outdoor dogs that guard the top of our farm land, this summer one caught and killed a rabbit (adult) , to my surprise after a little crunching , the dog swollowed the rabbit wholeI was just wondering what happens to the bones and skin , do they just pass through? Or do they stay in there?

Can be quite painful on the way out. We had a dog once who woke up the whole street howling after a similar incident. When we took him to the vets for a check up & he was AOK but sat down a little gingerly for a week.

Apache · Jan 3, 2010

Raw bones are fine and really this is what dogs eat in nature! There is a move to go back and feed dogs with a 'raw meat and bones' diet. Google it if interested!

Anything not digested should pass through the gut, adding volume to the faeces. This helps empty the anal glands, and feeding dogs processed food with low faecal volume may cause the glands not to empty, requiring a trip to the vets (dog rubs bum on ground).

Raw bones are perfectly fine to eat and they break like a wet stick, whereas cooked bones become brittle and snap (like a dry twig) and create shards that may perforate the intestine.

NEVER FEED YOUR DOG COOKED BONES!

I have seen a Labrador who used to operantly swallow rabbits whole. Sometimes he would vomit it back, but rarely.

It's nothing to worry about!

Apache · Jan 3, 2010

Oh, a quick afterthought,

dogs and cats can catch tapeworms from rabbits so dogs that indulge in this sort of behaviour must be wormed regularly (at least every 3 months but possibly as often as every 6 weeks!)

Dane · Jan 3, 2010

We worm out dogs every 2 months.

For the simple fact, they love rabbit! they will regularly go into woods (private wood, with fence al, round but we have access from our land)

They bring rabbits back and munch them happily.

Normally start by tearing its head off though and eating that.

Some times i stop them, but others i dont.

Then there are the people that go shooting on the land, they sometimes chuck them a rabbit

Leave em to it lol, they got food down, but they choose to catch there own