My Schnauzer ate a Rabbit

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#1
On our walk today, my Giant Schnauzer actually caught a rabbit and ate it, sharing some of it with my Ridgeback.

Ugh....any thing to worry about here?
 

Saje

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#2
That your dog is a dog? I don't think so. I would worry because I have rabbits and I don't want them to be eaten! But what's to worry about?
 

smkie

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#3
Bronki did that..i worried about intenstinal parasites...and felt bad. I don't know why he ate the baby wild rabbits when he was tender and careful with kittens..I believe Renee has posted that her dogs have done it too....she said they didn't contact parisites from the rabbits...i can't remember which thread it was on...maybe she will come back and post. Bones that are not cooked are digestable.(not that i am advocating giving any bone to a dog on purpose) .it is the cooking process that causes them not to break down and become brittle where they can puncture the intestines..your dogs should be fine.
 
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#5
Mine eat rabbits, groundhogs, voles, barn rats (well, Kharma eats barn rats, the others just bring them and lay them on the porch for me). I keep an eye out on mine, but since they've been on the EVO there's not been a sign of any type of parasites. The only thing that I can explain that with is they seem to be getting what they need to let their bodies resist that kind of thing successfully. If you think about it, wolves and other wild predators don't seem to have problems with parasites.

You should have seen Shiva with her first groundhog. She wasn't sure how to go about eating it, so she brought it and layed down next to where I was sitting in the yard and proceeded to start on it - head first, with the tongue . . . GACK!
 

smkie

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#7
i read somewhere that the lion and the tapeworm work together..that the lion couldn't digest it's food without the tape worm...dont remember where i read it..and don't know if it is a fact for sure..but Mom remembers it too..sure doens't work that way for dogs.
 
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#8
I'd keep an eye on her, but don't worry too much. My dogs have caught lots of mice before.....had them in their mouths, etc. I don't think they've ever eaten them, but still. :)
 

Doberluv

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#10
My Lab use to hunt rabbits all over my land. She got them frequently and lugged them home, swaying with pride. Sometimes she'd barf up the whole thing on the lawn and the flies would come swarm immediately. It was disgusting. Guess who got to clean it up and pour soapy water on the grass? Once she got a baby and almost killed it but didn't. It was way too far gone to hope to save so I had to finish it off with a shovel. It was horrible! She got lots of babies. It made me sad.

My friend, Marjie had a dog who did the same thing. We'd call eachother on the phone every morning when the kids got on the school bus and we played the game, "Name That Carcass." (We weren't sure that it was always a rabbit.)
 

Doberluv

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#11
Oh, and anyhow, nothing adverse ever happened to her, unless that's what caused her liver failure which she developed at around 13 years of age. But she hadn't eaten a rabbit for about 5 or 6 years. I very recently had to put her down at almost 14. (sad)
 
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#12
Doberluv said:
My Lab use to hunt rabbits all over my land. She got them frequently and lugged them home, swaying with pride. Sometimes she'd barf up the whole thing on the lawn and the flies would come swarm immediately. It was disgusting. Guess who got to clean it up and pour soapy water on the grass? Once she got a baby and almost killed it but didn't. It was way too far gone to hope to save so I had to finish it off with a shovel. It was horrible! She got lots of babies. It made me sad.
You know, I hadn't thought about it before, but mine don't seem to hunt the babies - just adult prey. Strange, hmmm?
 

Doberluv

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#13
Really? Wow. Well, there's sure not much meat in a baby. Maybe your dog figured there wasn't so she'd just go for the adults.

Bonnie didn't always kill the babies. Sometimes they'd be unhurt and I'd tell her, "Drop it." And they'd go off. But often they were dead. It was not pleasant for me. It may be natural and all, but I'm a wuss when it comes to animals of any kind. LOL.
 
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#14
I had to get adjusted to the idea that dogs really are predators. It's kind of a rude shock the first time your darling, sweet, angelic pup comes in with something dead hanging from his or her jaws surpassingly pleased with him or herself! My first GSD, Purdue, only killed rats and snakes. Mickey, our Terrier taught him to do that, otherwise he'd probably have treated them the same way he did anything else that moved - as something to be herded and brought home, lol! He brought home all sorts of things over the years; everything from terrapins to oppossums and baby rabbits. When we had a pair of Bantams he even herded those. The first time they got out of their fence and into the back yard we heard him making funny noises and found him crouching with the hen cornered and his mouth very gently holding the little rooster down. We decided then that the chickens were safe enough out in the yard with the dogs, lol! He was a true herding German Shepherd - the kind you only found bred by old farmers who knew their dogs. He lived to be almost sixteen years old.

Bear was the first who really introduced me to the reality that there's no discernable DNA difference between a dog and a wolf. I saw that dog stalk and kill groundhogs that were sitting right next to their burrows! He was a GSD/Akita mix - and a deadly hunter.

Bimmer is just plain efficient . . . :eek: One of our friends, Gary, admires him so much. He's always telling people that Bimmer doesn't need humans to survive; that he's capable of fending entirely for himself.
 

lilly

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#15
one of my cats,Max, caught like 100000000000000 rats and brought then all to my dryer vent thats on the outside on our house :\. its either wut i just said, or all the rats crowded there and breated eachother carbon dioxide and they all died right by it
and also i just found some new presents made by max.3 birds and 2 rats.1 of them (a long time ago) (in winter)was dead in my snow house!
 
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#16
Rabbits live under our shed. At times we bring them out food. Once, a few years ago, Colby caught one....she's always been a good hunter. I don't remember how many mice she's caught. One time the girls found some baby mice in the house. Didn't do anything to them, just let us know "hey, there are mice over there".
 

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