Safe to eat rabbit that cat caught?

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    tomsarno wrote: »
    The above post says "Rabbit - wild raw" I know that you can, t eat it raw, does the nutritional facts change on foods when they are cooked? If so, why do they list the values on it raw. If it does not change then why add the word raw to the title, why not add the word cooked?

    The weight changes when you cook it. It's most accurate to weigh it raw and then cook it. It'll have the same calories and nutrients but the weight will be less because the moisture level changes. So 4 oz raw might become 3 oz cooked. Mostly you just want to make sure that if you're weighing it raw you choose the raw database entry, and if you're weighing it cooked you should choose the database entry that matches.
  • JenniDaisy
    JenniDaisy Posts: 526 Member
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    Technically speaking it's the same as eating a rabbit that you caught yourself, but you still need to be confident in your ability to distinguish healthy and diseased meat.
    Also you don't know how long it's been dead for, or where it's been since, Our cat is an idiot and has a habit of fetching in dead bird babies from the bottom of trees or dead fish out of ponds and pretending he caught them.
  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
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    CyberTone wrote: »
    If a wild rabbit could not outrun a cat, it may be sickly or old; neither condition would portend a favorable outcome for cooking.

    Cats usually don't catch rabbits by outrunning them over a long distance - they sneak up and pounce on them before they realize what is happening.
  • LoneWolfRunner
    LoneWolfRunner Posts: 1,160 Member
    edited November 2014
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    I would have to be pretty hard up before I would think about munching a rabbit.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
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    JenniDaisy wrote: »
    Technically speaking it's the same as eating a rabbit that you caught yourself, but you still need to be confident in your ability to distinguish healthy and diseased meat.
    Also you don't know how long it's been dead for, or where it's been since, Our cat is an idiot and has a habit of fetching in dead bird babies from the bottom of trees or dead fish out of ponds and pretending he caught them.
    I wouldn't call your cat and idiot, I might call him a politician though.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    rhauser44 wrote: »
    CyberTone wrote: »
    If a wild rabbit could not outrun a cat, it may be sickly or old; neither condition would portend a favorable outcome for cooking.

    ^^ This. And since the cat was the clear victor in this confrontation, I'd eat the cat. Someone needs to look up the macros on "cat" please.
    I hear cats taste like chicken..

  • bruerin
    bruerin Posts: 124 Member
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    I have 2 greyhounds and live on a 1 acre fenced property. I live in rural PA and there are tons of wild rabbits around our home. They catch and kill wild rabbits weekly. We do not eat them; we take them back to the woods on a shovel and let the other animals eat them. Although I did grow up eating wild rabbits my Grandfather shot.
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
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    You cat is trying to contribute to the household! I'm impressed; my cats never did anything useful.
    If you know how to prepare a rabbit, you could fry it up and make sure the cat gets a good serving first.
  • kidtechnical2
    kidtechnical2 Posts: 11 Member
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    I can't see any reason not to if you know it is a fresh kill. Seems a waste otherwise. Cats have a hunting instinct that kicks in whether they have eaten or not, that's why they occasionally kill but don't eat. If s/he's a keen hunter perhaps you shouldn't feed the cat then it'll eat what it kills.
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    edited November 2014
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    On my morning run I came across our neighbourhood rabbit. He looked a little nervous today, perhaps because I am going a little faster than I used to. I did note the snow tracks and it seems he takes the same route every day. Rabbit stew. Hmmmm.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    HereLieWe wrote: »
    Okay, I know this is a weird question, but is it safe to eat a rabbit that our cat caught? He caught a huge one today and my mom wanted to cook it, but we couldn't since the thought occurred to her a few hours after she threw it in the trash. If the next time our cat catches a rabbit, the rabbit is cleaned and cooked thoroughly, is it safe to eat it? Will any bacteria from the cat bite be killed in the cooking process?

    Yeah, you can eat it. I personally wouldn't, because a cat doesn't kill clean, so that meat will probably pretty gamed up.

    I'd rather put a nice hole through its head, and then eat it.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    glevinso wrote: »
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia

    Been a rabbit hunter since I was 4, never had a problem. Which means naturally, next year i will.
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
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    I wouldn't worry about the cat's bite, but you might be exposing yourself to Tularemia. If you decide to eat it anyway, handle it with gloves and skin it/dress it, and get rid of the skin and guts without touching them.

    It will be a bit gamey from the adrenaline dump it had during it's chase with the cat - but I bet if you cut it into pieces, put it in a crock pot with some veggies, herbs, spices, etc and left it alone on low for a few hours you would have a pretty tasty rabbit stew.
  • WillLift4Tats
    WillLift4Tats Posts: 1,699 Member
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    shivers.gif

    what's with all the roadkill threads lately :sick:
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    roadkill means the animal was killed on the road. Probably by a car.

    This animal was slaughtered by another animal. It's natural.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Wild rabbits are safe to eat. But rabbits that are killed by cats, not so much.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    A domestic cat is quite capable of taking down a rabbit. Feline predation is about stealth, not flat speed - even cheetahs need to get close, as they can only sustain top speed for a short time.

    No argument there.

    But the animals caught still tend to be either old, sick, or stupid (and generally young). Just because the cat will instinctively target the weakest and therefore most easily caught animal. It's late enough in the year that the young and stupid ones should have been weeded out by now, unless the bunnies are still breeding in OP's region - they've stopped here.

    That leaves a higher probability of old and/or sick.
  • pscarolina
    pscarolina Posts: 133 Member
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    ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »
    jade2112 wrote: »
    abcmommyx3 wrote: »
    lol growing up we had cats that would hunt anything a cat is fully capable of taking down a rabbit. or squirrel or chipmunk

    I agree. We had a declawed cat and he would regularly bring home game. He brought me two chipmunks in once during the middle of the day, both live. Luckily, the dog caught and killed them or they'd still be in the house.

    This is why I don't have cats. :sick:

    word (in addition to the litterbox issue)
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    I agree, if it was freshly killed then it should be fine to cook. If the skin was still on when it was thrown in the garbage, it was likely still fine, since it should be skinned before cooking anyway.

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