# Meat Rabbits



## J&J

My wife and I just found ourselves to be the new owners of a set of 8 rabbit hutches. I am researching meat rabbits and thought someone here might have some information to help me get started. Any help is appreciated.

John


----------



## Big B

John
Don't waste your time!

Rabbit is not a good meat.

It takes more calories to digest a given quantity of rabbit meat, than the amount of calories that you receive from the meat.
If one cup of rabbit meat provides 1000 calories to your body after digestion is completed, it takes 1200 calories to digest it.
Does that make sense??
If all that you ate was rabbit, you would slowly starve to death.

Nail the hutches together and fill them with chickens.


----------



## GPER

Someone posted this link in another thread and there are several links on raising rabbits.
cd3wd main index


----------



## Floatsum

Raised the White New Zealand's for a couple years.
3 does and 1 buck kept us in meat pretty good for once a week eating.
Plus some to sell to the pet shop for snake meals and Easter.
Very easy to raise, droppings are excellent fertilizer for starting plants in spring, grow fast and taste good.
Don't know about rabbits being a terrible food source. Lot's of cultures rely fairly well on it.
By-products are excellent dog food too.
A lot less trouble, smell, and noise than chickens.


----------



## J&J

Thanks to all. I will check on the calorie consumption issue. So far I have read that the meat itself has higher protien, less fat than any other meat. That could make it harder to digest, I suppose. I have quick access to a Dietitian and will be interested what she can come up with for this answer.

Thanks for the practical answer and the guide to more information. We set up the hutches over the weekend and my wife (it is really her project... one of the many reasons she is a perfect fit for me) is looking for rabbits.

John


----------



## J&J

Wife picked up 4 does and 1 male today... She is very happy. I will keep you informed of developments...


----------



## bigfoot

Since it makes you less fat could you start a rabbit meat weight loss program?


----------



## Big B

Big Foot

It would probably work, but why not eat a living food such as veggies or fruit each day, it will work. I always eat organic,so you have to consider that also.


----------



## Big B

J&J
I just found this on the internet, try looking under "Rabbit Starvation";


Rabbit starvation is the form of acute malnutrition caused by excess consumption of any lean meat (specifically rabbit) coupled with a lack of other sources of nutrients. Symptoms include diarrhea, headache, lassitude, a vague discomfort and hunger that can only be satisfied by consumption of fat or carbohydrates.
Possible mechanisms

Lack of fats in the diet.
Rabbit being comparatively low in some amino acids that human beings cannot themselves synthesize.
Lean meat, being mostly protein, must be broken down into amino acids and then converted into glucose (via gluconeogenesis) in order to be used as an energy source. This process takes time and can not be done quickly enough to meet the energy requirements of an active person. After the body's energy reserves (fat) are depleted, the energy requirements to sustain basic life processes are not met.
The ammonia released during the process of converting amino acids into glucose cannot be cleared by conversion to urea quickly enough. The buildup of ammonia is poisonous.


----------



## NaeKid

bigfoot said:


> Since it makes you less fat could you start a rabbit meat weight loss program?


Possibly. If you wish to loose weight, one of the number one things to do in order to loose weight is to eat "negative" foods at the start of a meal, and to drink lots of water. Before you eat your meal, drink a small glass of water (6 - 8 oz). Follow it with greens like celery and lettuce. Eat slow - take time to enjoy each bite.

After the greens are eaten, take your "normal" amount of meat and cut it in half and only eat one of the portions - the other to save or share with your meal-mates (4 - 6 oz of meat). Lay off of starchy-foods like potatoe, rice, pasta. Hold back on the "sweet" vegies like carrots.

Finally - eat an apple a day. The sugers in the apple will help stabilize your blood suger through-out the whole day.

Finally - try to use more energy in a day than what you in-take. Take a walk every day. Take up x-country skiing. Enjoy snow-shoeing. Hike.

Muscle-building will help you gain weight, but, it is a good weight. Sit-ups will make you "appear" fatter as the fat on your stomach will be pushed further out as the muscles get stronger. Concentrate on back, leg and arm excercises.


----------



## Lowdown3

Big B said:


> J&J
> I just found this on the internet, try looking under "Rabbit Starvation";
> 
> Rabbit starvation is the form of acute malnutrition caused by excess consumption of any lean meat (specifically rabbit) coupled with a lack of other sources of nutrients. Symptoms include diarrhea, headache, lassitude, a vague discomfort and hunger that can only be satisfied by consumption of fat or carbohydrates.
> Possible mechanisms
> 
> Lack of fats in the diet.
> Rabbit being comparatively low in some amino acids that human beings cannot themselves synthesize.
> Lean meat, being mostly protein, must be broken down into amino acids and then converted into glucose (via gluconeogenesis) in order to be used as an energy source. This process takes time and can not be done quickly enough to meet the energy requirements of an active person. After the body's energy reserves (fat) are depleted, the energy requirements to sustain basic life processes are not met.
> The ammonia released during the process of converting amino acids into glucose cannot be cleared by conversion to urea quickly enough. The buildup of ammonia is poisonous.


Don't mean to be a jerk, but you obviously never raised rabbits. This whole "lack of fat" thing MUST pertain to WILD RABBITS.* I've NEVER seen a home raised rabbit that didn't have some fat on it*. I've raised rabbits since 1993-94. Most of the year they are my family's ONLY meat source. Neither my wife, my son nor I suffer from *any* medical problems. We have eaten like this for YEARS. My son and I both run about 5-6 miles a week, the wife works out pretty much daily on a stepper and runs with us once or twice a week.

Our "usual" meal consists of rice, lentils, fresh veg from the garden or from home canning and some rabbit.

For that matter, most of the wild rabbits I shoot to keep out of the garden have SOME fat on them also.

Would love to see this calorie info you talk about. How does digestion take 1,200 calories? Admittedly rabbit IS low calorie but to me that's a good thing.

Lowdown3


----------



## TechAdmin

Lowdown I Googled the term and got lots of reading about the condition. Good to hear your real life feedback though.


----------



## dilligaf

if all one eats day in and day out is rabbit for months on end of course one is not going to get all the required nutrients one needs... no different than anything else. Same thing would happen if all you ever ate was corn for example or beans and nothing but beans. You would not remain healthy i can assure you


----------



## J&J

dilligaf said:


> if all one eats day in and day out is rabbit for months on end of course one is not going to get all the required nutrients one needs... no different than anything else. Same thing would happen if all you ever ate was corn for example or beans and nothing but beans. You would not remain healthy i can assure you


This is realy the point, I belive...

You know, if you looked hard enough you could _probably _find a study that claims...

"Human saliva, ingested in small amounts, over a long period of time... has been shown to eventually (over a span of 70 - 90 years) to contribute to death...

Lean meat is a good thing...

John


----------



## dru9

I agree. I've never read of digestion burning more calories than rabbit meat provides. I've only read of needing other foods (not only rabbit) that must be eaten as well to make the rabbit a viable food source.


----------



## Lowdown3

Definitely good to have variety, no doubts there. 

Sorry if I came off wrong, I think people hear this "wild rabbits have no fat" thing and assume ALL rabbits have no fat. 

Think about it- a wild rabbit is constantly running around- it's their only defense. Now take a domestic rabbit- confined in a 2 foot cage, bored, sitting on it's butt most of the time with (usually) a full feeder. No different than us really- if you were confined into one small room of your house, couldn't go anywhere but had plenty to eat, you'd probably get fat also (I know I would). Also, a wild rabbit may eat whatever, a domestic rabbit if the owner is using prepackaged pellets, has a VERY complete ration. 

THAT is the difference between wild and domestic rabbits and that is why you will usually find a fair amount of fat on home raised rabbits. 

That or else the thousand or so rabbits I've butchered in the last decade + were the exception to the rule.


----------



## Quills

Rabbit starvation isn't a problem is you're not eating it exclusively. Rabbit meat doesn't contain certain fats, which are necessary for the metabolization of protein. Your body can't process it if it doesn't have this available, but in a regular, balanced diet where you aren't eating rabbit exclusively, your body will be able to regulate it.

Just don't eat rabbit meat every day. 

It's a lovely, lean meat, and very tasty, but I find that I get more "bang for my buck" raising pork or goat. There isn't a LOT of meat on a rabbit, and they're a pain to dress out. They also stink unlike any other animal I've ever cleaned. I've field dressed deer, slaughtered pigs and goats and chickens, and NOTHING stinks like rabbit guts.


----------



## Clarice

We plan to vary our diet with the rabbits we are raising. I would not care to eat rabbit for every meal every day, just as I would not care to eat the other meats every day for every meal. Same with vegies, who would want to eat the same beans every meal for every day. Variety is the spice of life. I try to keep this in mind when I'm stocking our preps.


----------



## Davo45

Variety and balance is the key I believe, as others have said. I like salmon, but it isn't the only fish I eat. I like corn, but it isn't the only vegetable I eat. Too much of anything is never a good thing where ones diet is concerned.


----------



## RevWC

*Rabbit*

What the hell was Elmer Fudd thinking?


----------



## lotsoflead

RabbitTalk • Index page


----------



## Calebra

You got confused by the title of that article. Rabbit starvation doesn't mean the meat is not nutritious--it means it lacks certain nutrients. There is no such thing as food that has all nutrients that the body needs besides human milk.Trappers and explorers who died from rabbit starvation died from scurvy--all they had to do was chew on some of the pine needles around them like natives did to survive. 
Rabbit meat is very nutritious--on par with any other meat. Problem is humans are not carnivorous but omnivorous--we need nutrients provided by plant matter.

P.S. Lowdown is right--these studies are based on wild rabbits--home grown are usually pretty damn fatty. Good eating so lol.


----------



## Quills

It's not that they LACK FAT. It's that certain amino acids are not present in rabbit meat. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which are chains of amino acids. There are several ESSENTIAL amino acids (meaning they must be present in the diet), and several NON ESSENTIAL amino acids (meaning the body can synthesize them if other compounds are present). Rabbit meat lacks one ESSENTIAL amino acid, so if you eat it exclusively (not as your only meat, but as your only food, at all), you will become ill, because the proteins that your cells are made up of start to break down.


----------



## Jarhead0311

The reason the Atkins diet works is that protein needs carbs to be properly digested. Eat nothing but beef and you will lose weight.

Rabbits taste great and I love them, but if the SHTF I will kill and eat mine as quickly as possible. The only livestock I will keep are my chickens and goats. They can both make a living with little or no supplemental feed. They both produce food that has every thing needed to survive...milk and eggs, boring but you can survive and remain in good health on them.


----------

