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Max's Diet and the Saga of the Rabbit
Apr. 10th, 2009 07:56 pmI feed Max a raw diet - meat with edible bones, some veggies and fruit, some organ. If I were to go to the store and pick up everything at normal prices, I wouldn't be able to afford it, so I buy in bulk, go through co-op purchases, watch for sales, etc. I keep my costs to about $1.25 per pound, which means raw costs less than quality kibble would. Last month I bought a freezer. 24.9 cubic feet of glorious meat freezing capacity! And I ordered 200lbs of beef, 50 lbs of pork, 125 lbs llama, 30 lbs goat, 20 lbs tripe, 12 lbs rabbit, 14 lbs liver, 24 lbs lung and feet (4 cow, 4 llama). I have another 120 lbs of tripe coming in within the next two weeks. Oh, and another 120 lbs rabbit.
On any given day, Max eats between 1.5 and 2 pounds. I aim for balance over time, so that on average, he eats 10% bone, 10% organ, 70% meat, and 10% other stuff (cottage cheese, pizza crusts, eggs, etc). One of the dietary staples here is rabbit - the bones are soft like chicken bones and Max likes the taste better. The rabbits that I have right now were frozen immediately after they were killed, so they still have fur and the guts are still there. Max hasn't yet figured out that furry rabbit is food, so I need to skin them for the time being. This is easier said than done. Apparently, once the body cools, the connective tissue stiffens, making it harder to remove the hide. Last Saturday I spent 30 minutes skinning a rabbit for Max. I had just finished, we'd played a couple rounds of chase the rabbit hide, and I needed to put the knives away and answer the phone. In the few minutes I was gone, Max managed to snatch the carcass and the hide, slip off to bury them in the field somewhere and return. I know he didn't eat it. He's not fast enough. It took nearly two hours to search the field and the rest of the acreage. No sign of rabbit. Damn dog!
Things I learned last weekend:
On any given day, Max eats between 1.5 and 2 pounds. I aim for balance over time, so that on average, he eats 10% bone, 10% organ, 70% meat, and 10% other stuff (cottage cheese, pizza crusts, eggs, etc). One of the dietary staples here is rabbit - the bones are soft like chicken bones and Max likes the taste better. The rabbits that I have right now were frozen immediately after they were killed, so they still have fur and the guts are still there. Max hasn't yet figured out that furry rabbit is food, so I need to skin them for the time being. This is easier said than done. Apparently, once the body cools, the connective tissue stiffens, making it harder to remove the hide. Last Saturday I spent 30 minutes skinning a rabbit for Max. I had just finished, we'd played a couple rounds of chase the rabbit hide, and I needed to put the knives away and answer the phone. In the few minutes I was gone, Max managed to snatch the carcass and the hide, slip off to bury them in the field somewhere and return. I know he didn't eat it. He's not fast enough. It took nearly two hours to search the field and the rest of the acreage. No sign of rabbit. Damn dog!
Things I learned last weekend:
- Wear an apron when processing meat.
- Always wear gloves when working with green tripe.
- 35 lb bricks of llama take 48+ hours to defrost enough to separate and repackage the pieces.
- Always take your rabbit with you - never walk away from it.
- To break up a 25 lb brick of frozen beef, toss it 6-7ft into the air and let it fall onto the cement.
- The top of a chest freezer makes a great workspace.
- Buy freezer paper in bulk. Tape too.
- Tripe should be processed outside, not in the kitchen.
- Llama smells funny.
