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Post by tss on Jun 9, 2008 12:01:48 GMT -5
I worked at the rabbitry for about 5 hours Yesterday. The lady has 4 rabbits that I get for $1 each, they are 5-15 pounds each. Two of them didn't grow to full size, she doesn't have room for the 3rd and the 4th died because of a major inner ear infection (I'll be tossing the head). The biggest one will be for the ferrets and each of my dogs will get one. I'm also getting 20-30 pinkies for about $5.  I get $10 an hour there but it was about 100 degrees out and I ended up getting sick because of it  I could have put another hour in if I had not gotten sick. |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Jun 9, 2008 15:49:07 GMT -5
Whoo hoo! Gotta love cheap (quality) food! Rabbits are normally pretty expensive. Im sorry to hear you got sick. 100 degrees? Ugh! That sucks!
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on Jun 9, 2008 20:55:07 GMT -5
i need to find a cheap food source too--that sucks that you got sick too
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Post by tss on Jun 10, 2008 15:53:54 GMT -5
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Post by tss on Jun 11, 2008 15:00:52 GMT -5
Today the lady brought the rabbits. I got rabbits 45 pinkies, 2 "fuzzies" and 3 adult rabbits (I was charged for 4 so I have a credit). All of it was $12 something. She had all of the pinkies and one of the older rabbits bagged up. She gave those to me, she went and got a box with the other two big rabbits that had been killed an hour before. I thanked her and talked for a minute, she left and I took everything to the basement. I went to open the box that the rabbits were in and one of them moved, ok, that's not out of the ordinary. Sometimes they keep moving for a while, I pulled the lid off and one of the rabbits was sitting up STARING at me. I live with my parents, I closed the lid and ran up stairs and asked dad what to do (he grew up on a farm and dealt with the chicken and cow slaughter). He said he didn't know. I called the lady I got it from and she said it was unconscious, I could just cut its jugulars and let it die. She said at the VERY least it's neck was broken. Kay, I think I could deal with killing a unconscious rabbit. I when down there and it was moving around and breathing just fine, I couldn't kill it. I called her back and said it was breathing and moving, she asked if I was sure. I was positive.. She said she would be back by around lunch time to take care of it, meanwhile I took the rabbit our of the box and held it for a while. Then we took it outside for a couple hours, it could move and was aware of it's surrounding. It had problems though, it couldn't walk. It would try then it would flop over on it's side and kick it's legs. There was no way it could live a normal life that way, if there was I would have kept it. During the 4 or so hours we had it it didn't eat, drink or poop. The lady only works about a mile from here, she came over and was amazed to see that the rabbit was so alive. She pulled the tail gate of her truck down and takes a knife to it. Today has been so stressful  I wanted to cry because of the poor thing but at the same time I was glad to know that it wasn't going to suffer or anything. He was so sweet |
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Post by Forum Administrator on Jun 11, 2008 15:37:00 GMT -5
That sucks  I am really sorry about that. This is why I only feed pre-killed, frozen-thawed whole prey. I could never deal with having to kill a live animal. I mean as a vet I will have to euthenize, but not by slitting an animal's throat or snapping its neck. We have given the ferrets live a few times, but they just played with the mouse and didnt kill it. Tim had to break their necks because I was having a nervous breakdown. For all newbies reading this, when feeding a natural diet you can buy pre-killed, frozen-thawed prey so that you dont have this happen to you. Tss gets good deals at a local rabbitry (and I would take advantage of that if I were her too) but if the thought of getting live animals (accidentally) horrifys you, there ARE other options. |
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Post by tss on Jun 11, 2008 16:09:21 GMT -5
I guess it all comes down to how you are raised or what you can ease yourself onto, when I was really young I remember seen Benifiul ad's and saying "When I grow up I want to buy that for my dogs" I NEVER thought I'd end up butchering anything and feeding my pets raw meat, let alone whole animals. I've been able to ease myself onto the idea of feeding raw and maybe I can eventually have a farm and raise all my own animals, sadly any way you put a animal down there can be a screw up somewhere. The way she kills them is humane, sometimes maybe one out of a hundred will not be completely "gone" on the first try.
Giuli is completely right, you don't have to go about buying food like I do. I've just been able to handle it this way and get the food very cheap. I've never had something like this happen before, and from now on if I ever get anymore rabbits they will be frozen first.
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I could have put another hour in if I had not gotten sick.
