Author Topic: Those who feed frankenprey--need your advice  (Read 1901 times)

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Offline Pookie

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Those who feed frankenprey--need your advice
« on: December 16, 2011, 04:37:37 PM »
I went to a farmer's market today and one of the butchers had rabbits.  Headless, skinless, but supposedly with the organs included.  Knowing I'd kick myself otherwise, I bought one to feed to Pookie.  However, I have absolutely NO experience in how to cut up something like this (I buy chicken breasts or tenders for myself, so I've never cut up a chicken, either).  So, where do I start?  How do I do this?

My plan is to cut it up and bag it, and give it to Pookie as a snack rather than full meal.  Unless someone out there can clue me in as to how to do this as full meals . . . (hint, hint)  :D  I'm hoping, since he has no problems handling an adult mouse, that he'll be okay with rabbit bones, but if I'm wrong, please let me know.

Thank you so much for any suggestions/advice you can give!

P.S.  Part of me can't believe I bought the rabbit, another part is thinking "hey, if you can handle thawing and feeding adult mice, you can handle this . . ."
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Offline Auntie Crazy

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Re: Those who feed frankenprey--need your advice
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2011, 05:20:59 PM »
There are few things I hate more than cutting up full size animals for my cats - it's a LOT of work.

Whether or not your cat can eat the bones of the rabbit you brought home depends entirely on the size of that rabbit and the skill and strength of your cat's chewing ability. I've found that rabbit ribs can always be fed, but the rest of the bones are pretty iffy. IMO, your best bet is to cut off every scrap of meat you can and discard all the bones except the ribs (as usual when feeding bone-in meals, leave some meat on those ribs).

That's about all I have for you on this. Hope it's helpful!

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Offline FurMonster Mom

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Re: Those who feed frankenprey--need your advice
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2011, 07:27:42 PM »
Okay.... this may seem a bit graphic to some folks.... so, fair warning.



I save a lot of moolah by chopping up whole fryer chickens... but I've never tackled a rabbit.

My general technique is to look for the joints and muscle delineations, and make your cuts there.  Go for the cartilage.

First thing, pull out the organs from the body cavity, if they are not attached.  Set them aside in a container in the 'fridge.  Easy.
(If the organs are attached, you'll just have to wait till a bit later in the process to pull them)

For a chicken, I usually start with the leg quarters, at the thigh and pelvis junction.  It's easier if I make some strategic cuts in the skin, so that the legs will lay "flat" (splayed).  Doing this also exposes the joint a bit more.

The wings are a bit trickier.  I tend to look for the muscle difference between the "shoulder" and the breast, then follow around to the delineation between the "shoulder" and back.  Since it's essentially a 3-way joint, there are more tendons to cut, and the joint cartilage is tricky to distinguish.  It's probably pretty similar for a rabbit's front legs.

For the body, there is the breast with it's ribs, and the back/spine/pelvis with it's ribs.  Two sets of ribs that meet in the middle with a band of cartilage.  With some good light, it's pretty easy to see where to cut between the two; shears do a perfect job of it.  This would be the time to pull the organs, if they are still attached to the back.

After this, it becomes a job of portioning: splitting the breast, separating legs/thighs, separating back(ribs) from pelvis, splitting the ribs/back, splitting the pelvis.  This is mostly "bone" work, which does require a certain level of confidence with the cleaver... though I've done some of the smaller portions with shears.

It takes me about 20-30 minutes to portion out a whole chicken, and I get 3 days worth of meals from it for all five of my animals.  The dog gets the legs and pelvis, the cats get ribs, necks, wings, & breast bones.

I'm not a big YouTube fan, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few vids out there by hunters or other folks who dress their own meats.

I keep thinking I should put together a picture tutorial, but I'm not sure what kind of reception it'd get... lol

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Offline Shadow

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Re: Those who feed frankenprey--need your advice
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2011, 07:58:54 PM »
Okay.... this may seem a bit graphic to some folks.... so, fair warning.



I save a lot of moolah by chopping up whole fryer chickens... but I've never tackled a rabbit.

My general technique is to look for the joints and muscle delineations, and make your cuts there.  Go for the cartilage.

First thing, pull out the organs from the body cavity, if they are not attached.  Set them aside in a container in the 'fridge.  Easy.
(If the organs are attached, you'll just have to wait till a bit later in the process to pull them)

For a chicken, I usually start with the leg quarters, at the thigh and pelvis junction.  It's easier if I make some strategic cuts in the skin, so that the legs will lay "flat" (splayed).  Doing this also exposes the joint a bit more.

The wings are a bit trickier.  I tend to look for the muscle difference between the "shoulder" and the breast, then follow around to the delineation between the "shoulder" and back.  Since it's essentially a 3-way joint, there are more tendons to cut, and the joint cartilage is tricky to distinguish.  It's probably pretty similar for a rabbit's front legs.

For the body, there is the breast with it's ribs, and the back/spine/pelvis with it's ribs.  Two sets of ribs that meet in the middle with a band of cartilage.  With some good light, it's pretty easy to see where to cut between the two; shears do a perfect job of it.  This would be the time to pull the organs, if they are still attached to the back.

After this, it becomes a job of portioning: splitting the breast, separating legs/thighs, separating back(ribs) from pelvis, splitting the ribs/back, splitting the pelvis.  This is mostly "bone" work, which does require a certain level of confidence with the cleaver... though I've done some of the smaller portions with shears.

It takes me about 20-30 minutes to portion out a whole chicken, and I get 3 days worth of meals from it for all five of my animals.  The dog gets the legs and pelvis, the cats get ribs, necks, wings, & breast bones.

I'm not a big YouTube fan, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few vids out there by hunters or other folks who dress their own meats.

I keep thinking I should put together a picture tutorial, but I'm not sure what kind of reception it'd get... lol

.
I know I would love a picture tutorial :) Im going to check youtube and see if there is some videos, I know Lynette had some on there on how to make a ground raw, so there must be tutorials on how to cut a chicken up.
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