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Being an animal lover

NexivRed

Young Bun
Hi. You may not remember me, but at the start of this year I joined RU because we were thinking of getting a giant house rabbit. Unfortunately the more I researched it, the more I realised we couldn't do it right now. Instead we rescued a retired racing greyhound who has settled in brilliantly.

Anyway, what I wanted to ask was are there any other people here who are animal lovers like me, but who have to contend with feeding animals to other animals and can you be practical and rational about it.

See, yesterday I brought home my very first pet snake. She's a beautiful Pewter corn snake whome we've name Ophion. Her diet is, as you can imagine, frozen/thawed mice, rats and chicks (varying sizes as she grows). We also feed our greyhound on raw meat/bone/offal, including :BRACE YOURSELVES: rabbits!

Obviously this doesn't stop me being a rabbit lover as I make a point of sourcing the meat we get from him from reputable butchers who are supplied with meat that is treated humanely. But it's still a bit weird watching one pet eat something you'd also keep as a pet I guess.

What are your opinions on it?
 
I used to work with snakes, some of whom ate mice, and others who ate rabbit once a week. It didn't bother me, they have to eat, and as long as it's done humanely (i.e. not live feeding) I don't have a problem with it.
 
I've never had a problem with feeding mice/chicks to snakes, but my sis-in-law has recently started posting pictures of her boa constrictor eating guinea pigs on FB and I don't know, it just makes me feel a bit queasy (partly because I lost my beloved piggy Joey not long before she started posting these pics). However I'm well aware that animals do eat other animals (us included) and we shouldn't deprive them of their required diet.
 
Anyone who would criticise such a thing, needs to re-think their idea of an animal lover. If an animal needs a particular diet then it needs it and we have no right to use our human sensibilities to prevent that. If someone criticises the feeding of humanely killed rabbit, remind them that most commercial dogfood is made of the product and by-product of the commercial meat industry....which is, at times, monstrously inhumane when animals are kept in battery situations, packed into crates or trucks in their hundreds and 'unpacked' in a careless and unthinking manner to be slaughtered, terrified and in panic.

This is not the opinion of a vegetarian or vegan who is anti-meat. I eat meat and choose to eat free-range meat as my contribution to animal welfare.

You are doing nothing wrong in feeding your dog on rabbit or your snake on rodents. I personally have a bit of an issue with feeding live rodents when the snake is willing to eat dead as I see no reason to inflict unnecessary suffering and it is absolutely without doubt that an animal eaten alive suffers horribly.

If the snake genuinely will not eat dead animals then it is a different scenario and needs must, but I find a lot of reptile owners argue that it is for a more 'natural' presentation and that just isn't on....there's nothing natural about a captive animal and it seems it is often done for the novelty or entertainment of watching it happen....sick!!

So there's my two penneth worth! Lol! I see nothing wrong in feeding a natural carnivore on meat, whatever type of meat it might be.....after all, whatever type of meat it is, someone, somewhere, keeps it as a pet! I have never eaten one of my own animals but.....

I own rabbits and have eaten rabbit but didn't like it.

I own chickens and eat chicken all the time

I own goats and LOVE eating goat

I own cats and.............only joking but you get my point!
 
Just want to add that I personally would not feed live. It's unnecessary stress and pain on not only the prey, but the predator also. I've seen the damage a rat can cause to a snake, so unless other methods such as jacketing hadn't worked and I knew there was a solid reason the snake wasn't eating, I'd always do frozen/thawed.

A couple if times we've taken home a still warm wild rabbit body we've found on the road, and after my husband has checked it for myxi signs, we've let our greyhound have it. Probably controversial and we're not going to bother to do it long term because a.) i think it was pure luck we found ones that had been just hit and these are the only ones i'd consider, b.) it's a worry if the rabbit is carrying something and I don't want to take that risk any more, and c.) if he's not that hungry he doesn't bother to finish it. So it's something we tried and found wasn't for us.
 
I think if you source from humane places, as you already said you have, its not a bad thing at all. For me personally it can be a bit emotionally confusing. I think I would struggle if I had a snake that needed to eat rats, as my rats are my babies and I think I would struggle to detatch myself. But it isn't something I find morally wrong, I would just struggle to do it! I admire the rare people who ethically breed their own mice/rats and look after them really really well before having them humanely PTS before feeding to their other pet. That way you can control their welfare and be assured they haven't been mistreated or suffered. I don't know, I don't think I could do it, but I admire people who do in a weird kind of way.

What really riles me up are people who feed their pets rubbish instead of what they are supposed to eat. Working at a supermarket I regularly cry internally when people buy super value dried dog or cat food. So sad for the poor doggies and kitties :( I would 100% feed a raw diet if i had a carnivourous pet.
 
I'm a vegetarian but luckily feeding my omnivore/carnivore pets meat doesn't bother me. They need meat, unlike humans. But it would be great to know a farmer and a hunter so I know that their food was ethically raised and killed. Especially later on when I'll have many more omnivore/carnivore pets that'll need meat.

Feeding live is a whole different thing though, I STRONGLY disagree with live feeding. I would of course live feed insects to say, a lizard, because it is necessary, but I can't imagine live feeding anything else, and certainly not mammals and birds.
 
Doesn't bother me at all. Animals need to eat what they need to eat. As long as it has been reared properly....and killed as humanely as possible then that is fine by me.

I'd never feed live...both for the prey and the preditor. The damage to the preditor can be horrific...and so is being eaten alive :(
 
I would try and avoid feeding rabbit just because Im a wimp but if my animals enjoyed it, and I didnt have to prepare it/it didnt look like rabbit I'd be alright :lol: I fed my brothers snake once, didnt really enjoy that but he had to eat and mice is what he needed to survive!
 
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