Raw rabbit dog food recipe (BARF) with apple
Raw rabbit dog food recipe with gizzards, heart, liver, kidney and apple. Boneless, made with farmed rabbit, with every hygiene step explained.
- Time
- 40 min
- Makes
- About 1.35 kg / 3 lb (almost 3 days for a 10 kg / 22 lb adult dog)
- Type
- Main meal
- Difficulty
- Medium
- 57 % boneless rabbit
- 11 % chicken gizzards
- 9 % chicken hearts
- 7 % apple, cored and seedless
Follows THE RULE. All 9 ingredients are on our safe list: nothing that could harm your dog.
This raw rabbit dog food recipe combines boneless farmed rabbit with chicken gizzards and hearts, 5 % liver, another 5 % kidney, and blended apple and zucchini. Rabbit is a lean, mild meat, good for dogs that get soft stools on beef or lamb and for rotating proteins in a BARF menu that is already up and running.
It needs no heat: the apple and zucchini are blended raw into a fine paste, which is how a dog can make use of raw vegetables. The most laborious part is the rabbit. If you can, ask your butcher to bone it for you: boning a rabbit at home takes time, and you have to check every piece so that not a single rib is left.
Why it works
Rabbit provides quality protein with little fat and forms the muscle base of the menu. Chicken gizzards and hearts are also muscle: gizzards add firm texture and iron; hearts, taurine. Liver, limited to 5 %, provides vitamin A, copper and folate, and kidney adds selenium and vitamin B12. Blended apple and zucchini add fiber, water and some potassium. Eggshell balances the phosphorus in the meat, and salmon oil adds the omega-3s EPA and DHA.
Talk to your vet first. Raw feeding carries risks: raw meat can carry bacteria such as Salmonella, Listeria or Campylobacter that affect both your dog and the people in your home, and veterinary bodies such as WSAVA advise against feeding uncooked raw meat. If you would rather avoid those risks, you will find equivalent cooked recipes in our homemade dog food section. If you decide to feed raw, talk it over with your vet, especially if there are young children, older adults, pregnant women or anyone with a weakened immune system in your home.
Step by step
Freeze the meat for a week
Freeze the rabbit, gizzards, hearts, liver and kidney for at least one week at −18 °C / 0 °F. Move them to the fridge 24 to 36 hours before you make the batch.
Bone and check the rabbit
If you buy it whole, cut it into pieces and take the meat off the hind legs and loin with a small knife. The rib cage, neck and front legs have very fine bones: if you cannot get their meat off cleanly, do not use it. Check every piece with your fingers: rabbit ribs are thin and hide easily. Put the bones aside and throw them in a lidded bin, out of your dog's reach.
Clean the organs
Remove the tough yellowish lining from the gizzards if it is still there, and the fat from the top of the hearts. Open the kidney and remove the white core.
Blend the fruit and vegetable
Peel the apple if you like, remove the core and seeds and blend it with the zucchini into a fine paste.
Cut the meat and chop the liver
Cut the rabbit into 2-3 cm (about 1 inch) cubes and the gizzards in half. The hearts can go in whole for medium and large dogs. Chop the liver very fine so it spreads evenly.
Mix in the calcium
Combine the meat with the apple and zucchini paste and sprinkle in the eggshell while you stir, until you cannot see any white specks.
Portion and freeze
Weigh out the daily portions, label them with the date and keep only the next two days in the fridge. The rest goes in the freezer.
How much should I feed?
Approximate daily portion for a "spayed or neutered adult" profile. Split it into two meals (three or four for puppies).
— g a day
| Weight | 3 kg | 5 kg | 10 kg | 15 kg | 20 kg | 30 kg | 40 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grams/day | 210 | 305 | 515 | 700 | 870 | 1,175 | 1,460 |
Puppy, senior, very active or on a diet? Calculate the exact portion.
- Energy
- 122 kcal/100 g
- Protein
- 62 % dry matter
- Fat
- 20 % dry matter
- Calcium:phosphorus
- 1.5 : 1
Values estimated from the ingredients (BEDCA/USDA data). An everyday meal. To feed it daily as the only food, add a vitamin and mineral supplement for homemade diets.
Storage
Fridge: 48 hours at most, tightly closed and on the bottom shelf. Freezer: up to 3 months at −18 °C / 0 °F, in one-day portions labeled with the date. Thaw each portion in the fridge the night before; never at room temperature, in hot water or in the microwave. Do not refreeze anything that has thawed.
If you don't have…
- You cannot find chicken gizzards
- More rabbit, in the same amount
- You do not have apple
- Pear, cored and seeded, in the same amount
- Your dog does not tolerate chicken
- Beef heart instead of the hearts and gizzards, and beef liver in the same amount as the chicken liver
Cooking tips
- Boneless rabbit yields roughly 60 % of the whole rabbit's weight: for this recipe you need one of 1.2-1.4 kg (2.6-3 lb).
- If your dog is new to raw food, introduce the rabbit on its own, without organs, for a few days, then add the heart and gizzards and, last of all, the liver and kidney.
- To feed it every day as the only food, add a vitamin and mineral supplement made for raw or homemade diets.
- This recipe includes chicken in the organs: if you are looking for a single-protein diet, use the beef-organ substitution or a cooked single-protein recipe.
Safety
- Raw-meat hygiene: wash your hands before and after, use a board and knife only for raw meat, do not rinse the meat in the sink (splashes spread bacteria) and wash everything with hot, soapy water when you finish.
- Freeze all the meat and organs for at least one week at −18 °C / 0 °F before using them: this is against parasites, not bacteria. Salmonella, Listeria and Campylobacter survive freezing; only strict hygiene or cooking deals with them. Always thaw in the fridge.
- Never use raw wild rabbit: it can transmit tularemia and parasites. Only farmed rabbit from a butcher, which has passed health inspection.
- No bone: this recipe contains none, raw or cooked. Rabbit ribs are thin, and a splinter can damage the mouth or the intestine.
- Apple always without the core and seeds: the seeds contain amygdalin, which releases cyanide when chewed.
- Never use raw pork or wild boar: they can transmit Aujeszky's disease (pseudorabies), which is fatal to dogs. And never give cooked bones.
- This recipe is not designed for puppies: while they are growing, calcium and phosphorus need to be adjusted with your vet, and raw meat carries more risk.
Frequently asked questions
Can dogs eat raw rabbit?
Yes, raw farmed rabbit can be part of a BARF diet if it is frozen for a week at −18 °C / 0 °F first and handled with raw-meat hygiene. It is a lean, mild meat that many dogs tolerate well. Raw wild rabbit is a no: it can transmit tularemia and parasites. And in this recipe it always goes in without bone.
Can dogs eat apples?
Yes, apple is a safe fruit for dogs, always without the core and seeds, which contain amygdalin. It provides fiber, water and some vitamin C with few calories. In BARF it is blended raw so your dog can make use of it; as a treat, in small pieces. In moderation: more than 10 % fruit in the daily portion can soften the stools.
Why does this raw recipe have no bone?
Because raw bone, although it is the traditional calcium source in BARF, has risks: broken teeth, blockages and constipation if you overdo it. With ground eggshell, calcium is measured to the gram, which is safer when you are starting out. Cooked bones are never given: they splinter.
How often should you rotate proteins in a raw diet?
There is no fixed rule, but rotating between three or four meats, such as chicken, beef, lamb and rabbit, every one or two weeks helps cover minerals and fatty acids better. Introduce each new meat gradually, mixing it for a few days with one he already tolerates, and watch his stools.
What's in it, in detail
If they liked it, try
The fridge list
The foods your dog can eat, can have in moderation and must never eat, on a single printable page.