My Dog Killed A Rabbit Tonight, Should I Be Worried?

Dogs are naturally carnivores and there is nothing unusual about your dog’s behavior. Killing a rabbit is not going to change your dog into a savage beast. If you are concerned that your dog is going to keep killing animals and want to stop this behavior, your best bet is to take the dog to a professional dog trainer. The trainer should be able to help you establish your dominance over the dog pack and keep your dog from attacking. The only other worry would be health related. Make sure your dog’s vaccines are up to date.

Rabbits can have rabies, which would be transmitted to your dog during the attack. Rabies is a virus that grows in muscle tissue and can take days or months to show. Within three months, however, the virus will spread and eventually infect the brain. This causes changes in the dog’s behavior. Rabid animals may exhibit a loss of appetite, fever, chewing at an infected wound, and even subtle changes in behavior. From there the dog may show signs of extreme aggression, craving to eat anything it can get its mouth around, disorientation, restlessness, roaming, seizures, and trembling. The final phase of rabies causes paralysis. The dog may appear to be choking and drooling excessively. The paralysis will spread throughout the body leading to coma and death. This is perhaps the worst case scenario and shows why you should keep your dog vaccinated. Luckily rabbits rarely have rabies.

However, rabbits do carry other diseases. One such disease is Tularemia, or rabbit fever. It is a bacterial infection which can be transmitted through parasitic insects or from eating infected meat. Tularemia causes chills, fever, and muscle pain, but is only fatal in about five per cent of untreated cases. It can be treated by a veterinarian with antibiotics. Rabbits can get other parasites such as tapeworms and pinworms, as well.

The best bet is to have any changes in your dog’s health checked by a veterinarian.

Rabbits do carry Rabies, I wouldn't be too concerned providing your dog has had his yearly RABIES VACCINATION!! If he hasn't had the vaccination, and starts showing signs, I wouldn't hesitate and take him to the vet immediately.

Our pets kill stuff all the time (rabbits, birds etc...) and they're fine, and I'm sure your dog won't eat your children :) Your dog might get a little sick from the change and may throw up a little but no reason to worry :)

You should always be a little bit careful if your dog has killed or not. This will not necessarily make him any more or less dangerous than before. You will find that if you were feeding him tin food before a large portion of this was bunny meat. I always stress caution first, but I would not be too worried he will turn into some blood thirsty monster.
We need to remember that a dog is a natural hunter, BUT he is still your little earth angel, you just got to see a side of him you probably wished you didn't.
Its important that you remain as calm around him as you always were.

You might like to consider having him wear a muzzle him on walks, and use a head halter for better control, cats and bunnies might excite him. Typically its the chase and catch that he enjoyed the most. I wouldn't encourage little kids to run on in front of him, lol, but without knowing your dog personally I would be hesitant to make any guarantees,
BUT even with dogs that I do know very well I still do not guarantee any one thing or another, I guess its The same with us two legged kinds.

If you are worried about your dog he should be fine but might be sick.and if you are worried about your kids if your dog know the smell of your kids they will be fine and it's unlikely that you dog will attack your kids I wouldn't worry about it. Hope I was some help

Don't worry about it they are natural hunters, my dog enjoys mice, moles, rats, birds, rabbits, ect and if he can't catch it the cats do and they share. If anything put on gloves and throw what's left of the rabbit in the trash so the kids don't see, and make sure your dog is up to date on all his shots and don't worry about it it is normal.

My female husky killed 5 of my neighbor's pet rabbits. He wants me to find her another home or he might sue. I am nuts. She is such an escape artist...I have a fence yard, but she got out, went through a window in his barn and figured a way to open cages and kill prize winning floppy eared bunnies. As sick as it sounds she also nibbled the paws of a few she couldn't open the cage doors on! What should I do?

I don't think you should be worried. Your dog may just be having fun. He may have also been bred to be a hunter. Rabbits are smaller then small children so I don't think you should be concerned. Unless he is showing signs of rabbies get him to the vet ASAP! So just keep a close eye on him and everythig should be fine! Hope this helped!

No, this is a natural instinct for dogs.  Don't worry too much about rabies.  Now if it was a raccoon it would be another story.  Just keep an eye on him.

I woke up this morning to a headless, legless rabbit. I'm not sure if my dog did this. It actually looked like a clean cut and there was absolutely no blood. I brought him in last night and he walked straight past the porch and I don't recall the rabbit being there. Wouldn't my dog have stopped and noticed it if it were there/

For the Husky, I suggest firm training classes or maybe a shock collar. Giving it away or putting it down definitely needs to be the VERY LAST option. Try a few preventive measures first, and seek professional help. Best of luck to you, and I hope that you and your Husky continue to enjoy many years together.

I woke up this morning and discovered a half-eaten rabbit in my backyard.  The problem is, I don't know whether or not it was my dog who ate it;  I can't find any blood in or around his mouth.  

If he did kill the rabbit, is there a posibility that his behaviour might change?

My dog is killing baby rabbits and not eating them?

Just because your dog killed and ate a rabbit is no reason to be concerned that he may do the same with your small children. I hope I read your question correctly.