Many people who feed a raw meat diet to their cats aim to replicate the natural feline diet as closely as possible. This often includes feeding meat that contains “real” bone, achieved by grinding the whole dressed carcass of small animals such as chickens, quail, or rabbits. Rabbit and chicken have become especially popular meat choices under the assumption that these are animals cats might naturally catch “in the wild”.

At first glance, this approach seems perfectly reasonable. But when examined more closely, a few ethical questions begin to emerge.

Are Rabbits a Natural Prey?

Rabbits are often mistakenly seen as an ideal substitute for mice—especially because many people wrongly believe rabbits are rodents. In fact, they are not. Rabbits belong to the order Lagomorpha, which is entirely separate from Rodentia. Their diet, physiology, and behaviour differ significantly from rodents.

While some wild cats—both large and small—do hunt rabbits or hares, for most species, these are not a primary food source. This means that while rabbit meat may be nutritionally suitable, it is not inherently better or more “natural” than other meats.

Welfare Concerns in Commercial Rabbit Farming

One major issue surrounding the use of rabbit meat is the way most farmed rabbits are raised. Rabbits bred for meat—both for human consumption and pet food—are typically kept in conditions that are anything but humane. In many ways, a commercial rabbitry resembles the setup of battery farms for laying hens: rows of small, all-wire cages stacked two to three high, housed in dark, closed buildings. There is no bedding, and very little space to move. Mortality is high, and quality of life is minimal at best.

The rabbit farming industry in Canada is very small, and the bulk of rabbit meat used in pet food is imported—mostly from China, where welfare standards are often even more questionable.

The Reality of Fryer Rabbits

Meat rabbits, often labelled “fryers”, are slaughtered at just 8–12 weeks of age—sometimes even before they would naturally be weaned from their mothers. This is considered the most profitable age for producers. On average, a dressed fryer carcass weighs around 2.75 lbs (1.2 kg). With added water and supplements, that’s about 14 days’ worth of food for a cat. Over the course of a year, one cat would require about 24 rabbits of that size. By contrast, one steer can feed one cat for five years!

In the same five-year period, a cat eating a rabbit-only diet would consume 112 rabbits, most likely raised in poor conditions. Meanwhile, the steer enjoyed a relatively natural life grazing outdoors in a herd.

Ethics and Responsibility

In my view, feeding our cats well means not only choosing food that supports their health, but also considering the ethical implications of our choices. There is no justification for accepting the suffering of one animal purely for the “benefit” of another. Cats cannot be vegetarians—but we, as their caregivers, can choose which meats we buy, and which producers we support.

If you can’t source rabbit from a small, local farm where the animals are raised humanely and with respect, you may wish to consider alternatives. Perhaps you’re open to raising rabbits yourself—or even allowing your cat to catch her own (if safe and legal). But if not, it might be time to let go of the romantic idea of feeding rabbit altogether.

A Personal Perspective

When I speak about rabbits, I speak from experience. For several years, I’ve raised Belgian Hares—a rare and beautiful breed—with the goal of preserving them. Based on this lived experience with rabbits up close, I can say without hesitation that commercially raised meat rabbits  are a completely unethical choice for feeding domestic. It bears no resemblance to a wild cat hunting and catching a rabbit in nature.

In their dietary habits rabbits are very different from cats, but in other ways they are so much the same. They are the size of cats and live in socially complex family groups where they form friendships and unbreakable bonds. They look so much like cats the way they groom themselves or each other, have the zoomies, or a good stretch in the sun. Rabbits can live with people very much like cats, claim the sofa as the best place for a nap, and learn quickly to use a litter box! They know their names, can be very affectionate, and explode with pure joy of life if given a chance.