# Does eating rabbit leech nutrition from you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491 "2013-02-16T12:46:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/1 "2013-02-16T12:46:21Z")
So I am reading Pterry’s _Snuff_. Don’t want to spoil since there might be people still reading it. I’m about halfway through it now, so I’d appreciate others not spoiling anything either. Anyways, one character mentions that you can’t live on rabbit. The other says it leeches something from the body, something you need to live. You need to eat something else or you will not survive long on this diet. I’ve not eaten rabbit before and don’t really know much about it. My first thought was you would get Scurvy eating meat but no fruit or veggies. But that doesn’t fit the passage in the book, which claims that rabbit “removes something” from one’s body. So what’s the Straight Dope? Does rabbit leech some essential vitamins or minerals from the body if it is eaten exclusively? What would you die from? How long would it take (approximately)? Does this imply that you can survive exclusively on beef or pork or chicken, or at least longer than you would on rabbit? Or is it any all-meat diet that’s not sustainable, and pterry was just putting it in the discworld vernacular? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/2 "2013-02-16T13:01:54Z")
_QI_ [addressed this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2RYiaM6WU). You use up more vitamins than the rabbit provides. But eat other foods alongside it and you’d be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/3 "2013-02-16T13:29:48Z")
Also google “Rabbit starvation” in case you want something more authoritative than Stephen “Patronising Smartypants” Fry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/4 "2013-02-16T13:52:54Z")
It’s actually not a vitamin deficiency, but rather an imbalance in the amount of protein consumed vs. fat and/or carbohydrates consumed. > **[Protein poisoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation)** > > Protein poisoning (also referred to colloquially as rabbit starvation, mal de caribou, or fat starvation) is an acute form of malnutrition caused by a diet deficient in fat and carbohydrates, where almost all calories consumed come from the protein in lean meat. The concept is discussed in the context of paleoanthropological investigations into the diet of ancient humans, especially during the last glacial maximum and at high latitudes. > The term rabbit starvation originates from the fact that ra... ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/5 "2013-02-16T14:02:15Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _QI_ [addressed this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2RYiaM6WU). You use up more vitamins than the rabbit provides. But eat other foods alongside it and you’d be fine. It’s not the vitamins so much as the protein. Rabbit meat is really lean, so it’s almost all protein, and the human body can only digest so much protein. So, if you just eat rabbit meat or something else that’s just protein, you’re not going to be able to metabolize enough calories to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/6 "2013-02-16T22:03:20Z")
I’ve read that eating the organs of the rabbit is a good way to stave off rabbit starvation. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/7 "2013-02-17T16:33:58Z")
… > [@](#): > > (I knew a cat who made a habit > Of eating nothing else but rabbit, > And, when he’d finished, licked his paws > So as not to waster the onion sauce.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/8 "2013-02-17T16:52:58Z")
**NB:** _Leech_ is a noun. _Leach_ is the verb. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/9 "2013-02-17T17:00:00Z")
Will eating leeches give you rabbit fever? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/10 "2013-02-17T17:17:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Will eating leeches give you rabbit fever? Dunno. But I think a leech might leach your blood… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/11 "2013-02-17T17:38:47Z")
The well-known sea kayaker John Dowd and his kayak mate experienced this off the coast of Patagonia, when they could not get to shore, and, moored precariously to the kelp beds, survived on a diet of raw sea duck. It weakened them so much that they could barely paddle in the freezing stormy waters, but once they got to their cache and added sweetened condensed milk to their raw sea duck diet, they revived. Whenever I think of ocean-going adventures I always remember this, and stay home. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/12 "2013-02-17T20:22:19Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _QI_ [addressed this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2RYiaM6WU). OK, so let me see if I’ve understood this correctly now. If you eat rabbit… you’ll die? Please let me know if there’s something I’ve missed. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/13 "2013-02-17T20:41:59Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The well-known sea kayaker John Dowd and his kayak mate experienced this off the coast of Patagonia, when they could not get to shore, and, moored precariously to the kelp beds, survived on a diet of raw sea duck. It weakened them so much that they could barely paddle in the freezing stormy waters, but once they got to their cache and added sweetened condensed milk to their raw sea duck diet, they revived. I find it surprising that a diet of duck would cause rabbit starvation, since duck is a fatty meat, unlike rabbit. Might it have been some other nutrient deficiency? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/14 "2013-02-17T21:19:45Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > OK, so let me see if I’ve understood this correctly now. If you eat rabbit… you’ll die? Please let me know if there’s something I’ve missed. Not quite. A little rabbit is fine, just don’t eat lots of it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/15 "2013-02-18T04:43:11Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > OK, so let me see if I’ve understood this correctly now. If you eat rabbit… you’ll die? Please let me know if there’s something I’ve missed. You just have to balance your diet, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eating-rabbit-leech-nutrition-from-you/650491/16 "2013-02-18T15:32:58Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > OK, so let me see if I’ve understood this correctly now. If you eat rabbit… you’ll die? Please let me know if there’s something I’ve missed. If you eat _nothing but rabbit meat_ for a while, yes (according to the links). Thanks to everyone for the info, I had no idea this was possible. Sorry for the leech/leach confusion.