Spotted squirel liver
 

Hey guys I have a question that I have had for some time and has resulted in lots of wasted meat it is about squirel livers i have killed a few squirel's this year but every time I go to dress them I see there liver has white spots on it they seem to be healthy I mean they did not act sick when I saw the running around so should I still eat them or not risk it.... Thanks

I have hunted squirrels for 48 years an have never seen white spots on the liver. I killed a fox squirrel couple years back that had a bad case of mange, only one I killed that was sick.

I would say you are probably OK to eat them as long as the meat is well cooked. You might want to check with your local game department to see if there is a disease problem with the squirrels in your state. As long as they appeared healthy an didn't act sick, I don't see a problem, myself.

I would not . when in doubt ,throw it out.when I was a kid we hunted rabbit and were told not to eat the ones with spotted liver.
think about it,is eating a rodent, really, worth risking your health?

Spots on squirrel iver
 

I would be willing to bet what you are seeing on the squirrel liver are canine tapeworm cysts. They are very common in squirrels and rabbits. They usually pick them up from fleas that fed as larvae on dog or other feces that contained the tapeworm eggs. When the squirrel or rabbit groom themselves they eat the cysts in the eggs and then the eggs hatch into cysts and hang around in the entrails of the rodents. In my area of PA we call them beads, the real old timers used to say don't hunts rabbits or squirrels until the first killing frost and the beads will be gone. That is lot of rubbish since the beads are in the insides. They are very easy to see on the liver because of the color, they look kinda like a tiny egg, a clear sunstance with a white yolk. I suspect if you go through the entrails you will find them there, they're just harder to see. There is nothing wrong with the meat from animals that have these cysts, they are only on the entrails and not in the meat. I have eaten hundreds of rabbits with them and some squirrels as well. When you see raised white spots that look kinda like cottage cheese, that is when to bury the carcass so no dog eats it because that is a sign of tularemia, rabbit fever. Sadly a lot of rabbit and squirrel meat is wasted because hunters don't know what those tiny white cysts are. Picture below of a real bad infestation in a rabbit.

Thanks oldtimr that was very helpful the spots on the liver I have seen look to be white specs in the liver itself no like cottage cheese

I wouldn't eat it

I find it strange that your killing so many with spots. Checking with the local game department might be a good idea.

yea i suppose it couldnt hurt. it seems like rabbit fever is very common in missouri i had read on the cdc website at least i will most likely no longer hunt squirel on that property i have also never shot a rabbit on the place that was not sick in fact just last year me and buckman11 shot a rabibit opened it up and were shocked to see the worst looking liver i have ever seen

Every rabbit is sick ? You on a toxic land fill or something ? I don't know much about small game diseases but sounds like a little bit to many sick animals there for me. Might be ok but it would just wierd me out to eat them

once again, WHEN IN DOUBT THROW IT OUT.


IS EATING A RODENT MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU THEN YOUR HEALTH? if you are starving and it is the difference between life and death,by all means, scarf it down. otherwise why would you even contemplate it?