A rabbit's foot keychain is considered a symbol of luck, but some may consider it a little or unusually cruel. In order to receive the best luck from a rabbit's foot, it must be made from a real rabbit’s foot, and not just any foot will do. The foot considered lucky is the left hind foot, and the most “lucky” feet are those taken from rabbits caught or killed in a cemetery.

The full superstition regarding the luck of the rabbit's foot is quite complex, and suggests that the lucky rabbit's foot you can purchase cheaply may not do you any good. Not only must the rabbit's foot be obtained from a rabbit shot or caught in a cemetery, but many sources dictate specific times as to when the rabbit must be obtained.

Some sources suggests that only a rabbit captured during a full moon, new moon or on Friday the 13th will have a lucky left hind foot. Sadly some sources recommend cutting the foot off the rabbit when it’s still alive, which certainly constitutes animal cruelty and something PETA would protest. Others suggest the rabbit must be cross-eyed and must be killed by shooting it with a silver bullet.

Since there’s very little evidence that most modern rabbit's foot keychains attend to all these fine details, many people have turned to purchasing faux rabbit feet. This is certainly luckier for cross-eyed, cemetery-dwelling rabbits that just happen to encounter someone armed with a gun and silver bullets. Faux rabbit feet normally are covered with fake rabbit fur, and may be dyed in a variety of colors. To give the fake foot that dried bony feel, the internal structure is often made of latex.

There are still many rabbit's foot keychains made from real rabbit’s feet. They’re widely available on the Internet, in tourist trap shops, and sometimes in vending machines in casinos. They’re often thought particularly lucky to gamblers, and are usually less than 10 US dollars (USD). As with any amulet, icon, or other “lucky” piece, the efficacy of the rabbit’s foot is highly questionable. A rabbit killed for the purpose of obtaining rabbit's foot keychains might want to argue that his feet were certainly not his fortune.