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RABBIT DIET!
The question we get most often, after people realize that feeding your pet rabbit pellets and junk food scraps is a big no-no, is "can you tell me more about diet?". Most people do not initially realize the care that their new little rabbit friend will need. This could also explain why so many rabbits get the quick boot out of the door of new inexperienced homes. When you first learn about your rabbits diet, it can seem rather time consuming, confusing, not to mention a lot of work. After a few weeks however, you'll have it down and it will get much quicker. You will also find ways to cut your time down without sacrificing the quality of your friends meal. Your basic quests will be finding a good hay and also a rabbit pellet food. I prefer oxbow for pellet feed because it is an extremely high-quality food. Calcium intake is monitored in this food, it has an optimal amount of protein for a house rabbit (14%) and is higher in fiber than a lot of other foods (25%). Going cheap on rabbit food is a big no-no. The kinds that have the pretty flower treats and corn (huh?) are low quality and usually show that they are high in protein...which sounds good...but its not. Too much protein is just "fat" to a house rabbit. Higher protein levels are recommended for breeding rabbits and rabbits that live outside under "the conditions". Just like a human body, the rabbit cannot break down the excess vitamins, minerals fats and other "stuff". We only process as much as our body needs and the rest is "excess". Rabbits do not have the capacity to process the excess over long periods of time. This is also true with vitamin c. Our bun friends need a certain amount....overabundance of vitamin c increases the level of calcium in blood and can cause later problems by building up. Vet's tend to recommend a low calcium diet for buns with bladder or urinary problems. Bun lovers just tend to recommend low vitamin c in general. A daily papaya tab will help keep your bun in great shape. When selecting your hay, you will need to think of a few things. How old is your bun? Kits are growing rabbits and once away from mom, will need hay and feed to compensate. Look for a good pellet fit for a babe and alfalfa hay is usually recommended for babies and teenagers. I follow the houserabbit.org diets....their recommendation is that "kids" from 7 weeks to 7 months can have unlimited pellets and alfalfa hay. They only recommend starting to introduce your bun to a veggie at 12 weeks and it needs to be very limited...one at a time. Too much can easily cause the runs with the young and old. From 7 months to a year, they also recommend introducing just a little fruit...1-2 oz a day per 6lbs of bun. You can also start introducing new kinds of hay that your bun will be eating throughout its life....timothy, oat and or grass hay. They recommend starting to limit your pellets, but I now tend to agree more with my pal Greg....unless the bun becomes overweight....let them have free pellets closer to a year of age. I am not a vet but I think at this point in the buns life, they are trying to get used to different adult foods and may tend to shy away from them or eat one and not another....which may cause a problem in their balanced diet while they are still growing. Once they are a year, start following the recommendations on your pet food labels. Oxbow has a recommended amount of pellets for each 5lbs of bun. They will now be eating lots of unlimited hay, varied veggies and some fruits and limited snacks. You don't want to overcompensate with too many pellets. As for greens....I will refer you to the houserabbit chart of greens and fruits. They do a good job on pointing out different ones that you don't often think of and also put a star next to those that need to be limited. After owning Duncan who had a very sensitive stomach...I will warn you to avoid greens or beans that are naturally gassy. Broccoli, Cabbage, Kale etc are on my hit list and I very rarely ever give them out. The list of fruits and veggies: http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html Also an important link that I need to post is toxic foods for buns... http://www.adoptarabbit.com/articles/toxic.html When your bun ages and becomes a senior...you will also find yourself readjusting the diet. Treats should always be limited no matter how bad your bun may beg. We love to make them happy, but we don't want to make them sick! Best of luck and I hope to have more info soon! |
