By Edison T. Rabbit
 November 1999

FOOD: Ok I admit it.. I have a sweet tooth! I just love Granny Smith Apples and my favorite food, Nectarines! However, My pet humans also realize that rabbits don't live on these things alone. We rabbits need a balanced diet, just like you humans do. So here I'm going to tell you what my pet humans are doing to keep my diet balanced. 

I get a generous and fresh supply of Timothy Hay daily. This is really the key staple of my diet. When buying hay look for a brand of hay that is very green. If it's green it means that the nutritional value of the hay is still there. If it kind of looks like straw, then hop away to another  pet shop.

Why hay? Well it adds much needed roughage to our diets to help keep our digestive system going. Unlike a cat say, we can't cough up a 'hair ball". Our systems just don't have that ability. So hay helps us keep hairballs from forming by keeping our digestive systems moving right along. Chewing down in hay also helps us from getting too bored if we bunnies do get cage time while our pet humans are away.

If you have a younger rabbit (a year old or under )You may want to use alfalfa hay instead. This type of hay contains nutrients that younger bunnies need!

Can we eat leafy vegetables and greens? Sure can! In fact they are important to keeping us healthy! My current favorite is fresh dandelion leaves that my pet humans get from the produce section of the local supermarket.

Can you take the dandelion or other greens from your front lawn? Well its not really wise to do that since there may be some heavy duty pesticides being used either by yourself or by a neighbor. Even washing them may not do the trick. You are better off going to the local supermarket or general store to pick up bunnies veggies.

I get about 2 servings of veggies daily, which works out to be about 8 ounces a day. I can have certain fruits too like Papaya, Nectarines, and Apples. The amount I get however is regulated by my pet humans. Eating too much fruit could cause a case of diarrhea and that's the LAST thing we bunnies and you pet humans want!

Try to steer away from veggies that have a lot of calcium in them. It could lead to some medical issues for us if we get too much calcium in our diets. I do get greens like broccoli but every once in a while. The leafy part of the broccoli contains a lot of calcium, the same with kale. so I do get them, but only as an occasional treat!

Part of my diet is a commercially prepared rabbit pellet called Ox Bow Bunny Basic-T that can purchased at any good pet shop. I also get a pellet from American Pet Diner which is almost as good. (If your pet shop does not carry this brand, you can purchase it on line!)

The reason: both Oxbow and American Pet Diner are a Timothy based pellet and not Alfalfa based like most pellets are. Also there is a low calcium count in both brands. We don't want too much calcium in our diet, that could lead to complications later on!

The amount of pellets to feed your rabbit will vary with how big your rabbit is and of course how active your ball of fluff happens to be. Its a good idea to talk to your veterinarian for the exact amounts.

As for me.. I weigh about 4.5 pounds so I get 2 servings of rabbit pellets which amount to  about a 1/4 cup daily. The brand of rabbit pellet I get does not have a lot of flakes or odd crunchy things it. Try not to get a brand like that. Those crunchy things may look eye pleasing and taste great to us, but they also will add some un-necessary fat to our diet. You may want to store the pellets in some kind of moisture proof and air tight container away from any light. This way the nutritional value of the pellet will stay fresh for a long time.

Also, please don't leave un eaten pellets in our dish day in and day out. Discard the pellets we don't eat after each feeding. This way, we can take full advantage of their nutritional value! 

Another aid in helping us from getting hairballs stuck especially during shedding season is papaya tablets. Ok the jury is still out on this one, but The enzyme in the papaya is believed to help us buns digest a little better and break down any hairballs that may be forming. And I'll admit it I love the taste! The recommended amount that my pet human has heard is about 4 a day, especially during shedding season. 

What about grains like barley or oats? Well.. yes we can but please only a small amount and not very often. Reason again is the high protein count in the grain will cause us to get too fat. And being too fat will hurt us down the road, just like you humans. So again if you are going to give us grains, please only as a rare treat.

Water: We rabbits need a fresh supply of water daily. You can give us water in a water bottle attached to the side of the cage or in a bowl we can not easily turn upside down. My pet human opted to use a 20 ounce water bottle attached to the side of my cage. I have 3 water bottles which he cycles out for me. My water gets changed twice a day but once a day is fine too!

Eventually I found this water bottle thing to be a bit of a problem so my pet human bought a good sized heavy bowl for me that I could not turn over. That became my water bowl! Over the years I preferred that to my water bottle and the water bottle was phased out. However some bunnies like the water bottle! I guess like you humans it's all a matter of preference!

Both my food dishes and my water bottles get good cleanings daily too. Both are rinsed out and dried completely. The nozzle on the water bottle especially gets cleaned out frequently to prevent any algae from growing in there. Use warm water to clean our food dish and water bottles.

So as you see its not that difficult to keep us bunnies happily fed and hydrated! Just have to make sure that we are not over-fed. If you give us a fresh, clean supply of good food and water, then your bunny  will be with you for a long time to come!

 abbit's 
Fine Dining
 Review


 

Papaya Tablets to help prevent hairballs (4 Before Each Meal)