9 week old Holland Lop Diet?

[Alexandra2020]

Hello.

I am desperate to find some information on Holland Lop diet. I’m fairly new to owning a bunny. I previously owned 2 bunnies who I later found out came from a not taken care of Breeder. The bunnies were given to us sick nd with mites, ringworm, week immune systems and so in the bunnies later died so I have PTSD about owning a bunny after that.

As a gift I got a new bunny a week ago almost 2 weeks now. She’s 8 weeks and 4 days old. A Holland Lop. She’s in perfect health and happy.

I was wondering what a diet of a Holland Lop this age should be. The breeder we got her from said she was feeding her 1/4 cup 2x a day. I did this and seemed to make her poop soft and sticky. I cut her back and her poop went to normal. Except 3 days ago her urine was drying white which I learned was normal but meant she has too much calcium in her diet. Yesterday afternoon her pee went back to normal no whiteness.

I feed her alfalfa hay from Murdoch’s and pellets that the breeder was feeding her also alfalfa based. I’m just wondering how much pellets should I giver her? I read that I should be feeding her the amount she would grow in for her adult size in her breed which would be 4 pounds. I only give her about 25-30 pieces of pellets a day. But it seems like she could always eat ore and it doesn’t satisfy her. I count yes .

If anyone could give me insight that would be appreciated.

Forgot to mention that the breeder also added oatmeal flakes to her hay quite a bit and I saw that contains a lot of calcium in it. I didn’t do that when she came with me I only give her a flake or 2 as a treat for being good

 

[lilnaugrim]

Here's this you should definitely read through: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=51597
Mainly, as far as I know, all the alfalfa and oat hay you can give her. She should have a 24/7 supply of it and only a small amount of pellets.
For my English Lop I do pellets in the morning before I go to work and his Escarole or Chicory for dinner with a couple Timothy Ring treats or a Timothy/Alfalfa cube chew to keep him busy for a while. But the hay is the biggest part that you need to do, pellets are not overly necessary, especially once an adult. I do like to feed them a little because it's a bit of a treat for them and may provide some nutrients if I can't get to the veggies that day. Also keep in mind that pellets, rabbits chew up and down which creates a "wave" in their teeth. Basically, the middle is ground down but the edges are not and these can cause cheek ulcers when they rip at the inside of the mouth. When a rabbit eats grass, veggies, or hay, then the Rabbit chews around and side to side so it grinds down the whole tooth. This is super important, getting her to eat more hay at this stage versus the pellets is good.

Yes, she will act like she's starving and hasn't had enough pellets because it's like a treat, it does have some sugar in it and so they crave it.

What brand of pellets are you feeding?

 

[Alexandra2020]

Thank you for the response.

Her diet is alfalfa hay 24/7 and I don’t give her oatmeal since that was the cause of her pee turning white. I give her pieces of pellets as treats it worries me because everyone has different opinions like providing pellets 24/7 or the breeder gave her 1/4 cup 2x a day. The Brand is Purina Show

 

[lilnaugrim]

One of the things I learned is about the fiber in the ingredients. That's very important to look for, it should be the highest you can find. Looking at Purina Chow Show food, it's got 18-23%, not the worst food I've seen for sure. But you do want it as high as you can find it. The Calcium to Phosphorus ratio is also important. You always want Phosphorus to be lower but IIRC, it should be a 1:1 to 2:1 ratio, meaning the calcium should be higher than the phosphorus ideally, but should still remain as low as possible. The Purina food has Calcium at 1.25% and Phosphorus at .5%, so this is a good ratio.

To give you an idea of other foods, I feed Oxbow Garden Select. The Fiber is 22-26% which is awesome. The Calcium is at .75% max and phosphorus is .25% minimum per serving. So it's a better nutrition for rabbits. I'm uncertain about baby bunnies though as I've never researched it or had one myself, my boy is over a year and eats all adult foods so there is different which doesn't help you too much lol. But, I'd say, just find a pellet food that has the highest fiber content you can afford and that will be good to feed as a treat besides the hay and veggies/leafy greens. If the Purina is what you can afford (Oxbow is 13-15 dollars a bag) then I think that's a fine food to keep with, just definitely not 1/4 a cup twice a day, that's too much and you'll run into gut and teeth problems. Forcing them to eat more hay even though they want those pellets as they are super tasty, is better for them in the long run as it's what they'd eat naturally versus pellets. ^_^

 

[Alexandra2020]

That’s very informative. Thank you.
I wanted to use the pellets the breeder had her on. I could go and find a better brand for my bunny. Should I get pellets alfalfa based since she is a baby? And is alfalfa hay good for her too? I’m still not sure about the oatmeal flakes if I should sprinkle that on her hay like her breeder did but she eats her hay fine without it.

I know not to to give her that many pellets. Should I keep giving her a few pieces here and there as treats? I don’t give her handfuls or measure it to 1/4 cup anymore after it made her stool soft and sticky. Also I don’t give her any greens everyone feels me not to start her until she is 6 months

 

[woahlookitsme]

You can use an alfalfa pellet while she is a baby and growing. This will help her bones develop. I've heard that if you give alfalfa pellets you don't want to give alfalfa hay as well. I would stick with the alfalfa pellets and do another type of hay as alfalfa can be very hard to wean from a bunny as its very tasty for them vs a regular hay. You can try oat or timothy hay

If she is eating enough hay and you try to increase the pellet amount (SLOWLY) and it turns her stool sticky again then you can go back down to a smaller amount. You don't want to increase the amount of pellets too quickly. Pellets are essential for her growth right now so i would continue to feed them at an appropriate level that doesn't make her stool abnormal.

I wouldn't give her greens right now either. Let her gut develop more and you may be able to try when she is older and more matured. You may have to watch her intake pretty well as it seems minute changes in her diet affect it so when she is older introduce veggies very slowly and watch for abnormal stools

Also You don't have to continue the oatmeal

 

[lilnaugrim]

+100 to woahlookitsme!

Yeah, I don't have quite enough experience to answer all questions yet but they've got it!

Another thing I learned from here that you can keep in mind for later when she's old enough to eat veggies/greens is to make sure she's eating a lot of hay. The hay helps with the digestion and adding in veggies so suddenly may upset a balance. So very small amounts first but definitely make sure she's eating mostly Timothy hay (when she's adult). Also, don't mix/switch up veggies/greens too often at first either as this can cause imbalance as well. Introduce things slowly and one type at a time. I learned that those of the cauliflower family such as Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, broccolini, etc., are not so good for buns even though they seem pretty normal. They make a bunny quite gaseous and that can cause issues. Instead, look at those in the Daisy family or Chicory family such as Escarole, Chicory, Daisy or Dandelion greens, etc.

But, can't help with what age to transition lol. Good luck with her! ^_^