Baking for Bunnies

[MyBabyBunnies]

I've gotten so sick of going into stores andseeing harmful treats for sale so I've decided to bake my own treatsfor my boys, lol.

I was sifting my pellets today to get rid of the dust and as I didthat, I collected the fine dust in a container. This acts like flourfor bunnies.

I then came inside and started testing some basic treats. I mushedabout 1/4 of a banana up and used about 4 tsp of pellet dust. Then Iput it in a small pan and baked it for about 8 minutes on 350*F (justuntil it was crunchy). I guess you could use things like oats(finely ground), apples, carrots, etc.

Well I tested the banana and pellet mixture after it was baked and theboys loved it! So from now on I'll just keep collecting pellet dust andbaking my own treats, lol.

P.S.- The pellet dust is also handy if you ever need to feed your rabbit a 'pellet slurry'.

 

[AnnaS]

wow, how innoventive.

 

[Meganc731]

Clever idea!!!

 

[Cinnabun]

ooo i'll have to try that! would it work also with Strawberries?

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Probably would. Put the strawberries in a blenderand then add pellets until it's sort of a doughy texture. Then dividehow you want and bake them. You will have to decide on how long to bakeand what not because I'm testing this myself.

To test the treats with your rabbit simply use only one strawberry soyou have a very small amount. But be careful, strawberries have a fairbit of sugar!

 

[Cinnabun]

thankyou! yeah ive always wanted to cook for myanimals! lol.. i'll let her eat a strawberry first to see if she likesit, lol... but i dunno bout the sugar part! :? lol she's already tooooohyper! lol

 

[Buck Jones]

How clever you are! Absolutely safe treats. You probably could market that.

Buck

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I'm not sure how well they work completely baked.The ones I tested today I took out of the oven too soon so they arestill soft. I'm afraid that they may just crumble so does anyone knowif a very minuscule amount of molasses would be harmful? I'm going tobake some apple ones tomorrow and see if they stick and if they don'tthen I'll have to think something up.

 

[Buck Jones]

In as much as sugar of any kind iscontra-indicated for rabbits, I don't know that it is any worse thanany other form, either. Miniscule amounts probably are notlife threatening and maybe the baking process breaks down some of thesugar anyway. Don't know that, justthinkingaloud, so to speak.

buck

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I know I've used molasses in baking for horsesbefore but I wasn't sure about rabbits. I don't want to use molassesand I wont use it unless I have to. I'm still going to look foralternatives if just baking it plain doesn't work.

 

[Cinnabun]

i'll still try the strawberries! lol i LOVE themso hopefully my bunny will too! lol.. Missey was only able to eat SodaCrackers because she'd get sick if she had anything eles.. so imhopeing Cinn isnt like that, lol

 

[lanna21974]

Thats a great idea. Maybe the apple in themwillhold them together? I'm going to try it when I haveenough pellet dust saved!

Lanna

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I can tell you what I find out tomorrow. I haveno school and a cottage cheese container full of pellet dust so we'llsee how it goes.

 

[lanna21974]

Please do MBB. I bet the rabbits will love having a new treat!

Lanna

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

Laura, you mightfind some helpful info on some of the bird web sites. I remember acouple years ago when I was really into feeding the wild birds I wasdoing a lot of suet cakes and such. I was also crafting a lot at thetime and I came across a recipe for some baked bird biscuit/treats. Ibet there is some info out there on some of those kinds of sites aboutwhat works for baking, sugar, nutritional contents, etc.

Raspberry

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Thanks Raspberry, I'll look into it.

 

[bluebird]

I have a dog biscuit recipe that calls forcarrots and whole wheat flour,2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour,1/2 cuppowdered milk,1/2 tsp salt,and garlic powder,1 cup pureed carrots orgreen veges,i use he canned and mash with a fork,6 tablespons margarineshortening or bacon fat,1 egg,1 teaspoon brown sugar,1/2 cup icewater.preheat oven to 350..combine fluor milk salt garlic powder andsugar,cut in shortening,mix in egg and veges add enough water to form aball.roll out 1/2 inch thick on lightly oiled cokie sheet,cut out withbiscuit cutter,bake 25 ,30 minutes My dogs love this recipe.I thinkmaybe bunnies would too.bluebird

 

[Stephanie]

I found this recipe on rabbits.org that mentioned using honey, which you could use as an alternative to molasses.

What a great idea though, I'm going to give it a shot. I've used mymortal and pestle to make a slurry for Abby when she needed it after wespayed her, didn't even think of the dust!

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I'll try that if I have to but I don't really want to since honey is very sweet.

 

[BunnyMommy]

Oh, MBB, I LOVE the name of this thread!

What a great and creative idea. I'm going to give it a try for my Sherman using some of his favorite fruits.