Diet...Qs for your exp peoples out there

[Orchid]

I have read a bunch of things over time, but you will all have to forgive me as the meds I take make my memory not very good any longer and I tend to get confused....where as I never did before,...

Where as I am slightly...very slightly concerned for her drinking...Maybe she is drinking more then I notice, which I think is true because man we need to change her litter pan 2-3 times a week, where as with Simon we only needed to once a week, but alas he peed where ever he went, when ever he wanted to lol...

OK SO!

She came to me already eating Parsley, Green and Red leaf with some carrot.

I got rid of Parsley...just didn't sit well with me to give that every day to her. If there is NOTHING wrong at all with her having this on a daily basis, please let me know.

Anyway,...I buy one head of red or green leaf a week, as I do not have 5 buns to feed like the foster mom did, I found my leafs were going bad...so now I alternate, unless like say the red looks crappy and I will go with the green that week.

Tried her on the cilantro...she loves it..no problems on it. Started Green peppers, took her two days, but she does seem to also enjoy that as well. I shave off a few slices of it, put it in the colander with a bunch of sprigs of cilantro, a leaf or two depending on size, carrot tops when I can find them and they are not nasty....and a bit of carrot. I wash, rinse and let her eat her fill. Now will say when all is said and done, it is more than one cup...and at last count she was2 & 1/2 pounds. But she is eating it....and she loves it....(but only if you give it after 8pm at night, which I so don't understand but OK....) I had been giving a 1/4 cup of Oxbow Timothy Pellets every morning. In fact I wake up to my pillow being tugged and bitten, my blankets being dug at and pulled till I get up and give her, her morning pellets. At least she has the good graces to wait now till closer to 6:30am instead of 4:30...she is a better alarm clock than what I have lol...

Well I got to thinking I do not want to over feed her, but I would feel that while I do want to continue to provide some pellets, for I feel there is a benefit to that, I would like to make her salads the bank of her diet....but have it a healthy one...that fills the best requirements...

She is a good hay eater of Oxbows Organic Sweet meadow and Oat hays....she does not seem to care a great deal at all about timothy, botanical, etc.... But she does and will spend a lot of time snacking on her hay (which I think leads to the fur staining with pee)....Working on the staining.

So what I am asking....realistically as well for someone who has 1 small bun...(don't want to buy tons of stuff we can not use fast enough before it spoils)....

What have you salad bun eating owners provided that you feel is a good healthy diet. I know every one will have opinions...and I will take all comments into consideration and what I think is best for IS....

I dropped her Pellets down to Two tablespoons this morning...she seems OK with that. Gave a slice of apple this a.m. as my daughter had an apple today..she ate that no problem....and after the picking her up, holding her, picture taking...I gave a sprig of cilantro as my peace offering.

She plays with the willow toys it seems, balls tunnels etc. She does not show much interest in phone books, plastic balls, keys etc. She sometimes like paper bags and she has a timothy hut she pays attention to at times, but not as much as her cardboard box she messes with, but not every day either.

I would say on the whole I have a healthy bunny, with healthy eating habits and I would just like to encourage and continue....

OH and I give her those Oxbox tablets for papaya....

and yes I can't help it...I do randomly give her the SMALLEST piece of a banana when I have one in the morning, which is not often... so maybe 2 times a month she has a small bite...

I really look forward to whatever advice you guys can give...!

Much love to all!

 

[elrohwen]

First, there's nothing wrong with making parsley a big part of her diet. Feel free to give some every day if she likes it. Most herbs are healthy veggies for buns.

Second, how old is your bun? If she is full grown and that small, you might be able to reduce the pellets down to 1/8 cup and increase her veggies. The HRS recommends 1/4cup of pellets per 4-5lbs of bun, so she probably only needs 1/8 cup. I would start by adding a salad in the morning in addition to the salad you give her at night. If she really won't eat veggies before 8pm, then maybe just give her more at that time. I think, total, she should be getting at least 1 1/2 cups of veggies per day, especially if you want to reduce her pellets. But I tend to be of the school of thought that more veggies can't really be a bad thing as long as they're the healthy leafy green types. I've heard up to 3 cups of veggies per day for a 4-5lb bun.

Third, as far as storage goes, I don't have a problem with anything lasting up to a week and even find that many veggies last a week and a half (and even at the end of two weeks they're still edible). I also buy a lot of romaine because the heads are large and I find it stays fresh longer than the leaf lettuces. So maybe try some romaine and see if she likes it. In my experience, the thicker the veggie, the longer it stays good. Thin delicate veggies like carrot tops seem to not last very long at all.

 

[Hazel-Mom]

Well, we feed Hazel mainly vegetables and other greens. She refuses to eat regular hay, so I make her a mix of dried herbs and flowers, that she does eat. She also eats dried grape leaves and willow leaves.
She also gets a few pellets each day, just to be sure, and because she likes them. They are her bedtime treats She has no more than a teaspoon full, if that.

Her main diet consists of dandelion, italian parsley, romaine lettuce, red leaf and greenleaf lettuce, kale and "dino"kale, and dill. That is the "mainstay", mainly because those veggies are what we can find in the store all year round, (and some we can grow ourselves part of the year). On top of that, we also give her anything we can grow or pick in the yard or elsewhere (provided we know for sure they are un-treated).

Some of the "extras" are basil (several kinds), mints (several), carrot greens, carrot, chervil, burnett, pineapple sage, sage, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, leaves of strawberry, blueberry and blackberry, petals, leaves and hips of roses, nasturtium flowers, chamomile, marigold flowers, alfalfa flowers, and all flowers of the herbs we grow. I probably forgot some. I have alse given her "weeds" like shepherds purse and other edible ones.

As for storage, the mainstays we buy from the store easily keep at least a week. The other herbs etc. we pick nearly daily. they do store for a day or 2, some 3 or 4, in the fridge.
Some herbs can also be stored standing in a cup of water, like you would do with a bouquet of flowers.

This diet seems to suit her very well, she is nearly 7 years old now, and has only once had a bout of GI problems that required vet attention. That was when she was over 6 years old.