Oh, Dennis! You're making amountain out of a molehill. I don't think anyonetook umbrage with your "opinion," but in the terms and manner in whichit was couched. There is nothing wrong in pleasantlydisagreeing and treating people as you would hope they would treatyou. This forum has been singularly free of the kinds ofantagonisms that prevailed over at the other Rabbits Forum and,frankly, I think it is the better for it!
You avoided my major question. Do you have any idea whichtype of diet the average rabbit would be more likely to choose betweena pelleted and a "natural" one? Do you know of any study orwork done to indicate the preference for one or another?
In some of my older rabbit books, a lot of time, energy, and expensewas involved in creating a palatableration for rabbits to eatfrom a myriad of agricultural sources, many of which would no longer beavailable to the general public. Seems like everybody hadtheir own 'formula" for what worked. Obviously, pellets havemade that no longer necessary, but I'll bet you rabbits would havepreferred the former.
At the risk of appearing anthropomorphic, I would think it would belike the difference between eating freeze-dried food and fresh, orpowdered eggs or real. Using Guinness Book of World Records,Flopsy, as an example of a healthy, long lived rabbit, some of theresponses from his owner that I received regarding the composition ofhis diet were:
Rye grass & clover. Baled meadow hay....He was fedsilver beet & lettuce mainly with carrots & apples as asupplement. Lettuce and carrots were the favorites.
personal correspondence dated 5-12-03, from Mrs. TriciaWalker of Tasmania, Australia.
There is no doubt some modern day rabbit fanciers would find issueswith that diet, yet Flopsy lived to the ripe old age of 18 years, 10months, twenty-nine days. Cause of death...Benign pituarytumor & old age!
Although I feed a pelleted diet, I can find no record of a pelleted fedrabbit approaching that kind of life span. Food(pun intended)for thought, eh?
Buck
