How to feed the rabbit gastrointestinal tract

[missyscove]

I'm an Animal Science major at Cornell university, and this semester I decided to take a "Comparative Animal Nutrition and Toxicology" course so I could learn about some animals other than cows, as much as I do love cows. So far we've only been talking about horses (there are a lot of ways to accidentally kill your horse), but we're about to move on to rabbits. We got some reading to do ahead of time and I found this paper really interesting. It isn't overly complex, but it summarizes the literature fairly well. I don't think it's posted elsewhere on here, so here goes.
How to feed the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) gastrointestinal tract by N.A. Irlbeck

 

[tamsin]

That is interesting, thank you for sharing

 

[elrohwen]

I went to Cornell too :wave:I also lived with a few animal science majors and I was jealous of some of their classes while I was taking a few really boring engineering classes

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

missyscove wrote:

I'm an Animal Science major at Cornell university, and this semester I decided to take a "Comparative Animal Nutrition and Toxicology" course so I could learn about some animals other than cows, as much as I do love cows. So far we've only been talking about horses (there are a lot of ways to accidentally kill your horse), but we're about to move on to rabbits. We got some reading to do ahead of time and I found this paper really interesting. It isn't overly complex, but it summarizes the literature fairly well. I don't think it's posted elsewhere on here, so here goes.
How to feed the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) gastrointestinal tract by N.A. Irlbeck

future protein source,..rabbits.....this is sad for bunny lovers,,i don,t believe in eating rabbits,,or any of my exotics-no matter how bad i get bite,,,my stomach could-not handle reading too much of this thread,,james wallerink iris::rainbow::bunnydance::X

 

[missyscove]

james waller wrote:

missyscove wrote:

I'm an Animal Science major at Cornell university, and this semester I decided to take a "Comparative Animal Nutrition and Toxicology" course so I could learn about some animals other than cows, as much as I do love cows. So far we've only been talking about horses (there are a lot of ways to accidentally kill your horse), but we're about to move on to rabbits. We got some reading to do ahead of time and I found this paper really interesting. It isn't overly complex, but it summarizes the literature fairly well. I don't think it's posted elsewhere on here, so here goes.
How to feed the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) gastrointestinal tract by N.A. Irlbeck

future protein source,..rabbits.....this is sad for bunny lovers,,i don,t believe in eating rabbits,,or any of my exotics-no matter how bad i get bite,,,my stomach could-not handle reading too much of this thread,,james wallerink iris::rainbow::bunnydance::X

I think that's the only time meat rabbits are even referenced. I really liked at the end where she specifically talks about feeding rabbits for maintenance... something you need with a pet animal, not something you need to do for an animal being produced for food.
While I may not eat rabbits myself, the fact that they are raised for things like meat, wool and fur in addition to things like showing and pets only adds to the need to know more about their nutritional needs and can only be beneficial to the pet owner in terms of what we learn about rabbits themselves. I know meat rabbits are sort of an off-limits subject here, but just because we don't talk about them doesn't mean they don't exist.

Just like what we learn about beef cattle can certainly be applied to dairy cattle.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

it would have been very simple to address the issue of rabbit diet,,rather than introducing rabbit as a main course,..animals of all kinds,,all countries,,engage in meat production...animals-abused,,raised in horrible,,dispickable,,conditions,,slaughtered,,just for the dinner table,,oh..don,t forget commerce/$$$...i feel guilty just eating chicken and hamburger..need i say more,,peta type organizations exist because of the above...james waller:grumpy::shock::bunnydance:

 

[missyscove]

But the reason that Animal Science exists and gets funding for research is because humans rely so heavily on production animals. If cows were just wild animals that we occasionally saw, we'd basically know nothing about them. We certainly wouldn't be out there running feed trials on them to see what works best.
The reason you're not seeing an influx of new research on rabbits is that they aren't really being seen as production animals here in the US so there isn't really a financial reason to move forward with research.

 

[Pipp]

James, we don't 'go there' for a lot of reasons, but I'm not going there.

We welcome every opportunity to increase out knowledge on rabbit health.

We hate animal testing, but we're not going to ignore the plethora of information out there as a result of millions of 'sacrificed' rabbits. It will help other rabbits.

Missy, that was a great article. Love to get 'bullet' excerpts relating to pet bunnies, on the off chance you're doing something like that when study it.

sas :thanks:

 

[RandomWiktor]

Very interesting article! I always love reading about nutrition and physiology of the animals I keep. Good read.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

missyscove wrote:

But the reason that Animal Science exists and gets funding for research is because humans rely so heavily on production animals. If cows were just wild animals that we occasionally saw, we'd basically know nothing about them. We certainly wouldn't be out there running feed trials on them to see what works best.
The reason you're not seeing an influx of new research on rabbits is that they aren't really being seen as production animals here in the US so there isn't really a financial reason to move forward with research.

i am on several websitess weekly,,due to my own-health researchfor exotic critters.//.-they are very aware of being prey food,and that we are the top predators/carnivores,,..people seem unaware that the animal they covet is extremely fearful..,optimum health,,longevity of a spiecies has been sadly overlooked soas people can get rich,,like any commodity-which is what the above statement is about..,,:highfive:james waller