is this a good diet for my rabbit?

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sara1991

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Hey :) I have very recently got my first pet rabbit (a black female who still needs a name if anyone has any suggestions, she had a boys name when i got her lol) and I have been and picked out some food and other bit for her. I was just hoping some of you experienced rabbit owners could have a read through what I got and let me know what you think and let me know if I could improve on anything.
I got her:
Alfalfa king timothy hay
Supreme science selective rabbit food
Woodlands rabbit forage
Woodlands apple and blackcurrent mix
A pack of supreme pet foods apple and cranberry stickles with timothy hay
A pet brands Holesome lick thing
and for bedding I got wood shavings and straw.

Any advise welcome :)
Thanks!
:apollo:
 
things like the fruit should be highly limited to no more than 1 table spoon a day. But your diet for the bunny is very high in sugar which is bad for the bun for more than the occasional treat.
 
You never said how old she was.
Bunnys should get Unlimited Hay (grass type hays like timothy, fescue, oat, orchard, botanical, etc as aduts. Alfalfa/Lucerne up until their 6 months or a mix with the grass hays)
Pure pellets. As in no junk mixed in with the pellets, just bunny pellets. Unlimited as babies, and after 6 months limited to 1/4 cup per 5lbs body weight. Most people follow the same rule... Alfalfa based pellets as babies, and timothy based with a lower protein as adults.
Leafy green vegetables can be added to the diet ANY TIME as long as its gradual and you watch for digestive upset.
The names of what you listed sound far to complicated.
Just hay, pellets, and veggies.
and as for bedding, most rabbits litter train easy. Bedding in the entire cage confuses them, most people here just use blankets or towels or normal carpet flooring in their cages. Bedding only in the litter box.
 
Sorry, she is 7 months old :) the apple and black current forage stuff doesnt acctually have fruit in it its more just twigs and dry leafs its just for sprinkling round the cage or on the hay. She doesnt have all the treats at once I just stocked up on some to last the month. Does that still sound like too much sugar? Thanks
 
I should probably add the only things she will be getting daily is unlimited hay and a few of the pellets and some veg. I was thinking about giving her a small amout of one of the forage mixes every second or third day and I was thinking 1 stickle stick every 2 weeks. The other forage mix is dried herbs, leaves and dandilions. Thanks for the advise :)
 
Just pellets, hay and greens are good for every day 😊 I'm sure she will love the other treats sparingly. Mine have straw as a floor in their cage and a bit of sawdust in the litter tray, which they have both taken to so well to say neither were trained when I got them! I was so suprised how clean and clever rabbits actually are. I change the tray every other day n they don't tend to mess anywhere else. Well done you for trying to get the best for her 😊 looking forward to more updates x
 
Thanks, I will be sure not to go overboard with the treats, its just so hard to resist buying them for her when she is soooo ruddy cute! I just want her to be happy.
 
Here is a picture of her :) this was before I got her though the hutch has had a good clean now. Isnt she the cutest :D

received_935473286482951.jpg
 
I liked shilo but my partner said it sounded too much like shall we say unpleasant word lol so now im not so sure. Funnily enough I was thinking maybe lola too but so far nothing has really stuck. Your girl is beautiful :) I love the pointy ears but seemingly they are harder to find homes for when they have pointy ears :/ and she is a fair size but I wouldnt say huge she probably just looks it in comparison to her tiny hutch... she didnt even have a run, I know next to nothing about rabbits and even I can see its nothing like big enough for her. She has access to a puppy pen through the day now but its still far from ideal I know its only for a few more days though then she will have the run of the shed :)
 
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What about Lily? That's quite cute and girly. Sounds like she's going to have a good life with you. And thank you 😊 only had her a couple of weeks and having to be careful to keep her away from our boy to avoid babies until she is old enough to spay, But looking at getting her a run so we can let her have some garden time without being harassed lol! X
 
I do like lilly, I will have to call her it a few times and see if it feels right lol. I will try my best for her, im sure I will make some mistakes along the way but im pretty sure she will have a better life with me than she would have otherwise, not that I think im perfect or anything but most rabbits are bought for kids who eventually get bored :( she will have a home for life with me.
Im praying she isnt pregnant myself, they had a boy rabbit too and you know what kids are like :/ would be just my luck asvwell lol. Not that I wouldnt love some baby bunnies its just that I wouldnt kniw what to do lol.
 
Oh dear lol imagine inheriting that many bunnies at once! Make sure you update us once you choose a name 😊😊 mine were both named by other people! Peter came with his name when we adopted him and Lola was chosen by my husband who swears he isn't a rabbit kinda guy 😉 love them both so much couldn't imagine life without them now, especially Peter, he is the first friendly face I see when I get home (he is often sat by the back gate giving out the guilt stare waiting for me lol!) x
 
The forage is perfectly fine. Like any new food, it needs to be gradually introduced into the diet, starting with a small amount and gradually increasing while watching for signs of digestive upset. The only foods that don't usually need to be introduced gradually, are grass hays.

Sugary starchy treats do need to be limited to small amounts, and none at all if you start seeing very tiny poop or mushy poop. The stickle is fruit and grains, so lots of sugar. I wouldn't give her a whole one every few weeks, instead it would be better to break off a very small piece to give each day or every few days. Giving her a whole one could very well make her sick. Personally though, I wouldn't feed that at all and stick to forage for yummy treats. My bunnies love willow and apple leaves.

This is a good link for diet and rabbit care.
http://www.therabbithouse.com/
 
About your rabbit diet, I think you should take a look at that article :
http://rabbit.org/faq-diet/

It explains well the quantities you should give. The website also contains a list of vegetables you can safely give to your rabbit, I looked it up quite a bit during my first year as a rabbit owner.
I should add that Supreme Science selective pellets aren't really good pellets. They contain too much fat (4% instead of 2% recommended - rabbits gain weight easily and it's a nightmare to make them lose it afterwards), too much calcium, not enough fibers. The ingredients are pretty disgusting and it contains GMO. It certainly won't kill your rabbit to finish the bag, but you might want to try something else next time (doing a proper transition, of course, mixing the two types of pellets first). I suggest you look at those if you can find them : Bunny Basic T Oxbow Hay, Bene terra Organic Rabbit from Oxbow Hay, Zupreem Nature's Promise, Rêve de lapin Basic from Bunny Nature...
Oxbow generally is a good brand for rabbits.
The things to look for in the pellets composition are : 13-14% proteins, 25-29% fibers, 2% fat, 0.5-0.9% calcium
Look at the ingredients too, it should be plants and vegetables, not grains by-products. I personnally give my rabbits JR Farm grainless pellets, which have a very good composition and really aren't that expensive, but I don't know if you can find it where you live...
About the treats, in the future, it might be cheaper and healthier to just give your rabbit some wood (apple or hazel tree branches work wonder) if you have the opportunity or to just dry some fruits yourself. I have apple trees in my garden and, in autumn, I cut the apples which aren't nice looking in small pieces that I dry by putting them on a tray on the heater. It keeps very well, I still have some leftovers from last October, and the rabbits love it. You can do that with lots of vegetables or fruits, also by putting it in an open oven just after you turned it off.
Have fun with your rabbit!
 
Thanks! I doubt I will be able to find oxbow unfortunately, I looked for the oxbow rat food and could only find it online at stupidly inflated prices ( im from the uk) I got the supreme science because it was the most expensive and it said reccomended by vets so I presumed it would be the best probably not the best way to shop for rabbit food but it was all I had to go off lol... oh well back to the drawing board lol. I will try source some of the ones you suggested. I will smash the stickle thing up and just give her a tiny sprinkle on rare occasions, I dont want to make her sick... why do they market these things for rabbits if they are really bad for them! I will stick to just the forage stuff and the odd little bit of fruit for treats from now on. thanks again for the help, if it was left to me she would be obese with in a week :/
 
Can they eat pear tree branches, they have just cut a pear tree down at the stables and im sure they wouldnt mind me pinching a few sticks, at least they better not i pay them a fortune to keep the horses there lol... whilst im on the subject can I use the straw we use for the horses for the rabbit? I got dust extraced straw to use but if I could use it from the big bales it would save me a fortune lol.
 
What type of wood shavings are you using? Pine and I think cedar are bad and shouldn't be used when in shaving form, though pine is fine as a properly dried and solid timber or compressed litter pellets. I forget which wood shavings are safe to use, I can't remember the name.
 
Science Selective is a common pellet for pet rabbit owners to use in the UK, and should be just fine. Another common one is Burgess Excel. I have also read good things about Supreme Fibafirst. Those seem to be the ones I hear most mention of from pet rabbit owners there. If you haven't, check out therabbithouse site. It is UK based and has good info and suggestions for a rabbits diet.

They sell those treat foods because they are trying to appeal to the owners to buy them. They are marketing tasty colorful treats to us owers, not necessarily thinking about the animals health.

This has a list of some good forage and branches safe for rabbits. I believe the RWAF may also have a small foraging book available.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Food/feeding_en.pdf
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Food/Branch/Branch_en.htm

Pear is fine as long as it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides. I think straw is usually fine as long as it is clean and free of mold, and as long as your rabbit isn't wanting to consume large quantities of it and will eat it's hay primarily instead.
 
I got aspen shavings because I know with the rats that pine and ceeder have oils in that play havoc with their little lungs but aspen is safe so I thought the same might be true for rabbits?
Thanks for the links :)
She is doing really well though, I was worried about her not eating hay at first but I got her some nicer hay and she has been eating it. Its so lovely watching her leaps of joy when she gets out into the garden on a morning she darts round like a loony leaping in the air kicking her legs out lol. She still does spend the whole night in her tiny hutch though but at least now she gets an hour running round the whole garden and untill just before dark in a puppy pen with some toys and room to run. Its a vast improvement on what she had before as the kid was long since bored of her :( she seems so much more relaxed and happy :) I love her she is the cutest im constantly going out to watch her, the dogs are getting very jealous lol.
 
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