Hello everyone. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about pigweed, Amaranthus plants and seeds? Is it safe for rabbits? I had hay that had parts of the pigweed plant and tons of seeds in it. My rabbit seemed to have sneezing attacks while eating the hay. I changed his hay and no more sneezing. Thank you
Pigweed
- Thread starter Katiehb
- Start date
Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:
Augustus&HazelGrace
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure on the pigweeds but I do know that most seeds from anything are not safe for rabbits. Sounds like if switching the hay stopped the sneezing then I would just stick to the new hay. Timothy hay or any grass-type hay is whats best for rabbits.
Apollo’s Slave
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure about pigweed but the sneezing could mean the hay was really dusty. Maybe the strands were too short. Id stick with the hay that you have now. A lot of the hay with things in it, my rabbit has a bad reaction to. I don’t buy my hay from a pet store anymore because it’s really brown and dusty. If you want herbs or things like that in the hay, a lot of businesses make ‘herbal medleys’ for rabbits. Your rabbit might not take it straight away so I wouldn’t suggest putting it in the hay at first.
What is weird about that is the hay wasn't really dusty. I always fed him that hay with no problem until I started finding pigweed seeds and plant in the hay. The company told me pigweed is totally safe for rabbits and guinea pigs but online it goes both ways. (Safe and unsafe) so I'm just confused.
Apollo’s Slave
Well-Known Member
I’d stay away from that brand just to be safe
The seeds, like most, would be safe as long as they are not a significant part of their diet (lots of unnecessary calories), same with the plant, might be rather high on tannins or oxolates, given in moderation in a diverse diet shouldn't pose a problem.
I don't think this was the cause of the sneezing, but maybe dust too fine to see, or some actual allergie. Good that you found a solution to that problem.
No matter what you look up on the internet, you will always find people claiming something is unsafe, and that gets repeated over and over by whoever because just to stay on the safe side, and "I have that wisdom from the Internet", reading too much without thinking about the source of the info can leave one pretty paranoid.
I don't think this was the cause of the sneezing, but maybe dust too fine to see, or some actual allergie. Good that you found a solution to that problem.
No matter what you look up on the internet, you will always find people claiming something is unsafe, and that gets repeated over and over by whoever because just to stay on the safe side, and "I have that wisdom from the Internet", reading too much without thinking about the source of the info can leave one pretty paranoid.
