Protein levels? Hay recommendations?

[Jennifer1111]

At what age are rabbits considered an adult?
and what are peoples thoughts about oat hay?
I have a 4 month old Lionhead. His bloodwork came back stating his protein levels were a bit low. Not concerning low but lower than “normal.” The vet said it could just be him and the way he is or it could literally be low. She continued with his neuter. Fast forward to 2 weeks later, he seems fine (as his normal self), doing zoomies and wanting his constant love. I didn’t notice any abnormal behaviors prior to his blood work being taken either.
I feed him his veggies in the morning and throughout the day, he has an endless supply of Oxbow Young Rabbit Pellets. He also has an endless supply of Timothy hay and alfalfa hay. Here lately, I’ve been adding a handful of Oat hay everyday to his hay feeder too.
Any tips on adding extra protein to a rabbits diet?

 

[JBun]

Being fed young rabbit pellets and alfalfa hay, I can't see how he could be low in protein. Both are high in protein. Alfalfa is a good source of protein for young rabbits. But you also need to balance this with enough fiber for good gut motility, as too much protein and not enough fiber, can lead to other health issues. Maybe it's just normal for him.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Hay

 

[Jennifer1111]

Being fed young rabbit pellets and alfalfa hay, I can't see how he could be low in protein. Both are high in protein. Alfalfa is a good source of protein for young rabbits. But you also need to balance this with enough fiber for good gut motility, as too much protein and not enough fiber, can lead to other health issues. Maybe it's just normal for him.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Hay

Thank you for responding =)
in all truthfulness, at Willows 8 week vet visit, his vet told me to take him off the Alfalfa Hay and to just give him Timothy Hay. She said Tim hay has all the nutrients he needed and Alfalfa hay was given to meat and fur rabbits. So I listened BUT right before his neuter, I bought more Alfalfa Hay because he loves it so much and I wanted to be sure, he would continue to eat after his surgery. From everything I’ve read, Alfalfa hay should be given to young rabbits but according to Willows vet, that’s just not so. I will say since then, there’s been a few things my vet has exclaimed that left me ”scratching my head.” I am currently trying to find him a new veterinarian.
i will continue buying the alfalfa though.
At what age is a rabbit considered an adult? A year?

 

[Watermelons]

It will likely become harder and harder to switch to a regular hay. Young rabbits do not NEED alfalfa hay if they have a proper young rabbit pellet. So what your vet said is fine. Theres no need to keep buying it.
Rabbits being "adult" depends on their breed/size. Around 6 months is usually considered adult.
Just switch to timothy hay now and continue with Jr pellets for another month or so.

 

[Jennifer1111]

It will likely become harder and harder to switch to a regular hay. Young rabbits do not NEED alfalfa hay if they have a proper young rabbit pellet. So what your vet said is fine. Theres no need to keep buying it.
Rabbits being "adult" depends on their breed/size. Around 6 months is usually considered adult.
Just switch to timothy hay now and continue with Jr pellets for another month or so.

Im so confused. I just wanna do what’s best for my bun.
i will say that I buy his Timothy Hay straight from the farmer so through season, it’s always fresh cut. Willow LOVES it. By my observations, he eats the alfalfa/Timothy 50/50. I haven’t noticed him favor one over the other at all. The handful of Oat Hay I’ve been adding in lately, isn’t favored at all though.
I also buy him Oxbow Young Rabbit food. It seems to be the best available… or at least that’s what I was told via his vet.

 

[JBun]

For small to medium breeds, mostly fully matured is around 5-7 months, like Watermelons mentioned. Large breeds like flemish, take longer to fully mature.

Your vet's advice is what I do and what I suggest to other rabbit carers. I fed alfalfa based pellets, somewhat limited, and free fed timothy or other grass hay, to my baby rabbits, never just alfalfa hay. When I did feed some, it was just a tiny bit as a treat.

I didn't have blood tests or anything like that. I went off gut health and body condition, and that's really how I fine tuned and managed all of my rabbits diets. You can judge a lot by a rabbits poop, their body condition, and a healthy looking coat (minus times of normal shedding).

https://bunssb.org/bunnies/guide-bunny-poops
Monitoring your rabbits weight

https://www.thehealthypetclub.co.uk/skin-problem-in-rabbits/
I've seen too many instances of young rabbits getting excess cecotropes from too rich of a diet, or developing very picky hay eating habits, from only being fed alfalfa and no grass hay while they're growing. It's just usually much more protein than they really need.

I found alfalfa based 15-16% protein pellets that lasted 6-8hrs, where they then ate a grass hay the next 4-6 hrs, being fed twice a day, was the right balance of protein and fiber for my dwarf breed baby rabbits. This kept them from having excess or mushy cecotropes, they didn't develop picky hay eating habits from only getting alfalfa hay, and they had good body condition and growth until they fully matured.

All 5 grew to a normal size and weight for their breed, then were switched to a more limited amount of adult pellets, and at a certain point no pellets because a couple had genetic digestive disorders that required a special diet. All continued to live a long healthy life. The one with the genetic disorder only lived 5 years, but that was actually good for what he had. The others mostly all lived to be 10 and had minimal health problems for most of that time.

Here's one thread where I discuss finding the right balance in the diet. All of the suggestions are my opinion based off my own experience caring for dozens of rabbits, a few with very specific dietary needs, and also based off of reading about others problems and people that come on here with dietary or health issues, and what ends up correcting those for their rabbits. But primarily it's from what I learned from my own rabbits. I've discussed similar diet issues on multiple threads if you want to look those up.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/advice-needed-small-poop-behavior-off-after-neuter.102500/
Oxbow is good, it's what I fed my rabbits as adults. I also liked sherwood. Science select is another good pet brand. There are a few others, but I don't have any experience with them.

If your bun is a healthy body weight and condition and has healthy looking poop, I would be satisfied with that and not worry about the blood test. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Jennifer1111]

For small to medium breeds, mostly fully matured is around 5-7 months, like Watermelons mentioned. Large breeds like flemish, take longer to fully mature.

Your vet's advice is what I do and what I suggest to other rabbit carers. I fed alfalfa based pellets, somewhat limited, and free fed timothy or other grass hay, to my baby rabbits, never just alfalfa hay. When I did feed some, it was just a tiny bit as a treat.

I didn't have blood tests or anything like that. I went off gut health and body condition, and that's really how I fine tuned and managed all of my rabbits diets. You can judge a lot by a rabbits poop, their body condition, and a healthy looking coat (minus times of normal shedding).

https://bunssb.org/bunnies/guide-bunny-poops
Monitoring your rabbits weight

https://www.thehealthypetclub.co.uk/skin-problem-in-rabbits/
I've seen too many instances of young rabbits getting excess cecotropes from too rich of a diet, or developing very picky hay eating habits, from only being fed alfalfa and no grass hay while they're growing. It's just usually much more protein than they really need.

I found alfalfa based 15-16% protein pellets that lasted 6-8hrs, where they then ate a grass hay the next 4-6 hrs, being fed twice a day, was the right balance of protein and fiber for my dwarf breed baby rabbits. This kept them from having excess or mushy cecotropes, they didn't develop picky hay eating habits from only getting alfalfa hay, and they had good body condition and growth until they fully matured.

All 5 grew to a normal size and weight for their breed, then were switched to a more limited amount of adult pellets, and at a certain point no pellets because a couple had genetic digestive disorders that required a special diet. All continued to live a long healthy life. The one with the genetic disorder only lived 5 years, but that was actually good for what he had. The others mostly all lived to be 10 and had minimal health problems for most of that time.

Here's one thread where I discuss finding the right balance in the diet. All of the suggestions are my opinion based off my own experience caring for dozens of rabbits, a few with very specific dietary needs, and also based off of reading about others problems and people that come on here with dietary or health issues, and what ends up correcting those for their rabbits. But primarily it's from what I learned from my own rabbits. I've discussed similar diet issues on multiple threads if you want to look those up.

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/advice-needed-small-poop-behavior-off-after-neuter.102500/
Oxbow is good, it's what I fed my rabbits as adults. I also liked sherwood. Science select is another good pet brand. There are a few others, but I don't have any experience with them.

If your bun is a healthy body weight and condition and has healthy looking poop, I would be satisfied with that and not worry about the blood test. But that's just my opinion.

This helps A LOT! Thank you SO much!

 

[Blue eyes]

The difficulty with researching rabbit care online is that there is a lot of old and outdated information still floating around out there. Rabbit care knowledge has grown and improved over the decades. Unfortunately, some still promote ideas that are now known to be incorrect or less accurate.

Feeding alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets to young rabbits is one of those "old" ideas. As Jenny mentioned, it can lead to too rich of a diet that can cause digestive issues. Sticking with grass hays (not legumes-- alfalfa is a legume) is healthier for a rabbit of any age. Young rabbits typically get enough alfalfa in their pellet feed. Forget what the back of the feed bag states. They want you to buy more so they often overstate a healthy quantity and stretch how long a rabbit should be on juvenile pellets. The average rabbit is considered adult at roughly 6 months of age.

Neutered or spayed rabbits also need less protein than intact, breeding, or meat rabbits.