What perfect timing to be having thisdiscussion. One of my main concerns with many commercial feeds here inthe US is that they contain animal by-products, which they are notrequired to list in their ingredient list. This is of much concern tome, and has been for years, ever since mad cow was discovered in theUK. At that time I had done a lot of reading about it and found outthat the mink farms in the midwest had experienced mad cow back in theearly 90's but no one was required to report it. There isvery little that will kill mad cow. It remains in the tissue and is notobliterated even when cooked down at very high temperatures.
I have always felt that people who actually eat rabbit are puttingthemselves at risk, even though they believe that it is healthy becausethey are raising their own meat.
We are taking an active position here at Rabbits Only to do someserious research in the available feeds and their effects on ourrabbits. Our hypothesis is that through extensive testing, we will beable to identify not only feeds that are of superior nutritive value,but can also correct problems that we are encountering with our rabbits.
We intend to conduct our research with a breed-specific approach, sothat we can identify minerals and vitamins that may be lacking in theirdiets as well as attempt to identify ways to palliate breed-specificgenetic mutations. For example, with so many instances of malocclusionin dwarf rabbits, we will be looking for ways to counter this problem.
If you are interested in participating in this study, you can help usby sending in samples of your rabbit's fur. In the new issue we willhave a form to fill out and directions on how to collect the samples.As soon as the magazine is up, we will include the link in this thread.
I think we are on the verge of some very important discoveries and Iknow that you all want to be involved the process and benefit from ourfindings. Thanks in advance for your help!
