What brand of pellet do you feed your bun?

[mochajoe]

As a horse and bunny owner, I am not sure why anyone would want to add molasses "aka" sugar to their pets' diet! I know horses, that if given grain with molasses also known as sweet feed would be bouncing off the walls! I don't want either my horses, nor my bunnies bouncing off the walls because of what I am feeding them. I guess that is the "back to basics" in me....bunnies and horses.....although humorously my horse weighs 1100 pounds and my bunny doesn't even weigh 3 pounds are very similar! They do very well on the basics.....I think of what wild horses and wild bunnies do......they don't eat pelleted feed....much less sweet feed...they eat grass and plants...and drink lots of water! My personal opinion...less is more! My horse and my bunny get oodles and oodles of hay with a minimal amount of grain....my horse gets occasional treats and my bunnies get green leafy veggies daily along with "treats' on occasion! Regardless of what I do, or my opinion, or what anyone else does, or what their opinion is.....everyone has to do what works for them and for their bunnies....as we all know, what works for one may not work for another....what one likes another may not! Case in point, my Reeses does NOT like carrots! LOL And as someone posted earlier....I think the whole thing of feed has gotten blown out of proportion.....both in the horse world AND the bunny world! Okay....I am done blithering now.....LOL Enjoy your bunnies!!!

 

[LakeCondo]

as for comments about the higher calcium in sherwood... the total calcium is a fraction of a % higher, which isn't much at all... and the link between calcium content of foods and calcium-related health problems is dubious at best (I've even heard that from Geoff, the rabbit-savvy vet that hangs out in our infirmary section). calcium problems/sensitivity is most likely a genetic thing rather than anything caused by diet.

Sherwood Forest has 0.7 to 1.2 calcium, while Oxbow Adult Essentials has has 0.35 to 0.80. Using the minimum figures, SF would have twice the calcium. Using the maximum figures, it's 50% more. So this is quite a bit more calcium; too much in my opinion.


Lucile Moore never mentioned anything in Rabbit Nutrition about calcium problems probably aren't caused by diet. She DOES write that a rabbit not fed pellets for any length of time is not going to stay healthy. We want our rabbits to live longer than wild rabbits do.

The amount of molasses in most pellets is trivial. It comes way down on the list of ingredients. And it;s easy to reduce sugar in a rabbit's diet. Just control the treats.

 

[briemommy]

Ok, now I'm really scared about sugar. For the GI stasis thing... Is it a built up condition? Like I'll feed Brie a piece of dried banana a day and suddenly her intestinal tract decides enough is enough? Or is the bun born with the condition?

 

[JBun]

Not every rabbit will be so sensitive to sugars, but it's still not good to feed a whole bunch of sugars to your rabbit. I have some rabbits that have no problems with a few treats, and I have other rabbits that can't have even one treat. So it really just depends on your rabbit. You can avoid creating alot of digestive problems, by always slowly and gradually introducing new foods to your rabbit. That way you are giving your rabbits digestion time to adjust to the new food with out overwhelming it's system suddenly. Then you will also be able to see if your rabbit reacts badly to something before you are giving it a whole bunch of a new food. The best way to figure out if something isn't good for your rabbit is to understand what normal rabbit poops look like. That will often be the first sign something isn't sitting well with your rabbit. If the poops start coming out really small, irregular sized or shaped, mushy, or slow down or stop, then you know somthing is wrong. Also getting to know your rabbits normal behavior helps too, that way if your rabbit has an upset stomach then you will be able to see the subtle signs. I have a rabbit that I haven't been able to feed pellets cause he would get stasis from eating them. But it had been a while and he was doing pretty good, so I thought I would very slowly reintroduce pellets and see how he did. It had been a month and a half and I had him up to about a 1/6 cup a day, but I noticed that after eating he just wasn't sitting quite right when he was laying down. It looked like he was feeling uncomfortable, plus his poops were irregular shaped too. So I stopped the pellets and he's feeling fine now and his poops look a lot better.

Not all buns are going to have problems, in fact most don't, but every now and then someone has a rabbit that is sensitive to foods, and you just want to know what to look out for in case you happen to have one of those rabbits.

 

[BinkyBunny]

JUST ordered a nice 12 lb box rabbit food from sherwood forest and go the 2lb free sample in baby rabbit for Bing CANNOT WAIT TO TRY IT!

 

[JBun]

You know about transitioning slowly onto a new food right? I feed sherwood too, and just be prepared for them not to like it. It's kind of the equivalent of feeding kids veggies. It's good for them, but they may put up a fuss about eating it. One really good thing that I've noticed about feeding my rabbits sherwood, is that they stink a lot less. It used to be when I opened the rabbit room door at cleaning time, that I was hit by the all too familiar ammonia smell from the pee, and I clean every day! Since feeding the sherwood, it hardly smells at all in there

Bing is almost 11 weeks old isn't he? You can actually just start him on the maintenance and show food as well. On sherwoods site, they recommend switching them over to the m/s feed at 12 weeks. You could probably just give him a little bit of the baby feed each day, just to use it up.

 

[BinkyBunny]

Enlighten me about the transitioning...Bing is on Kent Sho right now I think? He came that way.

 

[JBun]

I probably do it a lot slower than some people, but I've had to deal with too many digestive problems, so I err on the side of caution. I will gradually switch over to a new feed, over about 2-3 weeks. This doesn't work very well if you are feeding unlimited pellets because you have to be able to make sure that they are eating all of the new food that you add, and not just continuing to eat the old food. So if you are doing unlimited then you will have to dial back the pellets a little so they are finishing their pellets at least a few hours before their next feeding time. I start adding in the new pellets in a very small amount, like a pinch of them, which would probably be about 1/4 tsp. I do it at each feeding for about 2 days, just to make sure the new food doesn't cause any sort of immediate digestive problem. After that I gradually increase the amount of new food each day by about 1/2-1 tsp. and decrease the old food by the same amount, so that at the end of the transition period you will no longer be feeding the old food. I determine how fast to do the transition depending on how sensitive my bun is to the change. If I notice any changes in the rabbits poop, then I increase the amounts much more slowly. If you feed about 1/2 cup of food a day, then increasing by 1/2 tsp. each day will take about 4 weeks to transition, and 2 weeks if you increase by 1 tsp. a day. If you feed more than 1/2 cup a day, then you could add more than a tsp. a day so that it still only takes 2-3 weeks to switch over, as long as your buns poops stay normal and there aren't any digestive problems in the changeover.

 

[KittyKatMe]

About the free-feeding pellets.... Oxbow doesn't recommend that, they recommend 80% hay and veggies. That's why I like Oxbow and probably won't try Sherwood. But I use Organic which has 0 sugar or molasses and less calcium than Sherwood. I highly recommend it.

 

[JBun]

Oxbow's organic food is slightly different than most other rabbit foods in that it uses barley as a grain source instead of the wheat or corn most commonly used in other rabbit foods, and sunflower and canola meal instead of the soybean meal usually used as an added source of protein. It still does have sugars though, but instead of molasses, it uses fruit as it's sugar source.

 

[KittyKatMe]

Oxbow's organic food is slightly different than most other rabbit foods in that it uses barley as a grain source instead of the wheat or corn most commonly used in other rabbit foods, and sunflower and canola meal instead of the soybean meal usually used as an added source of protein. It still does have sugars though, but instead of molasses, it uses fruit as it's sugar source.

Yes, but then again, it's lower on the list than the sugar in Bunny Basics T. Plus, the cranberry used does have antioxidants.

 

[Ape337]

I'm happy with bene terra organic food (oxbow).:biggrin2:

Ingredient #14 on the label is organic cranberry, #15 is organic blueberry. Yep, these are sugar sources. I'm ok with that. The food is green, smells wonderful, and my buns love it. My buns do very well on the label feeding recommendations. Faith eats 1/8c a day, Humma eats 1/4c a day based on recommendations for their weight. And I like that the label states that 75% of a rabbits diet needs to be grass hay, which is something I agree with.

I won't knock other foods anymore because really, I see there's more than 1 way to raise bunnies. This way works for me, and my bunnies are happy and healthy. I recommended this food because I like it. Others on here recommend the foods they like, it works for them.

I'm just glad to see all the owners on here that are so passionate and caring about giving their bunnies the best lives that they can. And be so willing to help others make choices for their buns. :group2:

 

[KittyKatMe]

:yeahthat:

 

[Elliot]

About the free-feeding pellets.... Oxbow doesn't recommend that, they recommend 80% hay and veggies. That's why I like Oxbow and probably won't try Sherwood. But I use Organic which has 0 sugar or molasses and less calcium than Sherwood. I highly recommend it.

Wow, it is pricey. I just looked it up and for me it would be $30.10 for 6 lbs of organic Oxbow, vs $25.50 for 12 lbs of Sherwood.

 

[BinkyBunny]

Any good links with prices on that lovely oxbow formula?

 

[Elliot]

Google is your friend.
http://www.bingalingstore.com/oxbow-beneterra-organic-rabbit-food-3-lb/
http://store.binkybunny.com/bene-terra-organic-rabbit-3-lbs-p63.aspx
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19816

 

[BinkyBunny]

We prefer Bing in our house

 

[natural rabbit food]

Hi,
We need to give some clarification about the level of calcium and fat that is used in Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food.

Recently many have raised questions and concerns on a few forums about why the 8% fat content in the baby food and why the amount of calcium in the adult food. The short and simple answer to these questions are best answered by David Sherwood on these webpages:

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/baby-rabbit-food/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/timothy-hay-for-rabbits/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/crude-fat/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/rabbit-food-ingredients/

There are several other pages as well, but the above will help answer these questions/concerns best.
My name is Bob Stephenson and I am David Sherwood’s partner here at Sherwood Forest…first about the amount of calcium.

Many are concerned, especially by those that raise certain breeds and worry about coat condition, sludge and other problems that have shown up using certain brands of rabbit food that may have too much calcium (or the wrong type).

In short, it is just not the amount of calcium, but the ratio between the phosphorus and calcium that is present in the feed, and how this affects growth, muscle tone, coat condition, etc.

David Sherwood has ‘done his homework’ when he formulated all 3 styles of feed…he is a research junkie, a biologist and now about done with his Phd. in related fields. He has raised rabbits for years, and spent 1000’s of hours reading thru 100’s of published scientific documents written over the past several decades about rabbit nutrition.

In other words, science has revealed over the past 40 or 50 years what should and should not be in the ideal rabbit food, but has not been used in national or regional brands of rabbit food, up until now.

We have 100’s of customer reviews/testimonials from those that raise all breeds and we continue to receive these weekly from long time customers as well as those that have tried a sample or box and are impressed with the results and improvements they see.

Please know that we do not pay or reimburse anyone that submits a review to our store, email, facebook page or website. These are all given voluntarily and without compensation.

The question is also raised about why the baby food has 8% fat, when other brands only use 2 or 3%. The ‘baby rabbit food’ page link above explains this in detail, but the quick answer here is that young rabbits don’t have the ability to digest starch (grain) until much older and will sometimes experience varying levels of diarrhea eating pellets with too much starch. As most brands use wheat and other grain by-products as part of their formula, the result is often ‘poopy bottom’ and other related nutritional problems.

The key for baby rabbits is to use a food formulated that mimics what type of nutrition they have been getting while nursing. The L/G (baby rabbit food) is high in fat derived from whole oil seed, rich in vitamin E, and is like Mommas milk, so the transition from milk to a pellet goes very smoothly. Baby rabbits need a diet that is high in fat, low in sugar.

For those that want the larger bags, I should also mention that we are working on getting the 50 lb. bags of the foods in retail locations nationally this year and would be less per pound this way than what you see on our online store.

Thank you,
Bob Stephenson
Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food

 

[BinkyBunny]

Hi,
We need to give some clarification about the level of calcium and fat that is used in Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food.

Recently many have raised questions and concerns on a few forums about why the 8% fat content in the baby food and why the amount of calcium in the adult food. The short and simple answer to these questions are best answered by David Sherwood on these webpages:

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/baby-rabbit-food/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/timothy-hay-for-rabbits/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/crude-fat/

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/rabbit-food-ingredients/

There are several other pages as well, but the above will help answer these questions/concerns best.
My name is Bob Stephenson and I am David Sherwood’s partner here at Sherwood Forest…first about the amount of calcium.

Many are concerned, especially by those that raise certain breeds and worry about coat condition, sludge and other problems that have shown up using certain brands of rabbit food that may have too much calcium (or the wrong type).

In short, it is just not the amount of calcium, but the ratio between the phosphorus and calcium that is present in the feed, and how this affects growth, muscle tone, coat condition, etc.

David Sherwood has ‘done his homework’ when he formulated all 3 styles of feed…he is a research junkie, a biologist and now about done with his Phd. in related fields. He has raised rabbits for years, and spent 1000’s of hours reading thru 100’s of published scientific documents written over the past several decades about rabbit nutrition.

In other words, science has revealed over the past 40 or 50 years what should and should not be in the ideal rabbit food, but has not been used in national or regional brands of rabbit food, up until now.

We have 100’s of customer reviews/testimonials from those that raise all breeds and we continue to receive these weekly from long time customers as well as those that have tried a sample or box and are impressed with the results and improvements they see.

Please know that we do not pay or reimburse anyone that submits a review to our store, email, facebook page or website. These are all given voluntarily and without compensation.

The question is also raised about why the baby food has 8% fat, when other brands only use 2 or 3%. The ‘baby rabbit food’ page link above explains this in detail, but the quick answer here is that young rabbits don’t have the ability to digest starch (grain) until much older and will sometimes experience varying levels of diarrhea eating pellets with too much starch. As most brands use wheat and other grain by-products as part of their formula, the result is often ‘poopy bottom’ and other related nutritional problems.

The key for baby rabbits is to use a food formulated that mimics what type of nutrition they have been getting while nursing. The L/G (baby rabbit food) is high in fat derived from whole oil seed, rich in vitamin E, and is like Mommas milk, so the transition from milk to a pellet goes very smoothly. Baby rabbits need a diet that is high in fat, low in sugar.

For those that want the larger bags, I should also mention that we are working on getting the 50 lb. bags of the foods in retail locations nationally this year and would be less per pound this way than what you see on our online store.

Thank you,
Bob Stephenson
Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food

Love your food and love your service :biggrin:!

 

[Elliot]

Thank you for answering many questions about your formulas Bob. We have been using Sherwood Forest pellets for just shy of a year and we like them. Or I should say Elliot likes them. Keep up the good work!