Hi Ashley S,
Maxi is two-years old already, and the memories of giving him fresh greens have started to fade with me, but I paused now, and thought of how would I could best approach this question if it were an answer I needed today. Here is what I thought. Have in mind while reading my suggestions that I gave Maxi small parts of Cucumber, Tomato, Culinary Apple, Arugula the latter of which I ate at the time, too, but never Cabbage or any Herbs. He was at the time an individual from a pair, and his brother was eating a lot more of a lot more fresh produce, and lived with the colleagues of my mother. Maxi rarely had issues with what I gave him, but it is possible that I could have taken some sensitivity influences on myself instead of him suffering as I was much older, and could readapt more easily, possibly.
Right now, if I had to choose, I would approach this in a manner of thinking about the average Rabbit population of the country and the areas I lived in, what they were like, what type of care they received, and what type of food was relating to their lives and well-beings, because, in my view, the Rabbit is connected to their natural environment in many forms of balance, re-balance and disturbance of the balance of that natural environment. I also would think of my own predisposition as an observation of what I like to eat and why. As people, we are brought up by parents who might have not had the ability to adapt their understanding to the changing status of their environments, and we could have been brought up based on a collective memory and adaptation only in selected aspects of the reality we were introduced in as newborns. I would assume the same, or a similar process, is true for the Rabbit, but in particularity to the house Rabbit it could be that the owner is the source of know-how, wisdom, experience, or their lack. That is why at the time I gave Maxi mostly food prepared by companies which were selling packaged food for Rabbits, like Versele-Laga, and offered hay in moderation.
If I had to choose, realizing now how complex the life of a Rabbit is, and how much it has to be independent from the life of people, I probably would have never accepted to care for one such animal. We worry about isolated details, as those surrounding food or "bedding", as if those who seemed to have offered the terms like "bedding" really knew what they were talking about. But, as the situation is that you care for a Rabbit, I hope you will be able to compensate the mistake we all make in the care with your love.
Regards,
Sonya and Maxi
