Starting to worry

At the weekend we rescued an unwanted rabbit. Had her at the vet, she got clean bill of health, we think she is around 9 months, and she got her first vaccination. She is eating pellets, also hay, no trouble whatsoever.
Now for the worrying part....I have had rabbits off and on for the last 15 years, most of them rescued, never had any real health issues and they were fed, carrot, kale broccoli, apple and celery, as well as hay and pellets..
When reading through some of the posts, I read, don't give them too much carrot, too many greens, etc etc, Then I hear all about bloating, blockages, etc etc....now I am worried, what do I feed Nala on, how would I know if she was bloated...maybe these seem stupid questions, but I just want to do my best for her, she has not had much of a life up until now. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

You would know if she had bloat because she would be just laid their looking uncomfortable.
I feed greens,parsley,corriander,celery,mint,broccoli,carrot,apple and banana.
Carrots are sugary so are banana and apple so only should be fed in small quantitys once or twice a week.
Kale and broccoli can cause bloat in some bunnies but mine are fine with it.
As long as you introduce the veg slowly your bunny should be fine

I generally feed mine on three different things each day. They usually get carrots once or twice a week as they are quite high sugar. The following are my daily veggies - spring greens or cabbage, pak choy, basil, cauliflower. I also give them some parsley, coriander, rosemary, mint, raspberry leaf, rocket, radish tops, swede, kale during the week but not everyday. introduce new veg gradually over a couple of weeks in small quantities and your rabbit should be fine.

Thanks for the advice, it really is appreciated. Regarding veg, how much are we talking about, and would it be best to give once or twice a day. At the moment she is having her veg in the morning and afternoon her pellets and hay. I f we had some half decent weather here in Scotland, she could at least get to run around the garden, but all we seem to be having is rain. haha. oh dear, its like having a baby again...no I think this is more stressful:lol::lol:

Could you cover the run so she can exercise everyday?

Hay should be available to them all the time

I'm up in the frozen North and mine are out all day and then locked away at night. Today because we are having really heavy rain and the buns have, uncharacteristically, decided to sit in their hutch, I put them away at 5.30 pm.

Mine get pellets in the morning and veg at night. Usually three or four leaves of spring greens, a red pepper, four springs of brocolli or thereabouts between two.

I don't have a run for her, our garden is fully enclosed and all grass, hence the reason I hate when it is raining. Yes, she has hay all the time in her hutch, it is more the veg side of the feeding I am worried about, don't want to give her too much, but there again don't want to give too little.
I don't mind what I have to buy as I buy for the 2 Guinea Pigs, cost doesn't come into it, just want to get it right.

Well I feed my two a heaped plate full of mixed veggies every evening, unless there has been unusally some mild digestive upset - an uneaten caecotroph perhaps (it doesn't happen very often, and only with my sensitive tum bunny) and on these occasions I will feed less or perhaps none at all - the odd night every now and then of hay only does no harm, and is the quickest way to balance the bacteria in the caecum.
They also have access to grass on non-wet days and tons of apple leaves, and whatever else they scrounge from the lawn or prune from the fence that borders the garden (all bunny safe things like marjoram, lavender, fennel, willow, mallow etc and 'all my veggies in pots! :roll: Poppy often clears the fence and can be found in the midst of a pot of carrots or celery! :lol

However, it has taken me about 6 months - 1 year to get my two rescue buns up to this big heaped plateful of veg every day between them. When they first arrived they both had caecal dysbiosis - excessive caecotroph production, and Poppy's were malformed as well. Establishing the gut flora to be specific to cope with large quantities of greenery and vegetables takes time, and whilst buns are not used to it, caecal passing tends to be slower - this means you have to wait up to 72 hours (3 days) with some buns to check for a reaction of digestive upset to a particular veg. Now my buns tummies are so well balanced, their caecal passing is just 24 hours (with Nino) and 24-42 with Poppy, she will always be a 'sensitive' tum bunny in respect to her caecal flora.

This is quite a good veggie link:
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/safefoods.htm

I should mention that I don't feed pellets which is why the type and quantity of veg I feed is so important with my two. Because their tums were such a mess I actually fed them nothing but hay for atleast a month to clear it all up, then reintroduced the veggies slowly.

Margret said:

I don't have a run for her, our garden is fully enclosed and all grass, hence the reason I hate when it is raining.

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Just a note of caution, but total free reign in a garden unsupervised is not ideal due to risks from predators such as cats/foxes/weasels and also from birds of prey above (although in small enclosed gardens this is very unsual as birds of prey won't land anywhere they can damage their wings). Mine also have free run of the garden but under supervision. The rest of the time we have a secure run on the lawn for peace of mind
You're not the only one who hates it when it is raining....my buns are such wimps that they will sit on the back doorstep surveying the wet patio then turn tail and rush back to the sitting room upstairs! :roll::lol: