how much pellets

I am getting two dwarf rabbits a week on saturday from a friend who had an accidental litter (the usual pet shop selling a girl and boy to her instead of two girls).

Anyway they are currently on P@H junior and dwarf nuggets. Firstly wanted to know whether you feed the min or max amount suggested on packet for baby buns or somewhere inbetween (i religiously weigh my guineas food each day so will be doing the same for them).

Also I wanted to know peoples opinions on the nuggets, are they a good brand or should I consider changing (I know if I change the pellets I need to do it very slowly over a few months)

with them being dwarf do they need to stay on these nuggets indefinately or should I move them onto adult nuggets at some point?

Thanks for you help!

I'd generally say the minimum amount on the back of a packet of rabbit food is too much.

Daily I give my rabbit a small handful of pellets (approx an egg cup sized amount) on a morning and lots of hay through the day. On an evening I give her one or two leaves of cabbage depending on their size and she does just fine.

Every now and then I give her carrot peelings but that is rare, also the odd treat I pick up from the pet shop but that is less than once a month.

Hay is the key to the diet and should be the biggest bulk of what a bunny eats.

Thanks I wasn't sure I know that rabbits are very different to guineas and that is all I have at the minute.

So to get this right they shouldn't have much veg then? my guineas get a full ceramic rabbit bowl of veg between two each day so that would be too much for rabbits then?

rabbits have a lot less veg than guineapigs and there are some foods rabbits can't have that guineas can, you may want to look into that.

the amount of veg fed to buns can vary, some people feed none, others a couple of handfulls, but with babies it s best wo wait until they are around 5-6 months old, then start to introduce veggies slowly. It tends to be about one inch of veg each day for a couple of days and see if it has an effect on the bun, some veggies can give some bunnies a runny bum. And babies are very prone to it when they are young and their diet changes, so you are best to leave it for the time being.

If your rabbits are dwarf rabbits you will be best sticking with the food they are on now.

You may want to enquire with a farmer or stables if they sell hay by half bales, if you have somewhere to store it. this hay is much better quality than the stuff sold at pets at home

Lots of people give their rabbits different amounts of veg. What is important is how you introduce it to the bunny. It is important you do it slowly, just a small increase a day so you don't upset their tummies.

Flopsie is quite a small rabbit, and the cabbage leaves are usually as big as she is, it's dead funny to watch her do really high bunny hops carrying it in her mouth!

Flopsie is a good hay eater and guzzles up her pellets on a morning. She would eat cabbage and pellets til they come out of her ears she's such a piggie and I'm wary of her turning into a fattie. Our vet says her weight is fine too, so I don't worry about it.

Thanks for the advice wasn't sure how much they should have so glad I have come on and asked!

I don't buy hay from P@H and I generally find them expensive and i don't really agree with petshops selling animals but I have to get their nuggets there fore the time being at least!

I currently feed meadow hay which I get in 4KG bags but I am looking to get a whole bale soon as I know somewhere which does them close to me, it's just the storage issue as would have to be in the shed and not sure what to store it in incase it gets damp. I also feed readigrass sprinked on top of the hay just for a bit of excitement for them lol or sometimes burgess excel sprinkled on top!

Also considering buying from the dust-free-hay company but again I need to look into my storage options first

It is something I should really consider though considering I will have 6 hay eating mouths to feed once my bunnies arrive (having four guineas already!)

Thanks for the advice!

giz has almost a handful of pellets for breakie and a full handful for tea he has hay all day so he can munch when he wants and he has packs of herbs and treats for now and again i only buy the natural ones though stuff that a wild bun would find on their travels he also has greens every other day i'm lazy and i get them from tesco bagged and ready to go. Pellet wise i thought i may have been under feeding but he went for his mxyo and check up today and she said his weight was perfect and he's really healthy

I know everyone on here says feed an egg cup of pellets and un-limited hay, while i agree with the un-limited hay not so much the egg cup of pellets. I started feeding my rabbit on this plus small amounts of veg each day and she lost alot of weight.

neenee said:

I know everyone on here says feed an egg cup of pellets and un-limited hay, while i agree with the un-limited hay not so much the egg cup of pellets. I started feeding my rabbit on this plus small amounts of veg each day and she lost alot of weight.

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Oh dear, has your bunny put the weight back on?

If your rabbit is particularly big I don't think an egg cupful of pellets and small amount of veg would suffice. Some common sense also has to be used but I think in the case of two Nethies excessive amounts of food would be unnecessary.

neenee said:

I know everyone on here says feed an egg cup of pellets and un-limited hay, while i agree with the un-limited hay not so much the egg cup of pellets. I started feeding my rabbit on this plus small amounts of veg each day and she lost alot of weight.

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Yeah I think most people say and egg cup of pellets for an average sized dwarf rabbit, obviously if you have a continental giant and egg cup is not going to touch the sides.


I think some people have had issues with feeding certain pellets to certain bunnies. I feed Allen and page to my guys as it is one of the highest fibre on the market and I can get 20kg (or is it 15kg) for about 8 pounds and as I have 5 bunny mouths it works out great.

However, when Cherry first got ill, she couldn't keep weight on with Allen and page and had to be moved over to science selectives.

Neenee, have you had your rabbit checked out by a vet to investigate her weight loss? Healthy rabbits have no problems with a all hay diets (no pellets or veg), so I would be curious as to why your rabbit is loosing weight.

we had the same problem with our frenchies( bless them).We changed from a full bowl twice a day to 2 egg cups a day and they lost alot of weight.we spoke to Ivan cratz who is a bunny specialist and he said rabbits cannot survive on that amount of food,we went back to the 2 bowls.

lottielouise said:

Yeah I think most people say and egg cup of pellets for an average sized dwarf rabbit, obviously if you have a continental giant and egg cup is not going to touch the sides.


I think some people have had issues with feeding certain pellets to certain bunnies. I feed Allen and page to my guys as it is one of the highest fibre on the market and I can get 20kg (or is it 15kg) for about 8 pounds and as I have 5 bunny mouths it works out great.

However, when Cherry first got ill, she couldn't keep weight on with Allen and page and had to be moved over to science selectives.

Neenee, have you had your rabbit checked out by a vet to investigate her weight loss? Healthy rabbits have no problems with a all hay diets (no pellets or veg), so I would be curious as to why your rabbit is loosing weight.

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Yeah she was ill and has been for a while, shes not a very healthy bunny! But my other rabbit is in perfect healthy (ive been a bit obsessive with the health checks )

thats good to hear, do you know what is wrong with her?

briony y -Slightly off subject but have you anywhere to put one of those green plastic garden storage boxes? I bought one especially for keeping the rabbit stuff in - I can get a bale of straw and hay in as well as all their other necessities (I had to buy it as their stuff was attracting mice while in the shed) it keeps the hay etc. fresh and dry.