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Hawthorn berries

JLG

Mama Doe
:wave:please can someone tell me if hawthorn berries are ok for bunnies? My 2 love the branches and leaves but now most of the trees near me are covered in berries, so I'm just checking before I give them any more?
thankyou :)
 
I have a different opinion about the wisdom of feeding hawthorn berries (haws) to rabbits.

They are perfectly safe & beneficial for humans & birds, but rabbits have different needs. They do not contain poisonous substances AFAIK.

However, it is a basic principal of feeding bunnies not to give them small hard seeds (eg allow them to eat fallen bird seed) or nuts with shells on, for 2 reasons.
a) Rabbits can crack a molar tooth very easily on hard food, especially if it's unexpected - just like us.
b) Small seeds which could be swallowed whole, can form a blockage in the gut.

The normal rabbit diet is vegetation, which is extremely low in fats; so high cholesterol levels are not a problem in rabbits, & not a major predisposing cause of heart disease unlike humans.

We can all see how hard a haw is for ourselves by isolating the central seed & trying to crush it (with a knife not our teeth, or you might break one of your own teeth!:cry:)
 
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