House bunny and vitamin D

Hello

Everytime I go online I learn something that worries me! Today its vitamin D from sunlight for my rabbit Jenson. For some stupid reason it never occured to me about vitamin D yet I would think of it for me.

I thought he should be away from windows so he wasn't in direct sunlight but now I'm concerned as he's a house rabbit so currently not getting any sunlight.

Any points of advice? Currently he's on the mixed food stuff, he doesn't selective eat (well he does and then goes back and finished the other bits), unlimited hay and so far I've only introduced carrot and basil as I read new foods should only be introduced every seven days.

Thank you

If you feed a complete pellet as part of his diet I wouldn't worry, as they're fortified with vitamins so he should be getting all he needs through his diet.

Helen xx

we have had house buns for ten years and not had an issue

Check what vitamins the pellet food already contains. You can always suplement with vitamin products. I feed mine a half dose of spray on food vitamins. It's probably not necessary though

Vitamin D supplement is not necessary in a rabbit; in fact it can be risky. The role of vitamin D in most mammal, reptiles etc. is to aid in the uptake of calcium. Rabbits have a rather unique method of handling calcium.

Grass hays are recommended above legume hays, such as alfalfa, from the age of around 6 months to reduce the amount of calcium in the rabbit's diet and the subsequent risk of bladder sludge caused by excess calcium being processed in the kidney. Pellets should also be considered as many are based on alfalfa meal with relatively high levels of calcium. An ideal Ca ratio food for rabbits is in the range of 1.2-2.0:1.

Keeping a rabbit in front of a window should be avoided. The heat builds up to dangerous levels behind the glass. Also, glass (including clear glass) filters out UVB light which is the light spectrum needed to metabolise calcium in other species. Only the UVA light can pass through.

Having said that, it is a good thing to let a house rabbit have some time in the sun where possible as they also then have access to fresh air as well.

Further reading on calcium metabolism in rabbits is in this link to an article by Sharon Redrobe.

http://lafebervet.com/small-mammals/?p=236

It depends if your rabbit has a pelleted feed or not.

Houserabbits NOT receiving any pelleted feed should ideally have a minimum hour a day access to natural daylight outside.
However, sun cured forages (hay) are a good source of vitamin D, and if your bun is not receiving a pelleted feed then a vitamin A veg daily is also preferrable. :wave:

ETA I think this is an important point from Sharon Redrobe's article posted above:
"Calcium is readily absorbed from the gut in rabbits and may not require the action of vitamin D at all unless dietary calcium levels are restricted."

It needs to be remembered that buns on a pelleted feed will already be receiving a substantial amount of calcium in the feed, therefore extra calcium in calcium rich veg should be avoided due to excess calcium needing to be excreted. But buns on a hay only diet will have their calcium intake restricted to a point so not only does access to sunlight increase their Vit D3 levels - for better calcium uptake, but they can also have more calcium rich veg than buns receiving a pelleted feed.

I read about rabbits needing vitamin D aswell when I first got Poppy.Because she is a house rabbit a panicked that she wasn't going to get enough light. I used to get my boyfriend to help me move her cage across the room every morning before we went to work so she could get extra sunlight (he thought I was mad). I soon stopped moving her and she has never shown any signs of lacking vit D (as far as I know).

I think that an hour outside daily is nice for a house bun, not only for Vit D but somewhere where they can do rabbit things like dig. There are outdoor smells & bird calls, for stimulation, fresh air etc. He free ranges with me with him & has choice about how long he stays out.

Thank you all for the information. Very useful.

I don't have a garden but I am planning on taking him to my parents for a weekend when he's older and see how he goes outside. I'm debating on a lead when he's older and taking him outside to the communial garden!

Jenson said:

Thank you all for the information. Very useful.

I don't have a garden but I am planning on taking him to my parents for a weekend when he's older and see how he goes outside. I'm debating on a lead when he's older and taking him outside to the communial garden!

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Personally I would not recommend a lead for a prey species. I bought a harness for each of my buns years ago but then never used them. The problem with bunnies is that they bolt and scare very easily and in an unpredictable fashion, they could really do themselves an injury if tethered to a lead, a few members on here have had some close calls with them.

If the communal gardens are used by local cats/dogs you might want to watch out for excrement carrying bacterial/protozoan/worms infections too.
I think your parent's garden sounds an awful lot safer :wave:

Thanks, I wasn't keen on the lead idea anyway (I think I was asleep when I wrote that post!).

Surely the risk of other animals walking germs etc through exists in every garden?

Jenson said:

Thanks, I wasn't keen on the lead idea anyway (I think I was asleep when I wrote that post!).

Surely the risk of other animals walking germs etc through exists in every garden?

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Not in my garden, we don't have cats or dogs and make very sure the local cats don't come in the garden. High wall and fences around our garden too.