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What I was told about her diet...........true? False?

LauryStevens

Mama Doe
I'm picking up a new rabbit tomorrow to pair up with my Thumper after she's been fixed and I've changed her diet. I'm very excited! It's what her current owner says that owrries me a bit. The rabbit is a netherland dwarf (i'll make another link shortly and attack photo).

My owner said to me via phone
- "the breeder that I bought her from told us not to change her diet as they have sensitive stomachs. Also she can not have fresh grass and only a tiny amount of hay each week. Apparently they can die of bloat from wind due to fresh grass and hay"

I questioned further about the food and she replied - "she has a bowl full every morning of mixed rabbit food (Rabbit Royale)

Now I know rabbits have sensative stomachs but surely this particular rabbits stomach isn't that sensative. I'm a little concerned about her dental situation (she's 5 months old) if she isn't being given much hay.

Do you think I'll be ok to slowly change her food over to Bunny Basics T and fresh hay every day (both slowly over a 2-4 week period)


Thanks guys!
 
:shock:

Slow changeover sounds best. a FULL bowl of mix is an....um.....interesting diet! Poor thing :(
 
:shock:

Slow changeover sounds best. a FULL bowl of mix is an....um.....interesting diet! Poor thing :(

Well she said that the poor rabbit finished the bowl straight away and looked starving! If she hadn't been eating constantly then I'm not surprised she was devouring the food like that! I'll be doing the change over very gradually because it is such a big change, I'll also be changing her food to smaller amounts multipul times per day whilst getting her used to hay, then once she's eating hay ok I'll be cutting back on the food to once in the morning and maybe once in the evening.

I'm sure she can be fed a different diet but I want to know what other people think first! :S
 
I think some people feed ad lib dried food (pellets or mix) to baby rabbits (I never did) so wonder if owner has just carried this on? Same with the grass, you wouldn't give to a baby just rehomed from mum but would gradually introduce it later. Hay of course is a must. I would let bun settle on the food and routine he is used to at present, get a vet check up and then very slowly change the diet.
 
I think some people feed ad lib dried food (pellets or mix) to baby rabbits (I never did) so wonder if owner has just carried this on? Same with the grass, you wouldn't give to a baby just rehomed from mum but would gradually introduce it later. Hay of course is a must. I would let bun settle on the food and routine he is used to at present, get a vet check up and then very slowly change the diet.

Good idea :)
 
I've no experience of baby rabbits, but I think they do generally get more mix/pellets than adults. Rabbit Royale is actually a very good mix - Spenser was on it with his previous owner, who took care of her rabbits very seriously, and I only changed it because he tended to selective feeding (ie. only ate certain bits of the mix). I changed him over very, very gradually. Best wishes to your new arrival. :wave:
 
The Rabbit Welfare Association have some leaflets about feeding rabbits. You can see these via their website. :wave:
 
I would straight away give her hay - access at all times, and then slowly change the food to pellet food over 10 days. Add in veg once this is all accomplished.
 
I feed all mine rabbit royal and at the moment we have 30 in. I have had no selective eatting with it . I have tried SS and that in the past and have found that gave a few of mine bloat what I have never had with rabbit royal so changed them all back to it and wont change again.
 
I feed all mine rabbit royal and at the moment we have 30 in. I have had no selective eatting with it . I have tried SS and that in the past and have found that gave a few of mine bloat what I have never had with rabbit royal so changed them all back to it and wont change again.

That's interesting. Spenser's doing fine on Excel pellets now, but the selective feeding may have been caused by the move to a new environment ... by the time I finished the bag he wasn't leaving many of the bits.
 
Personally I have never known hay give a bun issues - it is essential for their teeth and also promotes constant gut movement (rather than pellets or mix which they gobble all at once).
 
I feed all mine rabbit royal and at the moment we have 30 in. I have had no selective eatting with it . I have tried SS and that in the past and have found that gave a few of mine bloat what I have never had with rabbit royal so changed them all back to it and wont change again.

I want to change because my current rabbit is on Bunny Basics T and is thriving on it and his poos are lovely and golden :D Plus it has a great Fibre content. Hence why I want to change, plus it'll be hard to feed one rabbit one food and another rabbit another if they're living together in the future. :)
 
Personally I have never known hay give a bun issues - it is essential for their teeth and also promotes constant gut movement (rather than pellets or mix which they gobble all at once).

I agree, i just thought it'd be the same as food in the sence of it can cause issues if their diet is changed drastically. Does hay not apply to this?
 
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Just out of interest, what is the fibre content? One of mine wont touch SS (they have Excel/SS mixed) and the other couldnt care less.
 
Just out of interest, what is the fibre content? One of mine wont touch SS (they have Excel/SS mixed) and the other couldnt care less.

Fibre content of Bunny Basics T is minimum 25% and maximum 29%. The best I've found. My rabbit attacks the food before it'd even in his bowl! You have to order it though, I haven't found one pet shop that supply it. Many of those pet shops questioned if it was actually a brand because they had never heard of it before.
 
I'm picking up a new rabbit tomorrow to pair up with my Thumper after she's been fixed and I've changed her diet. I'm very excited! It's what her current owner says that owrries me a bit. The rabbit is a netherland dwarf (i'll make another link shortly and attack photo).

My owner said to me via phone
- "the breeder that I bought her from told us not to change her diet as they have sensitive stomachs. Also she can not have fresh grass and only a tiny amount of hay each week. Apparently they can die of bloat from wind due to fresh grass and hay"

I questioned further about the food and she replied - "she has a bowl full every morning of mixed rabbit food (Rabbit Royale)

Now I know rabbits have sensative stomachs but surely this particular rabbits stomach isn't that sensative. I'm a little concerned about her dental situation (she's 5 months old) if she isn't being given much hay.

Do you think I'll be ok to slowly change her food over to Bunny Basics T and fresh hay every day (both slowly over a 2-4 week period)


Thanks guys!

well the breeder is full of :censored: lol i have nethies and they are all on hay go out on grass and as for the rabbit royal get it off it many people find it to be a food that can cause problems i used to use it myself and lost some through bloat and other people have had the same problems with it since they added the probiotic :?
when i changed i mixed it with new food and gradually lowered the amount of the mix ;)
nethies are normally not a breed that suffers with teeth problems unless its been bred from rubbish parents you shouldnt have any problems there
good luck
ann x
 
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