Free feeding protexin profibre pellets aids absorption?

**PLEASE NOTE: I'm not recommending anyone free feed (or almost free feed) Protexin profibre pellets because that's not how the company say to feed it.**​

That all said, I have done this, and someone else has done this too, with very vulnerable, sickly bunnies. I'm six months further down the line than the other person with doing this and what I've seen and continue to see is amazing.

Two rabbits who were unable to put on any weight despite eating for England. Both failing to thrive. At about 9 months old I started feeding the pellets and gradually increased and increased (I was looking at the results of less excess caecotrophs to start with), and they started growing and thriving and went, respectively, from 1.2kg and 1.3kg to 1.7kg and 1.8kg (but at the time I started giving it to them, they should have already been fully grown).

Both are in peak condition now and doing excellently. Neither are overweight but are still having profibre pellets daily, but in lesser amounts. My vet is positively amazed by their transformation.

Is there any particular reason why profibre pellets would enhance absorption of foods to such a great degree? These were frail bunnies and flawed bunnies but now strong thriving bunnies, a world away from where they were.

Any thoughts on this, at all?

That is fascinating. I'm not knowledgeable enough at all to comment on the science of it, but it is really interesting, and great that you have monitored this so thoroughly, and of course great for the buns involved!

I have recently started feeding a small amount of the Protexin pellets to my house buns, as they both (but one in particular) have tummy issues. I'll be interested to see if it makes any difference to their gut health, although I will only be feeding it in small amounts.

I too have found it very helpful for some of my buns. I first gave it to Kenco who is a dental bunny with incontinence issues, and who has always produced misshapen poos, which are sometimes soft/slippery with excess cecals. Because he has maloccluded teeth he doesnt eat as much hay as I'd like, and also was very boney feeling.

He also is living with a bunny that loves her food, loves hay and when they moved outside seemed to put on a lot of weight to the point of being overweight.

We reduced their normal pellets right down and added two scoops of Protexin a day to their pellets. Once their weight had stabilised and we came out of winter/spring we reduced that to one scoop a day. Both are now 2.4kg and 2.5kg respectively, and they both seem very healthy at that weight (as they on the slightly bigger side of medium buns). Kenco's poos have been a lot better too.

I am now trying the same thing with Muesli as he also has incontinence and weight management issues. Again he doesnt eat as much hay as I would like, and I was adding Probiotic to their water to help but now I think it may work better to use Profibre to get his fibre up and help his poos.

I know that doesnt answer your question but I just wanted to say as well that I have found it really useful.

I can only guess its the high fibre content that suits the unique nature of rabbit's gut systems that works, but I wouldnt know any more than that.

Thanks Sky-O because I think it was you that recommended them.

I feed these to my four bunnies and all are doing fine. They each have a spoon full in the morning then again at night along with their usual pellets of Oxbow B/T too. They just love them and the vet agrees that my bunnies really are looking wonderful too

I have to say that feeding too many of these reduced Nino's dropping output and size in comparison to your experiences, but probably worth noting for other members. However, he was prone to bloat/stasis due to his hidden arthritic pain and was a bunny who needed to eat constantly throughout the day and night and rarely stopped/rested for more than an hour, he grazed all the time unlike most buns who siesta during the day and at night. I found a few were helpful but too many curbed his grazing appetite (filled him up quickly, they are quite bulking which you will discover if you try soaking them in water - they swell up massively) and hence he stopped his normal grazing habit which he needed to do to keep his motility at its optimum rate.

But i'm glad they have been so helpful for you - fantastic!

prettylupin said:

I have to say that feeding too many of these reduced Nino's dropping output and size in comparison to your experiences, but probably worth noting for other members. However, he was prone to bloat/stasis due to his hidden arthritic pain and was a bunny who needed to eat constantly throughout the day and night and rarely stopped/rested for more than an hour, he grazed all the time unlike most buns who siesta during the day and at night. I found a few were helpful but too many curbed his grazing appetite (filled him up quickly, they are quite bulking which you will discover if you try soaking them in water - they swell up massively) and hence he stopped his normal grazing habit which he needed to do to keep his motility at its optimum rate.

But i'm glad they have been so helpful for you - fantastic!

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That's interesting and definitely useful to highlight. I guess it's the different nature of issues. If Wish doesn't eat for the shortest amount of time then she loses weight like I've never seen because she doesn't maximise absorption of her food generally, so even less food means weight loss. So she too eats like all day, rarely stopping for sleepages. Even on these she still loses copious weight if her routine is disrupted (she came back emaciated from her spay because of not eating for a couple of hours, like literally emaciated and she couldn't walk), in fact more so, because they are so important to her. Guess, that just shows the different contexts and when they potentially make be useful, but that they may not be useful to bunnies with other problems.

I gave a large handful in the morning and a large handful in the evening (between three bunnies- the 800g pot would last us one week) and the rest of the time was just hay (but had to be first cut, she lost weight on second cut :roll.

Sky-O said:

That's interesting and definitely useful to highlight. I guess it's the different nature of issues. If Wish doesn't eat for the shortest amount of time then she loses weight like I've never seen because she doesn't maximise absorption of her food generally, so even less food means weight loss. So she too eats like all day, rarely stopping for sleepages. Even on these she still loses copious weight if her routine is disrupted (she came back emaciated from her spay because of not eating for a couple of hours, like literally emaciated and she couldn't walk), in fact more so, because they are so important to her. Guess, that just shows the different contexts and when they potentially make be useful, but that they may not be useful to bunnies with other problems.

I gave a large handful in the morning and a large handful in the evening (between three bunnies- the 800g pot would last us one week) and the rest of the time was just hay (but had to be first cut, she lost weight on second cut :roll.

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It sounds like Wish needs a high protein diet alongside high fibre, whereas a hay only (like Nino) would be high fibre and low protein, what is optimally recommended for rabbits. However, special needs buns often require more fats and protein especially if there are absorption issues which I would suspect to be GI related. Put it this way, when my Coeliac disease was undiagnosed I was like Wish - eating tons but wasting away through poor absorption, muscle wastage (poor protein absorption) and no fat on me at all despite eating fatty/sugary foods - poor fat absorption. CD causes widespread inflammation throughout the GI tract... I wonder if the same goes for Wish?? :?

It would be worth looking into the ingredients of the protexin pellets? I no longer have my tub to see. I wonder perhaps if it is the probiotic/prebiotic additive that helps to recolonise the caecum where most fats/proteins are processed initially? :? We need Thumps!

prettylupin said:

It sounds like Wish needs a high protein diet alongside high fibre, whereas a hay only (like Nino) would be high fibre and low protein, what is optimally recommended for rabbits. However, special needs buns often require more fats and protein especially if there are absorption issues which I would suspect to be GI related. Put it this way, when my Coeliac disease was undiagnosed I was like Wish - eating tons but wasting away through poor absorption, muscle wastage (poor protein absorption) and no fat on me at all despite eating fatty/sugary foods - poor fat absorption. CD causes widespread inflammation throughout the GI tract... I wonder if the same goes for Wish?? :?

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I don't know. My vet feels she has.... a liver shunt? Or similar? Or something? Basically that her liver wasn't absorbing properly like it should due to the blood vessels being wrong or something? We haven't investigated because it would be for our own interest and each GA is difficult for Wish.

Anything other than the profibre pellets and hay give Wish excess caecotrophs, as does pain. She really, really wasn't thriving much at all. Different now though! She just grew a beard. :lol:

prettylupin said:

It would be worth looking into the ingredients of the protexin pellets? I no longer have my tub to see. I wonder perhaps if it is the probiotic/prebiotic additive that helps to recolonise the caecum where most fats/proteins are processed initially? :? We need Thumps!

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Have to dash out, but will look when I get back.

Sky-O said:

I don't know. My vet feels she has.... a liver shunt? Or similar? Or something? Basically that her liver wasn't absorbing properly like it should due to the blood vessels being wrong or something? We haven't investigated because it would be for our own interest and each GA is difficult for Wish.

Anything other than the profibre pellets and hay give Wish excess caecotrophs, as does pain. She really, really wasn't thriving much at all. Different now though! She just grew a beard. :lol:

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I was just about to mention the liver - important role in metabolising fats through bile. :wave: Sounds like you have a good vet who is really thinking around the problem. I'm sorry my medical knowledge has all but disappeared these days. It's great you have been able to even encourage fur growth etc... I know Judy has found Thumper's fur growth to improve once his caecum is properly absorbing again... perhaps it is just the additional fibre and probiotics which are the key in these pellets.

Kenco's fur has gone lovely and soft and silky whereas it was a bit 'clumpy" before, for want of a better word.

Although we are only just trying Muesli in the Protexin, we fed him Oxbow Junior pellets when he seemed to really lose weight, and these helped him a lot to put on weight. They were the highest fibre Junior pellets we could find. His fur is now gorgeous, and he looks very healthy and the vets commented on this the last two times he has gone. But continued use of these was obviously contributing to the excess cecals, hence us stopping using them once his weight was up. Now its more weight maintenance and high fibre/prebiotic/probiotic we are looking for so I hope thats where the Protexin will help.

I'm the other person Sky-O refers to, as Ginger/Wish are sisters (seperate litter) but have similar issues, although Wish's were much more severe.

Ginger's been basically free-fed protexing profibre for rabbits (800g tub) for 2 weeks now.

Previously, we could NOT get her weight above 1.7Kg's. It was never that stable either and would fluctuate a lot, suffering from severe weight loss if she also did not eat enough for any period of time.

However, since doing this, she's currently at 1.78Kg's, for the first time since she was born. She's also recommenced her moult again (after stopping for the 2nd time, when she had a bad spell). which i know needs a LOT of energy.

The feeding of the profibre pellets has not affected her eating of anything else, she is still a hay monster, lives on loads of bramble leaves, she craves fibre, probably due to the GI issues already mentioned on this thread?

It's interesting that the liver and absorption via the bile is mentioned, as we've used all manner of 'naughty' foods to try and put weight on - porridge oats, sugary foods such a fruit etc, a little bread, extra pellets etc but to no avail.

Thanks PL for coming and commenting on Sky's thread, i am always interesting in your input

This is really interesting & potentially very helpful for certain buns.

I don't know the answer but a situation we rarely recognise in humans may cast some light on it.

Occasionally we find people with a normal gut & normal food intake who aren't absorbing food properly - usually a vitamin B12 deficiency brings it to light. (B12 is absorbed in the lower small bowel just before the caecum)

The theory is that an overgrowth of bacteria =dysbiosis is scoffing all the nutrients before they get absorbed by the gut wall. Treating the dysbiosis corrects the malabsorption in humans.
Trouble is that there are 500 -1000 different micro organisms in the human GI tract - so we never find out which is the culprit = can't prove it!