Hi all:wave:
I am seeking some advice and feel i will get the best of that here with the question i have.
I have just returned home from an animal park that opened up near me just over a year ago. I am very concerned as there are rabbits being kept there and they are living with many different types of poultry and exotic birds. They did originally have their own runs with shelters, quite spacious but they dug into each others runs and well, bred like rabbits! The result there was there were lots of baby rabbits and also the vet confirmed cocccidiosis (excuse spelling) so some rabbits were lost and the rest were treated and the rest neutered (this information i gained from talking to one of the staff). Now the rabbits are living in similar type runs but its also where the poultry and birds are kept as their original runs are being left to make sure its clear of disease i was told?
So when i went today i saw rabbits and birds together , probably nothing to worry about? Again im not sure. My concern is more however their diet. The birds have their pelleted food and flakes of corn mixed in. The rabbits had (again confirmed by the staff member because i knew by looking at the food it was nothing ive seen before) PONY PELLETS and NO HAY whatsoever . I am sad because just literally accross the way the cattle were munching the most beatutiful smelling hay. The staff member said the head keeper advised the pony pellets/cubes for the rabbits and was visibly shocked to learn how important hay is to rabbits and said she would remedy this. I waited a couple of hours and returned , again no hay so i grabbed a huge amount from the bottom of the cattles manger and threw it in and the rabbits were delighted, actually the birds were clucking around it too. So apart from vegetables which didnt look fresh, the rabbits had these pony pellets things but nearly all of them seemed to be eating the bird pellets. I am almost sure there is copper or something very bad for rabbits in poultry pellets so am wondering what anyone else knows about this diet and the long term effects for the buns i saw today. Thet didnt look like energetic or nourished rabbits at all and she told me also that they are still losing the 'odd one' but i wonder if mabye there are more than this.
Sorry for not probabaly explaining this too well but if anyone can give me advise i would be very grateful. I did try to speak to the head keeper but he was too busy and sent back a message the pony pellets are fine for rabbits.
Thank you for reading and i appreciate so much any advice, wisdom or help from anyone.
Liz x
I am seeking some advice and feel i will get the best of that here with the question i have.
I have just returned home from an animal park that opened up near me just over a year ago. I am very concerned as there are rabbits being kept there and they are living with many different types of poultry and exotic birds. They did originally have their own runs with shelters, quite spacious but they dug into each others runs and well, bred like rabbits! The result there was there were lots of baby rabbits and also the vet confirmed cocccidiosis (excuse spelling) so some rabbits were lost and the rest were treated and the rest neutered (this information i gained from talking to one of the staff). Now the rabbits are living in similar type runs but its also where the poultry and birds are kept as their original runs are being left to make sure its clear of disease i was told?
So when i went today i saw rabbits and birds together , probably nothing to worry about? Again im not sure. My concern is more however their diet. The birds have their pelleted food and flakes of corn mixed in. The rabbits had (again confirmed by the staff member because i knew by looking at the food it was nothing ive seen before) PONY PELLETS and NO HAY whatsoever . I am sad because just literally accross the way the cattle were munching the most beatutiful smelling hay. The staff member said the head keeper advised the pony pellets/cubes for the rabbits and was visibly shocked to learn how important hay is to rabbits and said she would remedy this. I waited a couple of hours and returned , again no hay so i grabbed a huge amount from the bottom of the cattles manger and threw it in and the rabbits were delighted, actually the birds were clucking around it too. So apart from vegetables which didnt look fresh, the rabbits had these pony pellets things but nearly all of them seemed to be eating the bird pellets. I am almost sure there is copper or something very bad for rabbits in poultry pellets so am wondering what anyone else knows about this diet and the long term effects for the buns i saw today. Thet didnt look like energetic or nourished rabbits at all and she told me also that they are still losing the 'odd one' but i wonder if mabye there are more than this.
Sorry for not probabaly explaining this too well but if anyone can give me advise i would be very grateful. I did try to speak to the head keeper but he was too busy and sent back a message the pony pellets are fine for rabbits.
Thank you for reading and i appreciate so much any advice, wisdom or help from anyone.
Liz x