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Readigrass
- Thread starter Damo
- Start date
Aly&Poppy<3
Wise Old Thumper
It's high in calcium I was told so my outdoor 2 get a handful a day 
Rileysrascals
Young Bun
Mine get a handful between the 3 of them a day, they love it so much! It was also invaluable in getting a previous bun again to eat after surgery. As Aly&Poppy said it is higher in calcium so a smaller amount is best.
Saiyuri
Young Bun
I'm not sure can someone can explain to me why it needs to be limited (I know people mention it has alot of calcium but if thats the only reason surely normal grass should be limited as well?)
Not sure if its the same I dried some of my normal garden grass in the dehydrator (was making some bunny treats and thought I might as well finish filling it so seemed like a good idea) and they loved it, but it didnt look anything like readigrass
Not sure if its the same I dried some of my normal garden grass in the dehydrator (was making some bunny treats and thought I might as well finish filling it so seemed like a good idea) and they loved it, but it didnt look anything like readigrass
Bunny Buddy
Wise Old Thumper
It isn't high in calcium, it even says so on the bag - 0.8% calcium... it's made of grass as you saying above then if it was high in calcium then grass should be limited for the same reason. Grass has the perfect balance of calcium and phosphorus because it's the natural food of a rabbit.
It's often said to limit it because it's much more nutritious than hay so they could get fat if they eat readigrass instead of hay. They also seem to drink a lot of water if eating readigrass so (I'm just guessing here) there may be issues with hydration.
Aly&Poppy<3
Wise Old Thumper
My two get 2-4 handfuls between them a day
There is conflicting advice on whether it should be free-fed, but the rwaf say it should be fine as long as bun is healthy.
Like fresh grass though, it should be introduced gradually.
Oh yes! Totally forgot, I asked the RWAF on Facebook about it and they said healthy buns are fine to feed a fair amount to
I do give Donny and Lola a handful in their litter tray just because it's so expensive so I try to make it last a month:lol: Leo has a little sprinkle but he's not been well, although we give it him to keep him eating hay because of his teeth Lil & Ron's Mum
Warren Scout
My Ron put some right weight on with readigrass, so now he is limited with it.
Santa
Wise Old Thumper
But the point is that readigrass is dried out, so the ratio of calcium and other nutrients will be much higher in the dried product than in the natural product...so weight for weight of dry v wet grass, the readigrass will be significantly higher than the natural grass in calcium etc. Even the rwaf information on calcium says that natural grass has about 0.4% calcium, so readigrass does have double the natural amount. The natural food of the rabbit is the wet grass version (or, hay-like dried grass from Iberia originally), although readigrass is a natural product that rabbits eat, it is not proportioned naturally.
I have always limited it because I have found that it gives excesss caecatrops if I feed a lot of it.
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Saiyuri
Young Bun
Oh yes! Totally forgot, I asked the RWAF on Facebook about it and they said healthy buns are fine to feed a fair amount to
I've found they sell it at my local farm shop relatively cheaply (£11 odd for 15kg) I tend to put a rather small handful mixed in with their hay to encourage them to eat more hay each time I fill up their racks but will up or down this dependant on their weight / poops (although when i got them they are still light for their breed and still slightly under so putting a little weight on shouldn't harm them)
Bunny Buddy
Wise Old Thumper
Yes, true, it is therefore higher in calcium than fresh grass so the stuff I said about being the perfect food isn't a good comparison
but I've been told by our vet to consider 'high calcium' foods to be anything over 1%, so at 0.8% readigrass still doesn't fall into the 'high calcium' bracket that it's often put in.
runhardlivelong
Warren Scout
Buy it in bulk!
Yes, if you buy the 15kg bag for about £11 then its much cheaper than getting the £5 bag of just 1kg!!
Kate
Yes, if you buy the 15kg bag for about £11 then its much cheaper than getting the £5 bag of just 1kg!!
Kate
