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Down with muesli!

tonibun said:
When your rabbits stay healthy into their ninth year on Muesli, I wonder.
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Its selective feeding that is the huge issue with muesli (plus those blockage causing locust beans) & the calcium deficiencies that can arise from that.

If a rabbit eats enough hay, grass, forage, greens then muesli isn't going to be a huge deal as muesli won't be the main source of 'nutrition'
 
tonibun said:
When your rabbits stay healthy into their ninth year on Muesli, I wonder.
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Wow that is awesome :D I think it is more to do with the selective eating, I know my mother-in-laws bunnies used to only eat the bits they liked, which would then get hoovered up by the guinea pigs (which is an entirely different kettle of fish!).

But I guess if your bun is happy and healthy, especially at nine years old, if it's not broke, don't fix it :)
 
I think it's the overfeeding that is the problem - a lot of folk unknowingly give their bunnies a bowlful of Muesli (I did at first, nearly 20 years ago) and the rabbits seek out their favourite pieces and leave the rest. I used to throw a load of food away in those days. I wouldn't buy Muesli which had Locust Beans in it - I once went through a 20 kg bag checking all the locust beans for seeds and I was shocked at how many seeds were left in, as they are supposed to be removed. So as it took a few hours to search through the whole bag I never bought that brand again. Some Muesli is so pale with lots of green peas in it and doesn't look a bit appetising.
 
Blimey, that's awful. I don't know anything about locust beans, but considering the size of the pieces in muesli I can imagine that took a ridiculous amount of time to find and remove them from a 20kg bag!
 
Yes it did - it isn't the atual pieces of Locust Bean that is the problem, it's the tiny round bean inside which has been known to get stuck in rabbits' digestive systems. These beans are supposed to have been removed but as I proved they aren't always.
 
I don't think muesli is necessarily bad in itself, but it's the selective feeding and overfeeding that causes the issues. For the average owner who doesn't do much research, then pellets would be a healthier option, I guess.

I remember when I first had bunnies, I used to feed muesli mix and my bunny loved the dried peas in it so I would to buy a bag of the peas on their own to add to his food. :oops: Looking back, I can't believe I was actually that foolish but I'd made the assumption of "Well, they sell them, so it must be ok to feed" that lead me to think it was fine.
 
I'm guessing this is less about educating and more of a money making thing but I guess people who know what the look for in muesli don't need to think about changing, perhaps the people that haven't done as much research need educating about selective feeding and overfeeding? Either way, hopefully it'll get people thinking more about it :)
 
KarenM said:
I remember when I first had bunnies, I used to feed muesli mix and my bunny loved the dried peas in it so I would to buy a bag of the peas on their own to add to his food. :oops: Looking back, I can't believe I was actually that foolish but I'd made the assumption of "Well, they sell them, so it must be ok to feed" that lead me to think it was fine.
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Same! I had my first pet bunnies around 22 years ago and it was so different back then, the knowledge justbwasn't out there to help us make a choice. My pet shop used to deliver me bags of that pea muesli for £12 for a massive sack. I thought I was feeding them like kings & queens! You could buy bags of locust beans on their own and I used to buy loads to give them as treats. :shock:
 
newbabybuns said:
Same! I had my first pet bunnies around 22 years ago and it was so different back then, the knowledge justbwasn't out there to help us make a choice. My pet shop used to deliver me bags of that pea muesli for £12 for a massive sack. I thought I was feeding them like kings & queens! You could buy bags of locust beans on their own and I used to buy loads to give them as treats. :shock:
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You still can I think though I haven't bought any for a while, got them from Wilkos. But the ones I have bought in the past don't have the seed in the middle, it's like the shell only if that makes sense. The bunnies and Skittle the hamster (may he RIP) love/loved them respectively.

My bunnies love their breakfast pinch of muesli and I think they'd be quite upset if they stopped getting it. They eat the lot too, they love every bit of it! I haven't seen any locust bean in it as far as I know and I think I'd see them as I know what they look like and they only get a pinch each, but that's interesting so I will check the ingredients.
 
My 2 have Rabbit Royale which is what they were fed in the rescue.

They have such a small amount that I don't think it's a problem. I have pellets too but if I fed just pellets Nancy would just inhale them and Will would go hungry.

I usually put a few pellets in their hay trough to get them foraging.
 
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