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What do you feed your buns?

Gem

Wise Old Thumper
I currently feed most of mine Burgess Excel Bunny, one can't cope with it and has to have Science Selective :roll:

Has anyone found Excel to be too rich for their bun?

I seem to have the squidgy bum prob with just one on Excel. Any advice?

Gem x
 
Mine are all on excel junior and they are all fine with it. Has the rabbit always had problems on it or just recently?
I have used the Science selective with a previous bunny i had, maybe just keep feeding that one that food.
 
1 of mine had problems on excel, so I changed them all over the Science Selective - and they are fine now.

Of course, that's only the smallest part of their diet. They also have loads of hay and veg.
 
My girls had a problem on Excel until I started feeding MUCH less of it. I now feed 60g/day, and finally no soft poops or yucky bums.

Remember to stick to feeding once or twice a day with pellets, not ad lib, and weigh what you're feeding...
 
They eat mostly hay anyway,

It has been in the past few days really, they used to be on Science Selective but it wasn't keeping the weight on them.

Thanx Nicola, Bino and Vera
 
hi,
mine r fed on allen and page natural rabbit pellets it has a high fiber and low protein % in which rabbit feeds should have. Iv used burgess exel in the past and had no probs with it but over feeding can result to messy bums but not in all cases.
becky
 
I feed supreme science. I've heard alot of people mention problems with excel. Its generally helped by reducing the quanities.

The lite version is better than the standard. I can understand having a junior version and an adult version but as far as I know dwarf rabbits don't have different requirements to an average sized bun :? A 'dwarf' lop is the same size as a medium bun. I thihnk its a bit misleading.

Tam
 
Most of mine are on Supreme Science - they prefer it. Jack and Chubby took to it straight away and if we offer them Burgess now they look at us as though they are being poisoned :shock:
We use the Burgess Junior for the underweight buns and those with toofy peg problems - they usually have it soaked and fluffed up.
Just a couple more to get off the Johnsons Supreme - that's one of those mixes with the pretty bits in :?
 
Tamsin said:
I feed supreme science. I've heard alot of people mention problems with excel. Its generally helped by reducing the quanities.

The lite version is better than the standard. I can understand having a junior version and an adult version but as far as I know dwarf rabbits don't have different requirements to an average sized bun :? A 'dwarf' lop is the same size as a medium bun. I thihnk its a bit misleading.

Tam

The difference is their metabolic speeds. Smaller breeds have much faster metabolisms than larger breeds. However, it is misleading with the naming of "dwarf", like you said. I think any medium breed and smaller should be fed dwarf feed...
 
Rexy bexy said:
hi,
mine r fed on allen and page natural rabbit pellets it has a high fiber and low protein % in which rabbit feeds should have. Iv used burgess exel in the past and had no probs with it but over feeding can result to messy bums but not in all cases.
becky

Hi, I also feed Allen & Page pellets and have no probs (except they have started drinking more)....although have a couple on Burgress Excel Lite to try and slim them down with no messy bums.
 
Maaike_Butter said:
The difference is their metabolic speeds. Smaller breeds have much faster metabolisms than larger breeds. However, it is misleading with the naming of "dwarf", like you said. I think any medium breed and smaller should be fed dwarf feed...

I'm not convinced, with other feeds small rabbits seem to do as well as large on the same mix. They might eat slightly different quantities but I'm not sure that the higher protein content is warrented. An average sized rabbit shouldn't need the same levels as a pregnant/lactating doe which is what they are saying.

Excluding the extreme sized breeds such as giants and netherlands there isn't that much variation in size.

Tam
 
I had problems with Excel and have since changed all mine to Science Selective and have no problems whatsoever.

My only problem with Science Selective is that it doesn't seem to be readily available in the shops so I have to order it on line.
 
Amelia said:
I had problems with Excel and have since changed all mine to Science Selective and have no problems whatsoever.

My only problem with Science Selective is that it doesn't seem to be readily available in the shops so I have to order it on line.

Hi
You should be able to get it from your vets, if they don't stock it then they should be able to order it in from their wholesalers :)
 
Evo's on Excell too. I started to switch him over to the Oxbow bunny basics, but that seemed to give him squidgy poos. He still does get then occaisionally, but I think that's when my o/h gives him too many when he feeds him.
 
Tamsin said:
Maaike_Butter said:
The difference is their metabolic speeds. Smaller breeds have much faster metabolisms than larger breeds. However, it is misleading with the naming of "dwarf", like you said. I think any medium breed and smaller should be fed dwarf feed...

I'm not convinced, with other feeds small rabbits seem to do as well as large on the same mix. They might eat slightly different quantities but I'm not sure that the higher protein content is warrented. An average sized rabbit shouldn't need the same levels as a pregnant/lactating doe which is what they are saying.

Excluding the extreme sized breeds such as giants and netherlands there isn't that much variation in size.

Tam

I don't personally have any experience with feed and sizes of bunnies, I'm just going by what I was told in my nutrition lecture...*shrugs* I think the "dwarf" label is a bit wrong. The very small breeds have ultra fast metabolisms, as do pregnant and lactating does...so I think they need a higher protein content in their feed. Medium size buns (including "larger" "dwarfs") need less protein...

I think it should be a weight/size guideline, not a 'breed name' guideline...
 
Maaike_Butter said:
I think it should be a weight/size guideline, not a 'breed name' guideline...

Yes, that would be a much more sensible way of doing it. The same for the recommended quantities of food.

Tam
 
I feed mine the Allen and Page natural rabbit pellets. Most of the rabbits are very happy with it, especially when I mix in some of the guinea food with it to add a little spice. One pair doesn't eat much of it, but they used to eat less of the excel when I fed that too than the other pairs did.

The added bonus with Allen and Page is that it is far cheaper than Excel, and when you have as many rabbits as I do (15) that makes a big difference. I don't understand this really. It is organic, non-GM, vegetarian, - all things I would expect to pay more for, but it is MUCH cheaper - approx £6.50 for 20kg, yes 20kg. I used to pay £11.50 for 10kg for Excel. Madness!!
 
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