Now this (I dont beleive all our buns in such a short space of time is just "misfortunate" :? :
Dear Victoria,
Thank you for contacting us yesterday. I was very saddened, sorry and
troubled to hear of the choking incident relating to our Naturals Carrot
Pellets and as a rabbit owner myself I can start to imagine the distress
this must have caused to both you and Stevie. I'm obviously just glad to
hear that you were around and your prompt actions managed to prevent a
terrible loss.
I did want to contact you immediately, but thought it better to have 24
hours to look into and address the issue thoroughly.
The naturals range is a range I put together just over two years ago and
have since developed. A number of the products were selected from a
range which was already being sold and manufactured on the continent by
an excellent family firm. The Carrot Pellets were one of the products
that already existed in their range.
I contacted them yesterday to inform them of what had happened and raise
the issue of the pellet size and the potential for choking.
Before I say anymore let me say something regarding the future of this
product that may help address some of your concern. Twice a year we
review our current products and look at new lines. As part of this I
have recently been reviewing the full range of Naturals treats and took
the decision approx 4 weeks ago that the carrot pellets would be removed
from the range by October. The main reason for this is that it has
always been one of less popular lines in the range and to introduce new
products we need to delist some of the current lines.
Back to the specifics of the safety and suitability of the pellet size:
the supplier uses a specialist animal nutritionist as a paid consultant
and in his opinion the pellet size is appropriate for small animals.
Indeed pellets of this specific size and shape have been sold in Germany
for almost 20 years. It is true that in the UK rabbit pellets have
traditionally been shorter and of a wider diameter, but I believe that
the oxbow pellets are the same diameter as our carrot pellets, albeit
not as hard. These specific pellets have been sold by the supplier for
approx 5 years and they assured me yesterday that they had not heard of
any chocking incidents with this product on the continent. I do
appreciate that you would expect this to be the response from any
manufacturer and should be taken with a pinch of salt, but my close
relationship with then over the past three years would lead me to
believe them if they say this.
Just in the UK we have sold approx 35,000 packs of the pellets and I
understand from your email that you have found 2 other incidents. What I
need to consider is that many (it maybe even be all, I honestly don't
know) mammals can potentially choke on both foods (probably no more
common than with humans) and foreign objects (most notably dogs). I
would accept that choking in rabbits in probably a rare occurrence for
as you note they have no gag reflect/cannot regurgitate and are grazers
eating little and often. This all means they typically eat food
relatively slowly and carefully, grinding down food before swallowing.
Domestication appears to have altered this ever so slightly in pet
rabbits as I do observe my own rabbits devouring certain foods with a
vigor to match many dogs. And as we know in humans this is when
accidental choking can occur- through not correctly chewing and
swallowing foods.
This means that it's the manner of consumption that is as much or more
of an issue than the food. I'm even now questioning why pet rabbits
would be encourage to eat in this manner as pets: maybe it's related to
the fact that many pet rabbits cannot expect to have food on demand like
wild rabbits- instead, with most of us being out at work all day, they
are reacting to the feast and famine of being offered their favorite
food only once or twice a day, even if hay is always available as it
should be.
I'm also considering that if the pellets size etc was the main issue
then tough, stalky hays could pose just as much of a potential hazard.
Indeed in my 20 plus years keeping rabbits and working in this industry
I have just very occasionally spoken to rabbits owners who believe their
pet has choked on main diet pellets or hay.
I firmly believe that what happened was accidental and relevantly
exceptional. The range was developed to be a healthier alternative to
the poor quality treats that saturated the market- not only for
commercial reasons but also as a pet keeper and animal lover I wanted
any range I developed to be better for pets. The last thing I want is to
feel that one of our products may have harmed a pet.
I own 6 guinea pigs and 4 rabbits and have and would continue to offer
them this product. But as outlined above we will be stopping selling
this product anyway over the next few months.
I have discussed a new line similar to the carrot pellets which would
also contain herbs. And taking into account your thoughts I have already
discussed with the factory that IF we launch a similar product to
replace the carrot pellets then we will make the pellets much thicker
and possibly shorter to further reduce the potential for rabbits to
accidentally swallow them whole.
I appreciate this may not be entirely the answer you hoped for but I
feel you deserve an honest and sincere answer rather than a
corporate/insincere response designed "palm you off".
Thank you again for contacting us please accept my best wishes that
Stevie doesn't suffer any long term complications from this incident.
