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This is What my Rabbits Now Have Instead of Pellet/Museli Feed
- Thread starter Jack's-Jane
- Start date
Ruthyjones89
Mama Doe
Wow this looks amazing Jane!! 
I currently feed honey half an egg cup of excel junior pellets and fill the rest of her bowl up with dried forage - plantain & dandelion twice daily. But wow never knew bunnies could eat horse pellets?!
Ive seriously been wanting to change her pellets for a while now, so this is really exciting! But my only question, I'm hoping to get a 16 week old male shortly (hopefully) will these new pellets be okay, or do they need to be a certain age first? Xx
I currently feed honey half an egg cup of excel junior pellets and fill the rest of her bowl up with dried forage - plantain & dandelion twice daily. But wow never knew bunnies could eat horse pellets?!
Ive seriously been wanting to change her pellets for a while now, so this is really exciting! But my only question, I'm hoping to get a 16 week old male shortly (hopefully) will these new pellets be okay, or do they need to be a certain age first? Xx
PoppyRabbit
Warren Scout
I feed Poppy Meadow Menu which is just made of 40+ plants and no grains. Im guessing this doesn't count as traditional pellets and i don't need to change over (always looking to go more natural with her!). Though the stuff you buy and make looks lovely!
Hugo's There
Wise Old Thumper
Wow this looks amazing Jane!!
I currently feed honey half an egg cup of excel junior pellets and fill the rest of her bowl up with dried forage - plantain & dandelion twice daily. But wow never knew bunnies could eat horse pellets?!
Ive seriously been wanting to change her pellets for a while now, so this is really exciting! But my only question, I'm hoping to get a 16 week old male shortly (hopefully) will these new pellets be okay, or do they need to be a certain age first? Xx
I'm feeding my new babies on fibrefirst sticks, dried mixed forage from Galen's garden and Alfalfa hay and they are doing really well on it. ( along with normal hays too)
I'm slowly adding some grass and other fresh forage bits now.
Wow this looks amazing Jane!!
I currently feed honey half an egg cup of excel junior pellets and fill the rest of her bowl up with dried forage - plantain & dandelion twice daily. But wow never knew bunnies could eat horse pellets?!
Ive seriously been wanting to change her pellets for a while now, so this is really exciting! But my only question, I'm hoping to get a 16 week old male shortly (hopefully) will these new pellets be okay, or do they need to be a certain age first? Xx
I would think it is safe to feed it to a baby rabbit, just tiny bits and gradually increase whilst still feeding what he is used to.
Ruthyjones89
Mama Doe
Hi both, thanks so much! That's really useful.. Well I think he's on a combined mix at the moment so keen as soon as I have him to try mixing with his new pellets but of course will be gradual!
Really sorry to hijack the thread but Hugo's there - hope you don't mind me asking a couple more questions;
1) where do you get fibre sticks from? I've heard a lot of people feed them but struggle to find them?
2) Would you say Galens dried forage have quite big bits? I currently get mine from the hay experts but have recently found its very broken up and is pretty much just tiny crumb consistency.
Thanks x
Really sorry to hijack the thread but Hugo's there - hope you don't mind me asking a couple more questions;
1) where do you get fibre sticks from? I've heard a lot of people feed them but struggle to find them?
2) Would you say Galens dried forage have quite big bits? I currently get mine from the hay experts but have recently found its very broken up and is pretty much just tiny crumb consistency.
Thanks x
Jack's-Jane
Wise Old Thumper
Hi both, thanks so much! That's really useful.. Well I think he's on a combined mix at the moment so keen as soon as I have him to try mixing with his new pellets but of course will be gradual!
Really sorry to hijack the thread but Hugo's there - hope you don't mind me asking a couple more questions;
1) where do you get fibre sticks from? I've heard a lot of people feed them but struggle to find them?
2) Would you say Galens dried forage have quite big bits? I currently get mine from the hay experts but have recently found its very broken up and is pretty much just tiny crumb consistency.
Thanks x
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-food-.../fibafirst-monoforage-feed-for-rabbits-p-9029
http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-food-vetcare-rabbit-food-c-649_650_1301
Rupert & Tia
Mama Doe
My boarding lady does this, looks amazing. Unfortunately, with Rupert's tummy issues, i'm scared to risk trying him with this.
Ruthyjones89
Mama Doe
Thanks so much Jane!
Thats me being an idiot. I'd imagined fibre sticks as actual sticks, didn't realise it was a type of pellet, that explains why I couldn't see them.. Whoops! :lol: xx
Thats me being an idiot. I'd imagined fibre sticks as actual sticks, didn't realise it was a type of pellet, that explains why I couldn't see them.. Whoops! :lol: xx
Mmmm - that looks nommy! xx
I might try that - Hollie quickly gets a mucky bum if she has anything more than a teeny tiny amount of Science Selective pellets. Though her moulting doesn't help as her fur is so thick and fluffy. They already get loads of forage (I planted the garden with the bunnies in mind!) so their tums are used to a wide range of stuff.
We'll hopefully be moving soon and though I will be planting the new garden with bunny-friendly plants it'll be a while before they are up and running lol.
Thank you for this xx
xxI might try that - Hollie quickly gets a mucky bum if she has anything more than a teeny tiny amount of Science Selective pellets. Though her moulting doesn't help as her fur is so thick and fluffy. They already get loads of forage (I planted the garden with the bunnies in mind!) so their tums are used to a wide range of stuff.
We'll hopefully be moving soon and though I will be planting the new garden with bunny-friendly plants it'll be a while before they are up and running lol.
Thank you for this xx
tabithakat64
Mama Doe
If you email Dengie, they will send you a free sample (the actual bags are massive either 15/20kg). I'm trying mine on the sample of healthy tummy today.
Thank you x
I wonder if I could use just one of the Dengie feeds - probably the tummy friendly one - the vast quantities do worry me a tad lol. One bale of 20kg wouldn't be a problem but 2 x 20kg would be a lot to store and use.......
catxx
Mama Doe
What about this stuff Jane? Got a free sample at Horse of the Year Show and trying it with the bunnies in their forage mix. It's basically Readigrass with added bits and smells very minty and lovely!
http://shop.thunderbrook.co.uk/healthy-herbal-chaff---15-kg-174-p.asp
http://shop.thunderbrook.co.uk/healthy-herbal-chaff---15-kg-174-p.asp
Jane this is fantastic....what a wonderful combination.
Now I'd love to do this...but Archie (buck) 6 years old did have a slight sludge issue when he first came here at 3 yrs of age. he seemed to have some poss kidney stones...from what I recall. Very thick wee and aweful diet and didnt eat his ceacs or hay much.
He now devours hay...meadow & timothy and loves foraged foods and he is on SS as a pellt which he adores too. He loves most foods.
I've recently added meadow cookies...so cheap and gives them something to do over night.
He has had pockets of abscesses around his penis and anal glands - these have been operated on and as much of the pockets removed and has been very well since. I clean out his anal glands every week or two to make sure they dont get more abscesses coming through.
the girls (5 years of age) have never had an issues much - except one does tend to get an upset tum if given veges or fruit - anything not high in fibre.
I wondered in my case if you would use your horse mixes for them due to the Alfalfa content?
Im also quite interested if changing the pellets over to the one Ive linked from "PoppyRabbit" - "Meadow Menu" instead of SS would be a good idea?
I've not been able to forage much this year which is such a shame and makes me sad and the foraged goods to buy all seem quite pricey so any large quantity of food I could buy thats got more plant matter or natural bits in that are good for the buns I'd be very interested in doing.
I'm really keen to add more variation
Thanks
https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/meadow-menu-rabbit.html
Now I'd love to do this...but Archie (buck) 6 years old did have a slight sludge issue when he first came here at 3 yrs of age. he seemed to have some poss kidney stones...from what I recall. Very thick wee and aweful diet and didnt eat his ceacs or hay much.
He now devours hay...meadow & timothy and loves foraged foods and he is on SS as a pellt which he adores too. He loves most foods.
I've recently added meadow cookies...so cheap and gives them something to do over night.
He has had pockets of abscesses around his penis and anal glands - these have been operated on and as much of the pockets removed and has been very well since. I clean out his anal glands every week or two to make sure they dont get more abscesses coming through.
the girls (5 years of age) have never had an issues much - except one does tend to get an upset tum if given veges or fruit - anything not high in fibre.
I wondered in my case if you would use your horse mixes for them due to the Alfalfa content?
Im also quite interested if changing the pellets over to the one Ive linked from "PoppyRabbit" - "Meadow Menu" instead of SS would be a good idea?
I've not been able to forage much this year which is such a shame and makes me sad and the foraged goods to buy all seem quite pricey so any large quantity of food I could buy thats got more plant matter or natural bits in that are good for the buns I'd be very interested in doing.
I'm really keen to add more variation
Thanks
https://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/meadow-menu-rabbit.html
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tabithakat64
Mama Doe
Chelle the meadow menu poppy mentions has significantly less fibre than your current SS pellets, I can understand how appealing it is when you look at the variety of ingredients used though.
Do you already use the herb/forage mixed bags from galens garden? If not maybe think about using these stuffed in loo rolls or mixed with hay to keep your rabbits amused overnight rather than the meadow cookies as I'm not sure this type of treat encourages the correct chewing action.
Do you already use the herb/forage mixed bags from galens garden? If not maybe think about using these stuffed in loo rolls or mixed with hay to keep your rabbits amused overnight rather than the meadow cookies as I'm not sure this type of treat encourages the correct chewing action.
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Thanks for replying...right i did not see about the fibre content so will stick with SS for now - cheers.
No i dont buy the mixed foraged bags from Galens..is this what you mean?
https://galensgarden.co.uk/shop/dried-herbs/whole-dried-herbs/mixed-herb-forages
I get confused with their website on what size p[packages you are buying for what amount sometimes.
I usually forage myself as I find it expensive to buy with how quick the bunnies devour it..but maybe worth another look - i just find it hard to work out whats best on their website. If you know what ones are goood value id be interested to see - thankyou.
Now - i didnt think the hay cookies would be bad for chewing action? Why do you say this?
Is it because of it only using the front teeth whilst ripping up?
Very interested in knowing if these are not good but the content seems great with variety.
Sometimes I break them up over the hay and other times not...thanks for the info looking forward to more :thumb:
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I feed those, too. I think the danger with any pellets is feeding too many at the expense of hay, which is vital for a rabbit's health and should form 80% of the diet. (I think I've already posted what I feed)
