I bought these recently too, as I felt I had to try them before writing off excel completely. I am going to write to excel to express my concerns about them having tried them, might post it on their facebook too in the hopes it might reach unwitting owners that think it really is a complete food. If excel dont change their packaging to reccommend ad lib hay to go with them, I wont buy anything from them anymore. I'm in the process of changing completely to Supreme's pellets at the moment already.
Annabella hardly touches the cubes, but Barney seems to like them. I've had a good look at them, pulled them apart etc and the longest strand of hay I've found is less than 2 inches, so I doubt they have the dental-wearing properties of proper hay. My main though is that they reccommend for rabbits of 2-4kg 1 cube per 24 hours. Barney is 3.6kg and got through 1 in 36 hours. Now that SOUNDS okay, but Barney got through that one in 36 hours, when it was alongside his usual diet of ad lib hay of 3 different types, readigrass, greens, dried herbs and 3 different types of pellets (barney has both junior and adult pellets as well as profibre pellets as he has problems maintaining his weight).
How long would it have taken him to get through it if only the cube, nothing else, was offered? Less than 24 hours certainly. And then he would be left by the average owner till the next day when he was given another cube, that could be hours, he could go into stasis. The average owner would not know about the dangers of stasis and so would assume that, like most animals, rabbits would be fine if fed a limited amount once a day. The packaging does state in small letters: 'Always make sure your rabbits have a food cube and fresh water available. Remember to ensure you always provide your rabbits with bedding material.' But I dont think that is enough, and it certainly doesnt warn owners of the dangers of their rabbits running out of a cube.
A much better feeding guide, instead of:
Dutch
(pic of bunny)
1-2kg
1x (pic of cube) 48hr
English
(pic of bunny)
2-4kg
1x (pic of cube) 24hr
Would be to say 'Rabbits should always have a cube and unlimited fresh hay available, in order to prevent serious dental and gut problems. As a guide feed a rabbit weighing 1-2kg 1 cube every 48 hours, and a rabbit weighing 2-4kg 1 cube every 24 hours, alongside as much fresh hay as they can eat. Always make sure water, hay and bedding material are available.'
Until they change their packaging I wont be buying Burgess products, as their advice on this product is a step backwards, undoing all their good work with the excel feeding plan. It isnt even like they will be losing money by reccommending hay alongside, as they can reccommend feeding their own hays, like they do with the feeding plan.
