Am I being stingy?

Kirotea · Jun 19, 2014

I've just realised I'm only now reaching the end of the 2kg bag of Science Selective pellets that I bought in January when I first got Millie and Maddie. Am I being too stingy? I've been giving them a very small handful between them a day. They are about 10 months old now so probably fully grown and both weighed 2.1kg when last weighed in RAW week.

I know the egg cup advice so I'm probably not, just feels like it's taken a very long time to finish the bag!

Babsie · Jun 19, 2014

It takes me ages to get through a bag, too! I have 2 rabbits, so thats 2 eggcups of pellets a day.

Ailstar · Jun 19, 2014

It takes me months too. But probably not 6 months to get through 2kg. I only buy the 3 kg bags and I'd say that lasts me 3-4 months for 2 mini lops. I follow the eggcup rule too. I never buy pellets in bulk because I read that if you have them open longer than around 3 months they start to go stale and lose nutritional value.

BattleKat · Jun 19, 2014

I'd have a feel of your rabbits to judge whether you're feeding the right amount. You should be able to feel their spines and ribs but they shouldn't be protruding.
I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about how much to feed a rabbit, just guidelines. If I fed my girls an eggcup for each kg of bodyweight they'd be too fat, if I fed my boy an eggcup for each kg he'd be nothing but skin and bones.

You also have to consider what else you're feeding. Some people feed no pellets at all because their rabbits are getting enough from veg/herbs/forage and hay.

Babsie · Jun 19, 2014

BattleKat said:
I'd have a feel of your rabbits to judge whether you're feeding the right amount. You should be able to feel their spines and ribs but they shouldn't be protruding.
I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about how much to feed a rabbit, just guidelines. If I fed my girls an eggcup for each kg of bodyweight they'd be too fat, if I fed my boy an eggcup for each kg he'd be nothing but skin and bones.

You also have to consider what else you're feeding. Some people feed no pellets at all because their rabbits are getting enough from veg/herbs/forage and hay.

I don't feed an eggcup per kg of bodyweight - mine would be too fat on that and wouldnt eat their hay. I give an eggcup for each rabbit.

Currant_Bun · Jun 19, 2014

An egg cup!? Lol, I've been giving my little boy way too much! Greedy begger, he still eats his hay and any fresh veg I give him, I've been thinking Im starving him lol:S

tulsi · Jun 19, 2014

Mine have a handful of pellets each per day (two lionhead x dutch 3 lionhead x ? and a mini lop, all around 2kg) and two handfuls each for the two belgian hares.

They all have loads of hay, grass and forage as well.

tabithakat64 · Jun 19, 2014

tulsi said:
Mine have a handful of pellets each per day. They all have loads of hay, grass and forage as well.

Roughly this, although mine get two small handfuls which is a large egg cup between the three of them daily split into two or three feeds.

They are lionhead crosses all under a year old.

Kirotea · Jun 21, 2014

Thanks everyone, I think it just surprised me how long it had taken to go through the bag.

But you're right Battlekat I know they are a healthy weight (the vet said on their RAW appointment) so it's obviously the right amount of pellets for them. They eat a lot of hay and they get greens too.

BattleKat · Jun 21, 2014

Babsie said:
I don't feed an eggcup per kg of bodyweight - mine would be too fat on that and wouldnt eat their hay. I give an eggcup for each rabbit.

Mine would be too, but that's the official guideline which so often gets misquoted as an eggcup per day per rabbit.

Am I being stingy?

Kirotea

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Babsie

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Ailstar

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BattleKat

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Babsie

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Currant_Bun

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tulsi

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tabithakat64

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Kirotea

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BattleKat

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