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New bunny diet advice...

Elop

Warren Scout
Hi, I just wanted some advice on diet please. I’ve been advised that English lops should be free fed their pellets. We use burgess excel with mint so he has unlimited meadow hay and pellets, some forage from pah (apple and blackberry twig stuff), I’ve also ordered readigrass and more types of forage. He has some green leafy veg and a little bit of carrot. Am I missing anything here? Thanks


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Hi, I just wanted some advice on diet please. I’ve been advised that English lops should be free fed their pellets. We use burgess excel with mint so he has unlimited meadow hay and pellets, some forage from pah (apple and blackberry twig stuff), I’ve also ordered readigrass and more types of forage. He has some green leafy veg and a little bit of carrot. Am I missing anything here? Thanks


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Oh and some oats and a few black sunflower oil seeds for his coat


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hi :wave:

does he get any hay? sorry - you didn't mention it so I just wanted to double checkk.

going to be honest here, no rabbit should be ever free fed pellet. otherwise, they do just end up eating only pellet and not the hay, which is the important part. pellet does contain minerals and vitamins, but its also like candy in a sense they prefer it over hay. their diet should be 80% hay and 10% pellet, by free feeding their diet becomes more pellet and hay. that's how you end up with dental issues & poor health in general. roughly most recommend one tablespoon per kg of weight, so a 3kg bunny would receive 3 tablespoons of pellet.

burgess is a good brand of pellet so your set there.

forage is good for getting them interested in their hay, but also to scatter around the cage to find. redigrass is considered quite sweet, so not some don't recommend feeding it too often.
 
hi :wave:

does he get any hay? sorry - you didn't mention it so I just wanted to double checkk.

going to be honest here, no rabbit should be ever free fed pellet. otherwise, they do just end up eating only pellet and not the hay, which is the important part. pellet does contain minerals and vitamins, but its also like candy in a sense they prefer it over hay. their diet should be 80% hay and 10% pellet, by free feeding their diet becomes more pellet and hay. that's how you end up with dental issues & poor health in general. roughly most recommend one tablespoon per kg of weight, so a 3kg bunny would receive 3 tablespoons of pellet.

burgess is a good brand of pellet so your set there.

forage is good for getting them interested in their hay, but also to scatter around the cage to find. redigrass is considered quite sweet, so not some don't recommend feeding it too often.

Hi yes I mentioned unlimited hay at the start of the post. It’s meadow hay, not sure if that’s sufficient. I need to try and recall why I was told he should be free fed pellets. I can’t remember but will try and find out. Thanks for the info.


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Hi yes I mentioned unlimited hay at the start of the post. It’s meadow hay, not sure if that’s sufficient. I need to try and recall why I was told he should be free fed pellets. I can’t remember but will try and find out. Thanks for the info.


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Some people free feed pellets up til 6 months (maybe just before) I think, I free fed til about 5 months old and then lowered amounts slowly so now they only get an egg cup between them as adults :) I think everyone feels differently about this though. But it's agreed that adult buns only need a small amount per day.

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oops sorry, I’m very tired so I misread :)

some people do free feed up until 5-6 months, but I’m not even sure about that. good hay eating starts at a young age, and it’s easy to overfeed.

I do their adult pellet amount x2. for instance a mini rex weights 2kg as an adult, so he got 4table spoons a day.

adults should be free fed imho.


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oops sorry, I’m very tired so I misread :)

some people do free feed up until 5-6 months, but I’m not even sure about that. good hay eating starts at a young age, and it’s easy to overfeed.

I do their adult pellet amount x2. for instance a mini rex weights 2kg as an adult, so he got 4table spoons a day.

adults should be free fed imho.


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Thanks for the advice I’ll speak with the rabbit vet and see if I should stop free feeding now.


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Hi, welcome to the forum :wave: Your rabbit looks very cute. What's his name?

You haven't said how old your rabbit is. If he is very young, it might be best to limit the variety of different foods you are feeding, as when young their digestive systems are quite fragile. It sounds as though you've done your research and including lots of hay and forage into his diet is beneficial. Of the items you've listed I would not feed even small amounts of carrot as it is high in sugar. I also do not feed oats and sunflower seeds. I would perhaps feed these to an adult rabbit who was having difficulty in maintaining their weight.

Have a good look round the threads on this forum. There's some interesting information on diet, including members' experiences collecting fresh forage:)
 
Hi, welcome to the forum :wave: Your rabbit looks very cute. What's his name?

You haven't said how old your rabbit is. If he is very young, it might be best to limit the variety of different foods you are feeding, as when young their digestive systems are quite fragile. It sounds as though you've done your research and including lots of hay and forage into his diet is beneficial. Of the items you've listed I would not feed even small amounts of carrot as it is high in sugar. I also do not feed oats and sunflower seeds. I would perhaps feed these to an adult rabbit who was having difficulty in maintaining their weight.

Have a good look round the threads on this forum. There's some interesting information on diet, including members' experiences collecting fresh forage:)

It’s so hard to know as I’ve been reading up in the Harcourt-Brown site and does recommend some carrot and other root veg but in small amounts. The sunflower seeds are only a couple a day just to keep coat nice so I’m not too worried but I might hold back on oats. He is ten weeks old. Thanks so much for replying.



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It’s so hard to know as I’ve been reading up in the Harcourt-Brown site and does recommend some carrot and other root veg but in small amounts. The sunflower seeds are only a couple a day just to keep coat nice so I’m not too worried but I might hold back on oats. He is ten weeks old. Thanks so much for replying.



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FHB is very much respected on this site and she has a wide range of interesting pages on diet, which many of us refer to quite often :) I know she also recommends feeding fruit, which I have decided not to do for the same reasons as carrots. I take the view that my rabbits get a very wide variety of foods, especially forage and tree leaves, and I would rather try to avoid my rabbits becoming obese by feeding those foods which are higher in sugar. It is very much a personal decision though and I'm not saying that my view is necessarily the right one for all rabbits :)
 
I agree with everything binkycodie said. :thumb:

I also wouldn't free feed pellets up to 5-6 months. I think it's just forming a bad habit. Some people have good results with it, but then some like me just end up with rabbits that don't want to eat hay. It's quite hard and takes a lot of time to change a rabbit's mind that hay is actually really yummy, so it's just not worth the risk imo. As binkycodie said, good hay eating starts early. :)

I feed sunflower seeds and dry porridge oats to older buns for maintaining their weight, they're great for that. Like Omi said, just keep in mind how fragile a very young bun's digestive tract is. Introduce new foods slowly and watch for signs of gut slow down or gas. I wouldn't feed even a little carrot at this age. Maybe I'm too careful but 10 weeks is very young and I'd be afraid the sugar in it could upset his gut.
 
I agree with Omi. Your bunny has quite a bit of growing to do but putting his weight on steadily is the best way. You don't need to "feed him up" on extras. Hay, pellets and herbs, forage or veg is fine. Also a little bit of Readigrass. You need to go carefully with the herbs etc as he might not be used to these foods. We advise a water bowl instead of a bottle for many reasons, one being that Rabbits drink more from a bowl.
 
Hi, I just wanted some advice on diet please. I’ve been advised that English lops should be free fed their pellets. We use burgess excel with mint so he has unlimited meadow hay and pellets, some forage from pah (apple and blackberry twig stuff), I’ve also ordered readigrass and more types of forage. He has some green leafy veg and a little bit of carrot. Am I missing anything here? Thanks


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There's some info on diet here:

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/diet-baby.asp

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/components-rabbit-diet.asp
 
Thanks everyone. I think I have the basics right so far in terms of unlimited hay and good quality pellets. He had been introduced to some veg but I’ll keep it minimal for now. We lost our last elop and he had statis numerous times. We got him through him through it many times.


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Thanks everyone. I think I have the basics right so far in terms of unlimited hay and good quality pellets. He had been introduced to some veg but I’ll keep it minimal for now. We lost our last elop and he had statis numerous times. We got him through him through it many times.


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Absolutely right, you don't want stasis, especially as with moulting there can be extra fur to ingest.

I keep in mind the picture of the food triangle in this link and it helps me visualise what's important:

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/components-rabbit-diet.asp
 
Absolutely right, you don't want stasis, especially as with moulting there can be extra fur to ingest.

I keep in mind the picture of the food triangle in this link and it helps me visualise what's important:

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/components-rabbit-diet.asp

Thanks this is great. So what I don’t understand is why readigrass should be only given in small amounts. It’s grass/ hay so surely unlimited would be ok


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Thanks this is great. So what I don’t understand is why readigrass should be only given in small amounts. It’s grass/ hay so surely unlimited would be ok


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Where did you read that readigrass should only be given in small amounts? The link I sent you says that hay and grass should be the *biggest* part of a rabbit's diet :)

I have had rabbits who couldn't eat hay at all, but have kept their teeth and digestion in perfect condition on readigrass alone - free fed :)

Some rabbits may not find it suits them to have it all the time, but I haven't come across any that need it fed in small amounts, and I have fostered hundreds of rescue bunnies :)
 
Where did you read that readigrass should only be given in small amounts? The link I sent you says that hay and grass should be the *biggest* part of a rabbit's diet :)

I have had rabbits who couldn't eat hay at all, but have kept their teeth and digestion in perfect condition on readigrass alone - free fed :)

Some rabbits may not find it suits them to have it all the time, but I haven't come across any that need it fed in small amounts, and I have fostered hundreds of rescue bunnies :)

One of the people who replied above.


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people argue readigrass shouldn't be fed in large amounts for these reasons:
- its very sweet, so rabbits can start to prefer it over hay
- some argue how high is calcium & protein content is..
- it is very rich, which could pose issues
- you should slowly build it up due to their stomachs being very sensitive, so not a sudden amount

but since having issues with Luna eating her hay, readigrass has been incredibly helpful for her. especially due to the fact I figured out she was bored and missing having grass as it was winter. I now usually throw in a handful whenever I top up their hay, it gives them something to do. I however didn't give it to Orion until 6 months+, and I wouldn't personally feed it to a bunny under 6 months. but that's my personal opinion.
 
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