• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

New 'Indoor' Excel pellets - anyone seen them? What do you think?

~ILoveMyBunny~

Alpha Buck
Just had an e-mail from Burgess with their new product, 'indoor rabbit' pellets. Has anyone seen them? What do you think of the ingredients etc?
While the idea of 'indoor' pellets amused me initially I was quite excited to see see that they claim to be 40% fibre. My lot are currently on Fibafirst but I know they'd much prefer pellets (we sometimes use normal Excel or SS as treats) - I get the feeling they'd love this. Do the ingredients all sound okay?

Tasty Dandelion - added to each nugget to make them extra tasty.
Prebiotics - to support the immune system & healthy gut bacteria.
40% Beneficial Fibre - a measure of the digestible and indigestible fibre that's essential in your rabbits' diet.
Vitamin D - just as important for rabbits as it is for you, to help support healthy skin , teeth and bones.
Vitamins & Minerals - nettle and dandelion are great sources of vitamins and minerals which help support all round health.

-----

Analytical Constituents
Beneficial Fibre (40%) • Crude Protein (14%) • Crude Fat (4%) • Crude Fibre (20%) • Crude Ash (6%).

Composition
Grass • Wheat • Oat Feed • Soya Bean Hulls* • Sunflowerseed Meal • Yeast • Soya Oil* • Minerals • Short-chained fructo-oligosaccharides (0.25%) • Dandelion (0.2%) • Nettle (0.2%).

----

Link: https://shop.burgesspetcare.com/rab...L_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_01_01_16&utm_medium=email&
utm_term=0_6a2e233a79-1ebf495403-221973109
 
Just had an e-mail from Burgess with their new product, 'indoor rabbit' pellets. Has anyone seen them? What do you think of the ingredients etc?
While the idea of 'indoor' pellets amused me initially I was quite excited to see see that they claim to be 40% fibre. My lot are currently on Fibafirst but I know they'd much prefer pellets (we sometimes use normal Excel or SS as treats) - I get the feeling they'd love this. Do the ingredients all sound okay?

Tasty Dandelion - added to each nugget to make them extra tasty.
Prebiotics - to support the immune system & healthy gut bacteria.
40% Beneficial Fibre - a measure of the digestible and indigestible fibre that's essential in your rabbits' diet.
Vitamin D - just as important for rabbits as it is for you, to help support healthy skin , teeth and bones.
Vitamins & Minerals - nettle and dandelion are great sources of vitamins and minerals which help support all round health.

-----

Analytical Constituents
Beneficial Fibre (40%) • Crude Protein (14%) • Crude Fat (4%) • Crude Fibre (20%) • Crude Ash (6%).

Composition
Grass • Wheat • Oat Feed • Soya Bean Hulls* • Sunflowerseed Meal • Yeast • Soya Oil* • Minerals • Short-chained fructo-oligosaccharides (0.25%) • Dandelion (0.2%) • Nettle (0.2%).

----

Link: https://shop.burgesspetcare.com/rab...L_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_01_01_16&utm_medium=email&
utm_term=0_6a2e233a79-1ebf495403-221973109

I'm hoping someone will say I'm wrong...

But I thought the beneficial fibre was irrelevant? And a marketing thing? [emoji38] And that the crude fibre was all I was meant to be looking at?

Excel are the only company I found with beneficial fibre listed as a thing...

Hoping someone who knows what they're talking about can comment on this, because I'm potentially very interested :)

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
ofc this comes out the day after I buy a 5kg bag of pellet :lol:

beneficial fibre is just a marketing ploy, its just fibre.
 
I'm a bit wary of excel nuggets, none of my bunnies have ever really tolerated them well. Prehaps it's the yeast ingredient, but I do find excess cecos with nearly all of my bunnys that where on it.

Added vitamin D as a good idea although I know the normal stuff does vitamin D as I checked in the past

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
 
I'm hoping someone will say I'm wrong...

But I thought the beneficial fibre was irrelevant? And a marketing thing? [emoji38] And that the crude fibre was all I was meant to be looking at?
Oh, I think you might be right. That sounds familiar to me too :( Been so long since I looked into different brands I'd forgotten.


I'm a bit wary of excel nuggets, none of my bunnies have ever really tolerated them well. Prehaps it's the yeast ingredient, but I do find excess cecos with nearly all of my bunnys that where on it.

Mine seem to have been okay when I've used Excel in the past but it's not my first choice. I think SS pellets had a slightly higher fibre content iirc so I went with them until I found out about Fibafirst, then I swapped them to that.
I have three in particular who I have to be very careful with (and Honey has had the odd issue so could be a fourth to that list :() so I don't know, maybe it's best not to chance it.
And now that you mention it I think excess cecals might have been a problem with ours too on excel. My little Pixel adores them, though :roll:
 
I'm a bit wary of excel nuggets, none of my bunnies have ever really tolerated them well. Prehaps it's the yeast ingredient, but I do find excess cecos with nearly all of my bunnys that where on it.

Added vitamin D as a good idea although I know the normal stuff does vitamin D as I checked in the past

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
Yea everyone says that about excel! I've always fed it, so 7 buns is all I've owned in total and all have been absolutely fine on it! Even Atticus and his funny stomach, which when he first got... I was convinced excel would be a mistake moving forward, but he's fine on them haha

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
I'm just comparing the foods on the website. There is more vitamin D in the indoor one...
 
Oh, I think you might be right. That sounds familiar to me too :( Been so long since I looked into different brands I'd forgotten.




Mine seem to have been okay when I've used Excel in the past but it's not my first choice. I think SS pellets had a slightly higher fibre content iirc so I went with them until I found out about Fibafirst, then I swapped them to that.
I have three in particular who I have to be very careful with (and Honey has had the odd issue so could be a fourth to that list :() so I don't know, maybe it's best not to chance it.
And now that you mention it I think excess cecals might have been a problem with ours too on excel. My little Pixel adores them, though :roll:
If you or anyone wants to try some excel pellets, just shout, happy to send a baggy, I buy everything in bulk [emoji38]

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Yea everyone says that about excel! I've always fed it, so 7 buns is all I've owned in total and all have been absolutely fine on it! Even Atticus and his funny stomach, which when he first got... I was convinced excel would be a mistake moving forward, but he's fine on them haha

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
Well that's bunnies for you - no two can ever be the same, the little pains :lol: What works for one doesn't always work for another. Typical. :lol::roll:

I've just had a google myself, looks like you're right in it being their marketing term. I've tried contacting them to ask for the crude fibre content but I'm not holding my breath; I dare say I'll get a marketing term reply. But hey, can't hurt to ask.
 
theres more vitamin D in the indoor one as indoor rabbits won't get as much vitamin D as outdoor rabbits, which is true.

many say "a rabbit sitting by a window would get the benefits of the sun" - no they won't. glass blocks out the wavelengths needed for vitamin D.. you can still get a tan, but you won't get vitamin D. the same would apply to rabbits.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...sorb-vitamin-d-through-a-window-a6895626.html
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/can-you-absorb-vitamin-d-through-a-window/
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin-d-from-sunlight/

so it is possible that indoor rabbits aren't getting enough sunlight.

HOWEVER with a good quality pellet (the normal burgess excel or science selective) their vitamin D needs would be met. other pellet brands I can't comment on, the reason why SS and burgess is the best is not just due to the fibre content, what its made of, the additives (or lack of), its the fact that they aren't extruded pellet. I do believe almost all other pellets are extruded, so they lose a lot of nutrients..

as for "fibre" or "beneficial fibre" its just a marketing ploy. all fibre is beneficial fibre, there is no such thing as beneficial fibre.
 
Following this thread with interest. Mine are on Excel Nature’s something-or-other now on advice from my vet. The addition vit D seems an interesting idea.
 
Well that's bunnies for you - no two can ever be the same, the little pains [emoji38] What works for one doesn't always work for another. Typical. [emoji38]:roll:

I've just had a google myself, looks like you're right in it being their marketing term. I've tried contacting them to ask for the crude fibre content but I'm not holding my breath; I dare say I'll get a marketing term reply. But hey, can't hurt to ask.
They do list the crude fibre in the ingredients I think it's 20%? Just not sure that the 40% actually means anything unfortunately!

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
They do list the crude fibre in the ingredients I think it's 20%? Just not sure that the 40% actually means anything unfortunately!

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

W- How on earth did I miss that?! I looked everywhere!
Well, this is embarrassing.. :oops: Now I regret sending them the message.
Um.. Can we pretend this never happened? :p

Well, that answers my original question anyway. Fibafirst is still ahead for crude fibre, so I guess I'll stick with that. Still, nice to have another product on the market and maybe it will be useful to others. Especially with the additional Vitamin D (good info, binkyCodie!) as that's always been a concern to me with mine being indoors. Now we finally have a garden I am looking forward to setting something up for the spring so they can at least get a little time outdoors (under supervision as mine are a bunch of escape artists!)

I do seem to remember that the time of day is important for humans? Not sure if the same applies to rabbits? But there was something about a certain wavelength only coming through between certain times of day (something like 11-2pm or something) and that it changes slightly with the season. I can't remember but I wonder if the same applies to rabbits?
 
Since rabbits and guinea pigs are dawn and dusk animals, I think the thinking is that they obtain most of their vitamin D from food that has been out in the sun (eg, sun dried hay). So, in theory, indoor animals should be OK.
 
W- How on earth did I miss that?! I looked everywhere!
Well, this is embarrassing.. :oops: Now I regret sending them the message.
Um.. Can we pretend this never happened? [emoji14]

Well, that answers my original question anyway. Fibafirst is still ahead for crude fibre, so I guess I'll stick with that. Still, nice to have another product on the market and maybe it will be useful to others. Especially with the additional Vitamin D (good info, binkyCodie!) as that's always been a concern to me with mine being indoors. Now we finally have a garden I am looking forward to setting something up for the spring so they can at least get a little time outdoors (under supervision as mine are a bunch of escape artists!)

I do seem to remember that the time of day is important for humans? Not sure if the same applies to rabbits? But there was something about a certain wavelength only coming through between certain times of day (something like 11-2pm or something) and that it changes slightly with the season. I can't remember but I wonder if the same applies to rabbits?
[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]

Dw I normally do something like that, miss exactly what I'm looking for, or forget the one thing I wanted to know originally [emoji38]

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Since rabbits and guinea pigs are dawn and dusk animals, I think the thinking is that they obtain most of their vitamin D from food that has been out in the sun (eg, sun dried hay). So, in theory, indoor animals should be OK.
That is very interesting!

Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk
 
Since rabbits and guinea pigs are dawn and dusk animals, I think the thinking is that they obtain most of their vitamin D from food that has been out in the sun (eg, sun dried hay). So, in theory, indoor animals should be OK.
Hmm, that's a good point!

[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38]

Dw I normally do something like that, miss exactly what I'm looking for, or forget the one thing I wanted to know originally [emoji38]
Ugh, I'm terrible for it! If I don't miss it I forget it anyway - I have a memory like a sieve!
Argh, it was right in front of my face! How could I miss that?! :roll:
 
Back
Top