Guide to natural feeding

I often get pm's from people interested in learning more about the way I feed the rabbits so I thought I would start a seperate thread

Feeding a hay and veggies diet is simple, effective and most importantly most natural to the bunny. You must remember that a rabbits digestive system is designed to digest grass and vegetation and nothing else. If you start adding processed foods into the diet the are more likely to develop health problems.

The basics
Hay, hay and more hay. Forget about all the chopped up prepacked rubbish you find in some pet shops, when looking to purchase hay it needs to be long, green, clean and sweet smelling. Dont be afraid to sniff it before you buy , you may look a little odd but its important you get it right. I make sure there is plenty of good quality clean fresh meadow hay available at all times. For those of you with toilet trained bunnies remember they like to eat when they poo so put a nice big pile of hay on top of the litter in the tray, alternatively hang a hay rack next to the litter tray.

and more hay...........
As often as possible vary they types of hay you offer. I frequently feed oxbow timothy, oxbow orchard, herbal hay, oat hay etc. I also feed Dodson and Horrel "just grass" , as a combination of timothy, rye and fescue its a fantastic high fibre addition to your rabbits daily diet.

Grass
This is the best part of the diet, grazing on fresh grass is not only excellent for the digestive system but helps keep the teeth in good shape. If you have a garden why not set aside a section especially for the bunnies where you can grow lots of bunny safe plants. You can purchase timothy, orchard and other safe grass seeds from www.planetguinea.com . I also purchased clover, dandelion, chickweed and mallow seeds from http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/

Wild plants
If you are fortunate enough to live near a nice quiet country lane you can pick lots of bunny safe wild plants for them to eat. I dont pick them from anywhere where cars drive past or that could have been sprayed with chemicals. The most enjoyed plants to pick are grass, dandelions, sow thistle, clover, plantain and hog weed. For pictures of safe/unsafe wild plants there are 2 excellent books to get, one is "rabbit nutrition" by Virginia Richardson and the other is "greenfoods for rabbits and cavies" by F R Bell, both of these books are available from the RWA online shop.

Fresh vegetables
I give plenty of fresh veg on a daily basis. I try and stick to dark leafy greens as these are nutritious and provide a good work out for the teeth. I rarely feed fruit and carrots as they are high in natural sugars. There is a good basic list of what to feed at http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/articles/safefoods.htm
Herbs are also a great addition to the diet and if you have kids, getting them to grow herbs is a good way of getting them interested in helping with the bunnies.

Commercial food
I do not feed any commercial food whatsoever, that includes pellets, mix and treats. A rabbit filling up on processed food will become lazy and eat less hay which in turn can lead to health problems.

Babies and adults
In the wild, young rabbits (past weaning age) will eat exactly the same food as the adult rabbits. There is absolutly no need to feed dry food to babies to "build them up". I feed any babies that come into the rescue on exactly the same as the adults, hay, grass and veg, something they do very well on.

Thin rabbits
For rabbits that otherwise eat normally, if your rabbit is thin, consider having it blood tested to rule out other problems. A normal healthy rabbit should not need any commercial food to help it put on weight. Common causes for weight loss include EC, kidney disease, Liver problems and dental problems.

How much
Lucy and Buster can show you for themselves. Their meal in these photos consists of grass, dandelions, clover, plantain, sow thistle and hog weed, all freshly picked that day.







If I have missed anything out please forgive me, it is late at night :lol:

Thanks Cheryl :thumb:

Janex

thanks Cheryl, i find this really interesting, over winter my lot get fed pellets once a day hay all the time whatever grass they can and veggies when we have them, in summer, they get unlimited grass and hay pellets every other day, dandilions, my mums home grown veggies and once a week the fruit from my garden, do you think in summer i could cut out there pellets completly?? I feed more pellets in winter as all the bun are outside and it can get extremly cold here and wild plants the buns can eat don't grow.

Thanks Cheryl

I seem to be going down this route, as I've reduced the pellets so much now - they only get about a dozen science selective each once a day, and it has made them eat more hay, even though they were good hay eaters anyway

I have noticed an increase in the amount of water they are drinking though, since they started eating more hay - would this be normal - it's both of them drinking more :?

mine get a lot of fresh wild stuff in summer and people think its because im tight!! they seem to think if your not getting them PAH branded rubbish then you are not doing right by them... CODSWALLOP! :lol:
My bible is the rabbit nutrition book mentioned above.
in winter though they get alsorts of dried cereals as i just cant get enough fresh for them all. they do have readigrass in winter though as an addition/alternative to their hay . its meant for horses but its great stuff and they love it.
somehow though garden flowers still seem to be incredibly desireable.... :roll:

Thank you so much! I am saving your post to my computer, in my bunny health file My vet says no pellets too, but now am going to try that again. Thanks again.

that list is so useful!! thanks so much..........youve answered so many questions i had all in one post.

Ace post :thumb:

Mine graze all day and have a very tiny amount of excel as a treat for bedtime (teaspoon) they live on grass, dandelions, plantain, herbs ive planted, roses, willow and whatever weed decides to grow in my garden!
I add hay to their house in winter but even then they rarely eat it as they have stuffed themselves with grass all day :lol:

Is cat grass ok for rabbits, I saw packets in adsa and have been wondering for a while whether it is just normal grass or not?

It's usually wheat grass. I grow it indoors sometimes for my furries.

Mine get just a handful of Excel in the mornings as a treat, the rest of the day they are on plenty of hay and fresh veg. Occasionally they'll get a small piece of dried fruit or a small piece of Weetabix as an extra treat, but that's it!

Once we're in Madrid I don't think Excel pellets are available, so I'm looking to gradually reduce the pellets down to nothing and replace with veg and more hay.

Great post - thanks!

AMETHYST

Lynn said:

I have noticed an increase in the amount of water they are drinking though, since they started eating more hay - would this be normal - it's both of them drinking more :?

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My two have been drinking more water since I cut down their pellets and upped the hay too. I've kept a close eye on them and they are otherwise really healthy and lively so I decided it was probably just related to eating extra hay. When I feed watery veg like cucumber alongside they do drink less

Amethyst - when I was in Spain last week I couldn't find ANY bunny food or toys apart from a nasty muesli type thing in one of the supermarkets. I wanted to take a toy or something home for my two This was the Cost del Sol though - Hopefully you'll have more luck in Madrid! :lol:

Thanks for the reassuring post Cheryl. Mine are practically on the same regime and this week I I'd reduced the SS down to 2 or 3 pellets each as a treat. I've still got half a bag left, but don't think I'll buy a replacement when it's finished. My vet also told me that the pellets are very much unnecessary if they are on grass , hay and a variety of plants and veg..but I still worried that perhaps they were missing some vital nutrient....

Morrigan1981 said:

Amethyst - when I was in Spain last week I couldn't find ANY bunny food or toys apart from a nasty muesli type thing in one of the supermarkets. I wanted to take a toy or something home for my two This was the Cost del Sol though - Hopefully you'll have more luck in Madrid! :lol:

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Yeah I thought as much - I doubt it'll be much different in Madrid! But we're going out there with a huge 10kg bag (currently last about 2-3 months) and I'll just gradually cut down the amount they're eating until it's nothing. That way I won't be dependent on mail order or flying back to the UK! Seems silly if they don't really need it!

AMETHYST

Question for you, Cheryl: do you find your bunnies eat more evenly throughout the day on this diet?

SarahP said:

Question for you, Cheryl: do you find your bunnies eat more evenly throughout the day on this diet?

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They tend to be munching on something most of the day

wow, all your little ones are on such a good diet!! my bunnies diet obviously needs some amendments, i want them healthy as poss. I'm still a kind of newbie to the bunny world, so im still adjusting.

We always fed our first bun on excel pellets in morning, meadow hay & timothy at all times, with a dish of veggies in the evening. But since we bonded him with missy, we thought she was too young to have all the varietys of veggies, and he's now missed out on the veggies for a month or so. We want to start introducing veggies and do away with the pellets, what veggie is best to start her on? because im aware that it takes time introduce them to new foods.

Also, we live in flat, so the buns have no access to outside grass area, (they have full run of the house......so they get lots of excercise) can i just pick the grass by hand for them? Does anyone grow their own Grass indoors?? I followed that link to the guinea seed site and the only one suitable for indoors is the cereal grass....is this ok for them?

thanks