Are pellets an important part of a bunnies diet?

[midge]

Hello,

My little bunny is coming up to six months old and seems very healthy and happy in every way. I've read on this forum about rabbits who don't like eating hay - mine doesn't have this problem - he loves hay, but he won't eat pellets.

I feed him Russel Rabbit food, recommended to me by the breeder we got him off, and he loves all the bits and pieces in the food, except the pellets.. He leaves them every day and shows no interest in eating them. Does it matter if he doesn't eat pellets? He eats lots and lots of hay and will more than happily eat fresh veggies and the other non-pellet bits in the food.

Would be grateful for any opinions!

Thanks a lot

Midge

 

[LurcherGirl]

I'd say that sounds just fine as a diet providing - as you state - he eats a lot of hay and the veg! The RR food should only be a tiny amound a day anyway, so nutritionwise it will make hardly any difference!

Vera

 

[Ted an Petal]

I feed him Russel Rabbit food, recommended to me by the breeder we got him off, and he loves all the bits and pieces in the food, except the pellets.. He leaves them every day and shows no interest in eating them.

pellets in mixes aren't really them same as buying a pellet based food. i feed my science selective and it's very high in fibre. no it's not neccesary to feed them pellets aslong as the have hay all day long and veg/herbs. you could try proper pellet brands. with the mix they only eat the tasty fattening bits. with the pellet based food their getting every bit or nutrient.

 

[Stator]

I would try one of the pure pellet foods like Science Selective, Wagg Optimum etc and see if he will eat those.

If you really can't get him eating any then you might want to suppliment him with some vitamins, depending on what variety of vegetables he already eats. You could also add a probiotic to the drinking water if his poos are a bit runny.

 

[LionheadLuver]

Pellets are there for vitamins and mineral, so if you can provide this with vegetables, then they don't need them. RR is not a pellet food, try a Science Selective, Excel or Allen & Page.

 

[likkibunni]

My excellent rabbit savvy vet told me that as long as rabbits have plenty of good hay and some good veggies they dont need pellets as the hay and veg provide everything the rabbit needs. One of mine isnt too keen on hay and drops weight so i do feed pellets to them but if this wasnt the case i wouldnt feed them.

If your bun is holding its weight and seems healthy I wouldnt worry. You may want to ask a good vet bout it though.