I just realised I have put nothing down about good quality treats for rabbits! So of course with treats don't overfeed with them and often there is a lot of options like fruit and carrot pieces as treats instead of store bought ones. I agree with fruit as treats and I will occasionally give Dustin some strawberry or a bit of apple as a treat but there are a few store bought treats that I do really like to give to Dustin. So the first one is the Tui gourmet rabbit and guinea pig treats, these are pretty much little hard, square treats with pieces of pellets, dried fruit, vegetables and nuts. Dustin really likes these and it is the first thing he will take out of his bowl if he has one in his breakfast... I really like them because they keep him busy and they are very hard so are good for his teeth. The next treat that Dustin absolutely loves is HealthyBites Nutri-care treats for small animals. This is a crispy cereal shell with and apple flavoured filling and he will do anything for these treats half the time I can't get the packed open fast enough for him!! They work great when I really need him to go back into his pen when I am putting the animals to bed for the night :) There are these brand new treats that have just come into the pet stores called nibblots and I am very excited to try them out... I think they are very similar to the nutri-care range (made by the same people) but they have 3 different flavours; apple, carrot and berries so I will be keen to see what Dustin thinks of the other flavours, I will let you know how they go!
Here is an example of what I feed Dustin, this is what he got for breakfast this morning :) So on the bottom right is around 1/4 a cup of burgess excel pellets and above this is a tui gourmet rabbit and guinea pig treat which he loves and is nice and hard so helps wear his teeth down. Then I have his vegetables, this morning he got bok choy, a small piece of carrot, yellow capsicum and broccoli (stem and leaves) adding up to around a cup. He gets his veges and half his pellets in the morning and then I will give him the rest of his pellets in the evening.
The last 10% of a rabbits diet should consist of vegetables. The amount of vegetables fed to a adult rabbit should not exceed a cup a day per rabbit, rabbits can easily gorge themselves on vegetables and this can lead to weight gain or gut issues. There is a long list of suitable vegetables for rabbits, the most important thing is that rabbits are not fed iceberg lettuce, this provides little nutritional benefit to rabbits and easily causes diarrhoea. Many people believe that carrots are great for rabbits and should be fed in large quantities, this is not true and carrots are high in sugar and should be only be fed to rabbits in small quantities. I personally provide my rabbit with a coin size piece of carrot. Other then these things rabbits are able to eat a wide range of vegetables, but it is important to provide them with a variety within their diet. The vegetables you can provide for your animal will vary depending on your type of rabbit, for instance due to the sensitivity of my rabbits gut I do not overdo it with the dark green vegetables as these seem to set him off. I have attached a document that I found on the best 4 bunny website which I think is a good list of safe and unsafe food items for rabbits. I agree with most things on this list except I would not feed my rabbit things like cucumber and tomato as I think they are to watery and provide little nutritional benefit. I will attach a photo at some point of the kind of vegetables that I provide for my rabbit on a normal day, the main veges that I use is carrot, capsicum, bok choy, kale, broccoli stalks (avoid the leafy tops as these can cause gas and gut issues), spinach, sprouts, cauliflower, some herbs, and whatever I can get at the supermarket for the week. I have only had issues with silver-beet which I don't really feed him any more as he has got sick on it. It is fine to provide rabbits with fruit, but this is a treat and should only be given a couple times a week; the main fruits I provide are apple, banana (Dustin's fav), berries and grapes.
So if hay makes up 80% of a rabbits diet what about the remaining 20%? 10% of the diet should consist of a good quality, high fibre pellet. There are musli mixes out there that you can buy from the supermarket or a number of pet shops but these are not a great option for your rabbit. With musli mixes rabbits have a tendancy to pick out the pieces they like and therefore do not get all the nutrition they need. With a plain pellet diets rabbits have no choice and must eat the pellets thereforing recieving everything the need nutrition wise. I recommend a pellet diet that is over 16% fibre as rabbits need a large amount of fibre in their diet in order for their gut to work properly. In New Zealand I would recommmend the following pellet foods; Burgess Excel, Oxbow or Kaytee. The one I personally use is Burgess Excel pellets for adult rabbits, this food has 39% fibre and is a vet recommended food that has arrived very recenctly in New Zealand from the UK. It has added mint to aid with digestion and I have had my rabbit on it for the last month or so and he enjoys it and I have noticed a big difference in his energy and food intake since being on it. It is a super cheap option as well costs about 20 buks for a 2kg bags but you should only be feeding about 50g a day or an egg cup full to your rabbit so accounts to a 50c per day cost, lasting an average adult rabbit around 40 days. I have not personally tried oxbow pellets but know they are also a good, vet recommended diet for rabbits though have slightly less fibre then burgess. I have used Kaytee before with my rabbit, it consists of the least beneficial fibre out of the 3 but is still above the recommended amount. I just found this option a little bit unnatural and Dustin didn't really enjoy it as much. As mentioned before a good quality pellet diet should not be overfed, 50g a day for an adult rabbit is plenty :)
Diet is one of the most important but least understood part of caring for a rabbit, many people think that they can just feed a muesli mix throw them some carrots and some hay and be done with it. This is a common mistake people make and I get asked many questions about it in my line of work. The most important thing for people to know is the most essential part of a rabbits diet is hay and grass and LOTS OF IT!!!! 80% of a rabbits diet should be made up of hay and grass, they can eat around their body weight of hay a day. My own boy is on both grass and hay and he is munching on either for most of his day :) it is fine for a rabbit to be on a complete hay diet but I personally believe it is important for them to have some grass in their diet and to be able to get outside and enjoy outdoors time. With a choice my boy seems to prefer eating grass over hay. There are a range of hays that are available but we are a bit more limited here in NZ, for instance we don't really have Timothy hay or anything like that. I use meadow hay myself and my boy seems to like it and I find it really good, hays like Lucerne or red clover hay are high energy high protein hay which is better for recovering or stressed rabbits, something that I give Dustin when he is recovering from a gut stasis episode.
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