Bunny Food

Bunny Food


It’s often said that salad is “rabbit food” or “bunny food” – but how much of a salad can you actually feed to your pet rabbit? What other foods often thought of as “bunny food” should you avoid giving to your pet rabbit? What should be fed as “bunny food”?


* This is not an extensive list – check with your vet if you’re unsure or if the foodstuff is not included in this post. Be sure to check safe amounts for your age/ breed/ size of rabbit and their personal dietary requirements. Be sure to wash all fresh foodstuffs before feeding. *

LETTUCE

I feel like most people are surprised when I suggest keeping iceberg lettuce and other light coloured lettuces away from rabbits, as people often think of lettuce as “bunny food”.

Iceberg lettuce and other light coloured lettuces may contain a fluid known as lactucarium, which causes diarrhoea in rabbits. Being so high in water content, these also add very little nutritional value to their diet.

Some darker lettuces are safe to feed your rabbit but always in reasonable quantities. If in doubt, check with your vet what lettuces are safe to feed your pet and suitable serving size for your pets’ age, weight, and breed.

Lupin (left) & Thumper (right)
CARROTS & POTATOES

Not to say that carrots are bad for rabbits, but they are high in sugar and should only be fed in small amounts as a treat. Rabbits in the wild don’t naturally dig up root vegetables for dinner, much to the contrary of Bugs Bunny, who can often be seen munching on a carrot!

Fed in small quantities and certainly not every day, carrots can be a tasty treat for your long eared friend!

Avoid feeding any part of a potato to your rabbit. Being high in starch and carb’s, they do not really provide any health benefit to your bunny – as this can cause digestive issues, I would steer clear.

VEGETABLES

Bell peppers (no seeds), curly kale, bok choy, asparagus, parsnips, carrots (see above), cauliflower (including the leaves), celery, swede, courgette, peas, fennel, and mange tout are all safe “bunny foods”.

In small doeses: too much can cause gas to build up – brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage.

Sliced carrots & red bell pepper
FRUIT

No seeds – apples, melon, pumpkin, oranges, pears, kiwi, and grapes (not whole, (and raisins) as an occasional sweet treat) are all safe for your bunny.

Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches (no stone), and pineapples (small quantities) are also safe for your bunny to eat.

FRESH HERBS

Basil, mint, parsley, coriander, dill, and thyme are all bunny safe herbs (fed fresh).

PLANTS

Grass is the obvious one here, but be sure this is fresh grass and never cut grass – particularly from a lawn mower. Avoid allowing you rabbit access to grass that has been treated with anything (pesticides, weedkiller, etc.) that could make your pet ill.

Nettles and clover are also safe for your bunny to munch on. As are dandelions, daisies, nasturtiums, hollyhock, sunflowers, bell flowers, and lavender – flowers and leaves. My first rabbit often had free run of the garden (supervised), but he would stay close to me if I was making a daisy chain (often with dandelions added to the chain) so he could munch away on it when I was done!

Daffodils, foxgloves, rhododendrons, tulips, lily’s, chrysanthemums, rhubarb, buttercup, ivy, holly, hemlock, iris, nightshade, hydrangea, and hyacinths are all plants which are TOXIC to rabbits. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always deter them – as a child, we lost a rabbit after she consumed daffodil bulbs!

Daffodils

HEALTH & DIET

BE AWARE that incorrect feeding can also lead to bloat in rabbits; the result of incorrect foodstuffs and/ or overfeeding treat foodstuffs can cause a build-up of liquid and gas, causing a blockage. Bloat is quite often fatal in rabbits – even within just a few hours.

THE BULK of your rabbit’s diet should be fresh hay (not straw) and grass – this helps keep their teeth worn down (rabbit’s teeth are constantly growing) and provides much need fibre for your bunny’s high fibre digestive system.

THIS IS followed by pellet rabbit food – muesli style rabbit food is fine if your rabbit will eat all items in the mix, every time; pellet food has all the same nutritional value but mixed into one (more boring looking) pellet so that rabbits cannot pick and choose what they eat, therefore aiding to ensure a good nutritional balance without deficiency.

BE SURE to adjust the meal size to accommodate any treats being given, so as to avoid overfeeding.

ALWAYS BE sure to refresh your rabbit’s water daily and make sure they always have access to fresh water. Some rabbits will kick substrate into water bowls and refuse to drink from the dirty water source, whereas bottles keep the water secure in a clean container. Whatever your rabbit’s preferences, be sure they have access to clean water.

Rabbit munching on hay
CAECOTROPHY

Pronounced see-co-tro-fy is the process in which your rabbit will excrete caecotrophs, which are made up of nutrients that were not digested the first time round. These are soft pellets, which can be mistaken for soft poop pellets but are then eaten by your rabbit to go for round two through the digestive tract. If your rabbit does not appear to be doing this, take them for a vet check-up in case of underlying medical issues (such as physical pain or dental issues).

Rabbits eating indigestible poop pellets is known as coprophagy and is an undesirable behaviour; it is best to get this checked out.


All images are either open source, Google images, or my own – or photos donated for use by the pet owners.
If you have any questions or comments; please post a comment below or contact Ali’s Answers via one of the social media pages:
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Puppy Tails (4)

Puppy Tails (4)


So life at the moment is very hectic (hence missing doing posts for March and April) but hey ho life goes on! Let’s talk about the pups…

Rollo turned 1yo in January and was treated to a birthday biscuit (decorated like a cake) and he shared some pupcakes with Brina! They were treated to tuna and veg pasta for dinner – as I wanted to make a bit of a fuss, even if he had no idea why!

His teenage behaviour (due to teenage hormones) was not improving after this milestone and he began to ignore known commands when he wanted – not a good advertisement for a dog trainer! Still, I persisted and had been asking my vet about neutering him, as I know from experience that this can help with getting behaviour back on track – my vet however kept telling me he needed to be 18mo before they would neuter him. I’d always been taught at uni, and been informed by vets, that a male dog can be neutered from 6mo onwards. Needless to say, I was not wanting to put up with this behaviour from him for a few more months, so I posed the question to a few other local vets who all confirmed they would neuter a male dog from 6mo onwards – he was done growing and there was no reason not to.

So, we changed vets, got him booked in and he has recovered marvelously! His behaviour post-recovery is almost back to pre-teenage behaviour and he’s a lot more responsive to training again! He’s still hyper focused on the squeaky ball, which is a walkies only toy (to avoid him getting bored of it) but he will do most commands without the prompt of toy or treat, just like before 😊

And then there is Brina. Little Brina. Not so little anymore (she was in the photos in “Puppy Tails (3A)“)… She is almost 10mo now and has just recently come into her first season. This is new for me as I’ve only ever owned male dogs, or dealt with bitches well established in their seasons (not in a home environment). So I’m dealing with all the behavioural changes that come along with this – for her and for him! She’s gotten a lot more snuggly and in need of a lot more physical contact with her humans and a lot less tolerant of Rollo’s attention.

So a bit more on Brina, our German Shepherd Dog (GSD) up to this point – she adores Rollo, she follows him everywhere and certainly has ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) if Rollo is doing something she’s not involved with, even if she’s not interested! He loves a good tug of war or game of fetch, but she was always just interested in running alongside Rollo or jumping on him whilst he’s playing tug of war with one of his humans, as opposed to actually getting involved in play. They love to play fight and I’m sure to the untrained eye they’d look/ sound like they were trying to kill each other sometimes! The key thing is the play sneeze you’ll hear throughout, meaning that they do love each other really 😊

Brina is the most vocal doggo I’ve come across (not counting working in kennels, with multiple persistent barkers) – I can’t decide if this is a GSD thing or a bitch thing or just her! She talks to her toys, in her sleep and to anyone who will listen – as well as being very loud when she can’t keep up with Rollo (his zoomies are fast!) or when her FOMO kicks in 😜

Her on-lead walking has very much improved, with the help of the Gentle Leader when necessary, as she is a puller! Training aids, such as a Gentle Leader, can be instrumental in getting the desired behaviour – which I hope to go into in more detail in the next “Puppy Tails” post. The aim is to have her walking nicely without the aid of the Gentle Leader (but with her pulling strength and my health issues, the Gentle Leader has been a major help) and I’m confident we’ll get there!

Despite them both being a bit of a handful at the moment due to her hormones affecting her and Rollo, they’re still very much snuggle buddies and friends.

I am hoping the next installment of “Puppy Tails” can be a bit more training focused relating to their individual stages of life and training levels, with some insight into the training process.

To read the previous”Puppy Tails” please follow the links below:

Puppy Tails (1)Puppy Tails (2)Puppy Tails (3)Puppy Tails (3A)


All images are either open source, Google images, or my own – or photos donated for use by the pet owners.


If you have any questions or comments; please post a comment below, or contact Ali’s Answers via one of the social media pages…

• Facebook (Ali’s Animal Answers)
• Instagram (@alis.animal.answers)
• Twitter (@AlisAnswers)
• LinkedIn (Ali Lloyd)

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