Feed:
Hay: Is an essential part of your rabbit’s diet. It is as important as water! Rabbits need lots of fiber, and hay provides it to them. A good quality hay should not be too expensive, and is really essential for your rabbit’s health. Alfalfa hay is ok for growing rabbits but for adults it will add a lot of unwanted calories, so try to stick to basic Timothy. Hay is good for your rabbit because the long fibers that hay is made from. It help the muscles of the rabbits gut stay good and strong. It’s high fiber content is the single most important thing in maintaining good intestinal health. Without fiber in the hay, the digestive system cannot move food through the gut. It also keeps the fur they ingest moving through their system. They can get Wool Block (fur ball stuck in their intestines) which can cause death. Chewing the hay keeps the natural wearing down of the teeth. Hay stimulates normal gastrointestinal processes, including digestion of food, absorption of necessary nutrients and excretion of normal feces. Without hay in their diet, the intestinal tract of rabbits may slow down or completely stop moving.
As a rule of thumb feed your rabbit a big clump of hay about the size of the actual rabbit. It can be just put in a corner of the cage or you can purchase a hay rack to put it in. A hay rack is a nice idea because the hay won't become soiled with urine or feces.
Hay not only meets some of the rabbits basic nutritional requirements, but it helps to keep rabbits occupied, reducing boredom. Rabbits have a natural instinct to chew so if something like hay isn't available they will find something like a plastic food bowl to chew on. This isn't something you really want your rabbit ingest. They seem to have little concept of what they can digest and what they cannot digest so keeping hay available will give them something to chew on that they can digest.
Pellets: The quality of pellets used is the second most important thing you will choose for your rabbit. A good quality pellet has most of the vitamins and minerals your rabbit needs. Any pellets that are a mixture of dried fruits,nuts and seeds is a big no no! What this will cause is the rabbit to pick out only the treats that are mixed in with the pellets. This is like giving your own child a choice of eating brussel sprouts or cookies. Which one do you think they will choose? You want to find a quality pellet that has a protein level of atleast 14% and no more than 18%. Younger rabbits can be fed the 18%. If you stick to a feed that has 16% you are somewhere in the middle and you can monitor the weight of your rabbit by giving less pellets if they become over conditioned.
A rabbit who weighs 3lbs or under should get app 1/4cup of feed per day. A 4-6lb rabbit app. 1/2cup per day. 7lb and over app. 1 cup of feed per day. Young growing rabbits (until 4-6mths) can be fed free choice feed (as much as they want to consume).
As a rule of thumb feed your rabbit a big clump of hay about the size of the actual rabbit. It can be just put in a corner of the cage or you can purchase a hay rack to put it in. A hay rack is a nice idea because the hay won't become soiled with urine or feces.
Hay not only meets some of the rabbits basic nutritional requirements, but it helps to keep rabbits occupied, reducing boredom. Rabbits have a natural instinct to chew so if something like hay isn't available they will find something like a plastic food bowl to chew on. This isn't something you really want your rabbit ingest. They seem to have little concept of what they can digest and what they cannot digest so keeping hay available will give them something to chew on that they can digest.
Pellets: The quality of pellets used is the second most important thing you will choose for your rabbit. A good quality pellet has most of the vitamins and minerals your rabbit needs. Any pellets that are a mixture of dried fruits,nuts and seeds is a big no no! What this will cause is the rabbit to pick out only the treats that are mixed in with the pellets. This is like giving your own child a choice of eating brussel sprouts or cookies. Which one do you think they will choose? You want to find a quality pellet that has a protein level of atleast 14% and no more than 18%. Younger rabbits can be fed the 18%. If you stick to a feed that has 16% you are somewhere in the middle and you can monitor the weight of your rabbit by giving less pellets if they become over conditioned.
A rabbit who weighs 3lbs or under should get app 1/4cup of feed per day. A 4-6lb rabbit app. 1/2cup per day. 7lb and over app. 1 cup of feed per day. Young growing rabbits (until 4-6mths) can be fed free choice feed (as much as they want to consume).