How to feed your rabbit correctly

Feeding your rabbit is easy. Grass or good quality hay and a selection of fresh food (or a nutritionally balanced complete rabbit food) and a constant supply of fresh water are all that is required.

• Rabbits have a unique dental and digestive system. For these to function properly, your rabbit must have a diet that is high in fibre, low in protein and low in energy.

• As pet owners, we like to think that we are doing the best for our rabbits and are all too ready to provide them with a diet that is too rich and contains insufficient roughage.

• Without the fibre, you will have constant teeth and digestive problems which mean a very poor quality of life for your pet rabbit.

  Rabbits in the wild are grazers. If the diet is inadequate, these are the problems you may see:

  • • hairballs
  • • chronic soft faeces instead of hard normal pellets
  • • diarrhoea
  • • obesity
  • • teeth problems which can be so severe as to form an abscess. If this happens, it may be too late for treatment to be successful

  • • eye or tear duct infections which are secondary to teeth problems as the tooth roots grow abnormally and affect the tear duct.

    Grass and hay

    In the wild, rabbits spend many hours each day devouring grasses, the availability and nutritional value of their diet slowly changing with the seasons.

  • Not only does a wild rabbit’s diet provide most of the nourishment and roughage they require, it also helps keep their teeth trim. A scientifically developed complete rabbit food will contain ingredients such as alfalfa which is high in fibre and will make your rabbit work at digesting its food.

  • However, you should also provide a constant supply of grass or hay for your rabbit to eat whenever it wishes.

    Undoubtedly, one of the best ways to allow a rabbit access to grass is by using a portable run which can be moved around an area of fresh, medium length grass, although in practice this often proves difficult in the average garden.

  • There’s nothing wrong with having a portable run on the lawn, but you will need to guarantee that it is free from weedkillers and chemicals. You should also introduce your rabbit to grass slowly, allowing it no more than 10 minutes grazing on the first day and building up the time slowly over a period of a week.

    Good quality hay is a totally acceptable alternative, but you should make sure that it is fresh and sweet smelling as old hay tends to be low in calcium and can often be laden with mites and fungal spores. Your nose will tell you when it is off!

    You could also try your rabbit with commercially prepared dried fresh grass. It is made for feeding to horses and can be bought from agricultural feed merchants or a good pet superstore.

    Vegetables

    Look to provide your rabbit with a small amount of different leafed and rooted vegetables, but stay away from beans and rhubarb. Never give vegetables that have come straight out of the fridge as they can cause quite a shock to your rabbit’s system. Always wait until they are at room temperature.

    Many rabbits have too little calcium in their diet which can result in brittle bones and teeth. Feeding green stuff such as fresh grass, cabbage leaves and dandelion leaves can help correct this.

  • However, feeding too much green stuff invariably results in soft stools indicating an imbalance in the gut flora. If this happens, stop feeding the vegetables immediately, clean your rabbit’s bottom and be prepared to visit your vet if it doesn’t clear up in a couple of days.

    Treats

    It’s only natural to want to give your sweet little whiskered pet a treat and pet stores are full of them. But think before you rush out and buy them. Treats, made of seeds and grains held together into sticks with honey and other sugars are bad for rabbits if they are given too frequently.

  • Seeds are high in fat and are important for wintering animals.

  • Your rabbit has no such need. A rabbit’s metabolism is geared for a low fat diet and the excess is not burned off but is stored as body fat.

  • Rabbits appear to be more sensitive to fat than humans are and in addition to obesity, the excess fat can accumulate in your rabbit’s liver and arteries.

    The best treats you can give are carrots, fresh apple wood or even a hard-baked bread crust to chew on.

    Water

    Your rabbit should have access to fresh water 24 hours a day. If you keep your rabbit in an outside hutch throughout the winter, change the water twice or three times a day to prevent it freezing.