Rabbit Nutrition and How to Feed your Rabbit
Appropriate rabbit nutrition starts with providing plenty of fiber, primarily in the form of hay, and being consistent in what you feed your rabbit. First, let’s address the fiber issue. Rabbits are hind gut fermentors, meaning they digest much of their food in the cecum and colon (large intestine) which are at the end of the digestive tract (hind gut). In the rabbit, the cecum (anatomically equivalent to our appendix) is a large blind ended sac located at the junction of the small and large intestine. The cecum is about ten times as large as the stomach and makes up approximately 40% of the rabbit’s digestive tract in size. Within the cecum, bacteria and protozoa aid digestion of foods taken in by the rabbit. Fiber is needed for these bacteria and protozoa to stay in balance and function properly. Fiber also stimulates motility of the gastrointestinal tract which keeps ingested food moving properly so that normal digestion can take place. Without fiber the gastrointestinal tract may slow down, resulting in subsequent changes in the cecum Ph, fermentation process and bacterial population. With time, these changes result in rabbit indigestion. The rabbit with indigestion will have a decreased appetite and stool production, increased gas production, and possibly diarrhea.
The fiber rabbits need for nutrition, proper digestion and to aid in normal dental wear comes from feeding grass hays. Variety is the spice of life and that includes the hay you feed your bunny. Oxbow Animal Health offers a variety of hays and Pet Care Veterinary Hospital recommends the timothy, orchard grass, oat or botanical hays for the adult rabbit. Meadow grass hay, Oxbow’s newest variety, is an organically grown timothy hay.
Since hay is the primary source of fiber in a rabbit’s diet, we recommend you feed it free choice, which means you always have plenty of fresh, good quality hay available for your bunny. Hay is a dried, cured, preserved plant product fed to animals. The primary types of hay include grass hay (timothy, oat, orchard, and meadow) and legume hay (alfalfa, clover, pea, and peanut). Many factors go into the nutritional value and quality of hay. These include soil type the hay is grown on, weather conditions during growth and harvest, and the stage of maturity when the hay is harvested. These factors will affect the appearance and palatability of the hay you purchase and how long it can be stored and stay in good condition. Oxbow Animal Health provides a source of consistently good quality hay products and as a result, Pet Care Veterinary Hospital endorses their product.
As a general rule we recommend grass hay over legume hay (timothy vs. alfalfa) for the average adult house rabbit. The primary reasons are that timothy hay is lower in protein and calcium and higher in fiber than alfalfa hay. High dietary calcium has been associated with urine crystal or bladder stone formation (see our online information on calcium metabolism in the rabbit). Therefore, feeding timothy hay over alfalfa hay may prevent this problem. The higher fiber helps keep the rabbit digestive system in balance and along with lower protein encourages the ingestion of nutrient rich cecotrophs (aka night feces).
Alfalfa can be fed to young bunnies under the age of six months since it provides extra calcium necessary for growing bones. Just be sure you offer timothy as well so when it comes time to wean them to strictly grass hay they will know the taste and be less likely to resist change. Furthermore, you can feed alfalfa to rescue bunnies that are thin and weak, or bunnies recovering from major surgery or severe illness. Alfalfa tends to be very appealing to the rabbit taste buds and will promote weight gain in debilitated rabbits. Another consideration is in our older bunnies, who during the last stages of their life, may have diminished appetites. We may be able to entice them to eat the fiber they need by offering alfalfa.
When it comes to feeding pellets, we recommend high fiber pellets that are over 20% fiber and less than 16% protein. As a general rule feed the adult rabbit 1/4 cup pellets per 2.5 pounds of body weight per day. Of course this can vary. Obese rabbits and rabbits with gastrointestinal motility problems need limited amounts of pellets regardless of how much fiber the pellets contain. Our pellet of choice is Oxbow’s Bunny Basic/T, the T standing for timothy hay, its main ingredient. It is specifically formulated for the adult mature house rabbit and may help prevent obesity as well as urinary stone or “sludge” problems (again because of the lower calcium level in timothy hay).
When converting a rabbit from one brand of a pellet to another do so gradually to help prevent digestive upset. A good method is to go by the 5/5 ths rule. Substitute 1/5 of the old brand of pellets with the new brand, and feed this combination for 5 days. An easy way to do this is to mix up five days worth at one time. For example, if your rabbit eats 1/4 cup of pellets a day do the following:
Day 1 – 5: feed a mixture of 1 cup former brand with 1/4 cup new, desired pellet of choice
Day 6 – 10: feed a mixture of 3/4 cup old brand with 1/2 cup new, desired pellet of choice
Day 11 – 15: feed a mixture of 1/2 cup old brand with 3/4 cup new, desired pellet of choice
Day 16 – 20: feed a mixture of 1/4 cup old brand with 1 cup new, desired pellet of choice
Day 21 : Switch over entirely to new food
From this mix scoop out their daily feed allotment. Some animals are pickier than others and will literally eat around the new pellet. If your animal does this, be patient. There is always a small percentage of animals that will refuse any changes and test the will and stubbornness of the owner.
Wow! All that time discussing fiber…. but only because it is so important! Well, on to the other “key” to maintaining a nutritionally healthy rabbit–consistency in what you feed. If you stick with a consistent healthy diet: the bacterial population within the rabbit stays healthy and balanced. If you start adding some variations in the form of snacks or too many vegetables or fruits, you can mess up this balanced bacterial population within the intestines and cause problems. As humans we feel the need to add variety to our bunny’s diet, both because we think they will like us for it and because we think, like us, they enjoy a varied diet versus the same old thing. However, if we are to supplement your bunny’s hay and pellets with greens, vegetables, and fruits; be consistent and offer the same types of these food everyday. The reason for this goes back to the all-important microbial (bacteria and protozoa) population within the rabbit’s intestinal tract. These microbes thrive on consistency and stay in balance when offered the same foods day-in and day-out. So the bottom line is: be consistent in the vegetables you feed and the quantity. I prefer you stick with greens like parsley, carrot tops, endive, escarole, kale, and red tipped lettuce at an amount equal to approximately 1/2 cup per 2.5 pounds of body weight per day. Carrots aren’t my favorite (they contain a lot of sugar and carbohydrates) but if you must, feed only small amounts daily. When it comes to fruits, I don’t recommend them period. It is akin to offering the bunny simple sugars which can stimulate the growth of the wrong kind of bacteria in the rabbit’s intestines, predisposing them to gas and stasis problems. For more information on GI stasis see our on-line informational bulletin: Gastrointestinal stasis/hairball syndrome in the rabbit.
A lot of information on nutrition, but important as Pet Care sees many rabbit health problems related to improper diets. Hopefully, this information will help keep many a rabbit’s gastrointestinal tract moving smoothly and their overall health top notch.
