Oats

Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mom2many

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2004
Messages
64
Reaction score
0
Location
, Alberta, Canada
I've been reading a few places and been told some conflicting information so can anyone help.

1. A lot of places I've read say that oats are not good for bunns andshould never be fed to a bunn, on the other hand one breeder said togive them oats in the fall as it encourages them to put on their wintercoats and prepare for winter. Any help here would be great.

2. I've also read in a few places and heard from another breeder thatcabbage will make a bunn sick but others say it is fine to feed themcabbage and other veggies from that family. Any help would begreat.

Thanks all.:D
 
Greetings Mom2Many,

Oats are high in fat content, helping prepare rabbits for thefall/winter cold. Breeders sometimes add oats as a supplement to adoe's diet to keep up her milk supply when nursing.

From what I've picked up from the conversations I've had with breedersand rabbit fanciers and what I've read, any additions to a rabbit'sdiet other than fresh water, timothy hay, and rabbit pellets can causetrouble in the rabbit's digestive system.

2) I'd say refer back to this list because I find it the mostcomprehensive and accurate. http://earthhome.tripod.com/rabsafe.html

-Carolyn
 
I will not use any "gassy foods" whybecause rabbits can get bloat, which can cause their gi trackto slow down stop, or even twist.

As to oats, oats in small moderations as far as i'm concernedare ok, one they are an added source of fiber, 2 if they have softstool adding a few extra oats generally helps firm it up.3 Itmakes a great first food for baby buns, but as with anythingmoderation is key. It has been said oats are an energy booster. coursejust my opinion. if y you use them feed them as atreat. some people say they are a coat conditioner,but i'm not positive on that.

Personally on some well known food lists i think there are way to many"bad foods" listed And I wouldn't use them ever. But then ido what works for me and the heck with all others.

One note on bananas, while I don't use bananas as atreat, one thing about them, if you get your bun to eat themor like them and only feed them rarely to them, it is a great food tocrush medicine in because they hide taste well.just my thoughts :)


 
Hi Gabby,

Please elaborate on your idea about "bad foods". I'm not challengingyou or being sarcastic, I just would like to know more of your thoughtsas to what works and what doesn't. I find the above list of foods thatI posted to be quite helpful, but if there's information in it that youfind incorrect, please let us know.

Tucker loves his oats. I do give them to him as a treat, but I have itin my mind how much fat they have in them, so he gets small doses.Also, one must be careful to store their oats properly because they'reprone to attracting bugs if not in a sealed tight container.

Great idea about the bananas.
 
Many condition mixes contain oats, i feed themdaily to my show rabbits and to babies just going on solid feed.I havebeen feeding them for many years.I do not feed cabbage.bluebird
 
I'm of the impression that oats tend to put on"meaty" flesh, without a lot of fat, hence its recommendation as aconditioner, in moderation, of course.

Cabbage and brussel sprouts come along with the caveat about causinggas. In point of fact, buns often can eat most anythingwithout causing obvious problems if they are introduced to the itemsgradually and they become part of their usual repertoire.

I know a fellow who regularly feeds his pet buns out of the local supermarket dumpster, anything and everything of a vegetable matter that themarket discards. I, certainly, would not do that, but inspite of my caution, the rabbits seem to thrive on it and appear to bequite happy and content.

The only thing one can do, is read the lists of do and don'ts, exercisegood judgment and moderation, and you probably won't go wrong.

Buck
 
:)Hi there! Icame across this site whilst browsing for info on winter feeding foroutdoor buns! I have 2 rabbits living in a large outdoor run,they are free to come and go as they please and havea warm,dry shelter to hide in when the weather is bad. I feed themmore or less the same the year through with a little extra when it'scolder, they will only eat broccoli,lettuce, occasionallycarrot, chickweed and dandelion when in season, and they also havebunny cereal and hay, they LOVE toasted bread,shreddies,andOATCAKES!!I see this forumis talking mainly about the 'for andagainst'oats......Iwanted toknowif there was anything extraI should give themin colder weather but it seems oats is the thing...??If I give them plain rolled oats how muchper day?It's great to see a site dedicated to bunnies as I think most rabbits(in UK)live a sad and lonely existance in a cramped hutch atthe bottom of the garden, they are really interesting and intelligentlittle creatures that deservemuch more!!!
 
Our vet actually said it was great that I usedoats when Bo had some soft stools as a baby. I'm not talkinghuge amounts but maybe 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon once a day.

Currently, I usea couple ofpieces of rolled oatsfor a "treat" when Bo does something good. Forexample: Bo's out playing, he stops and goes to his litterpanto pee or poo, he gets acouple piecesofoats. He loves them so why not? they don't hurt him inmoderation as a treat. They are much better than the sugarytreats like fruit. I thought one day "this is just so small,how could it work?" but think about a bunny's size and it's like havinga few m&m's candies for them! LOL That's how we potty trainedmy son! Go pee in the toilet, and get a handful ofm&m's...... he never failed after that!

As far as "gassy" vegetables:

I have given Bo some broccolli, brussel sprouts, but nocabbage. I have been told cabbage can actually cause loosestools.

I would add that when he has had those things, it's been very littleand along with other vegetables. When I bought my husband asalad bar at our grocery, I prepared it and added a small broccollicrown for Bo :)it was no more than 1/2 inch wide, tall and heate it fine. Brussel sprouts I purchased ONE at thestore. Those are lovely looks from the cashier!LOL! I cut it into 1/4 pieces and gave him one ofthem. I tossed the rest, because I don't give him much ofthose things in one given week. I have concerns about GI stasis andgassy veggies.

Bo gets lots of non-gas causing greens that have a lot of the benefitsof the others..... his favorites romaine and cilantro are good forhim. I also will add a baby carrot here and there.... carrottops, parsley, etc.
 
The lady we got Bindy from feeds her buns oats aswell as hay and pellets, the oat mix has oats, molases, pellets,sunflower seeds etc mixed in.
I got a small bag for Bindy from the same place the lady got hers from and the man there said bunnies go nuts on this stuff.
They call it rabbit grand prix mix, cause they all run round goingcrazy with happiness after having it, he feeds to his buns with noproblems, I must admit I only give Bindy small amounts at a tim as atreat once a week so far (mainly cause she is young) she loves to eatthem(except the sunflower seeds, she pushes them aside) out of my hand,or i drop a teaspoon in her bowl with her pellets when it's bed time.

As it's been said before moderation is the key I think.
 
I definately agree with Carolyn. Shadow's dietconsists of Timothy Hay, some greens, pellets and lots of fresh water.Recently I went to the pet store and saw some yummy treats for bunnies,a kind of nut mixture on a stick. Shadow gobbled this up pretty quickand for almost a week had some nasty constipation and was not very niceto me! I was going to give it one more day before I took my buns to thevet, and then Shadow all of the sudden was becoming "lets say regular".I have to mention I tried a bit of pumpkin and I got a "YuK" attitudefrom my buns:D I learned my lesson the hard way and it certainly couldhave been worse for poor shadow. For now on we are sticking to thebasic rabbit foods, and healthy snacks in moderation.
 
I was just reading through the "safe list" offoods, and I saw that beans are listed as NOT safe. Why is this? We (myhusband and I) were told that dried beans were good for rats and otherrodents to chew on because they are edible, and not being cooked meansthey will be hard which can help keep the animal's teeth from gettingtoo long. If someone can please elaborate on this it would be greatlyappreciated!
 
Since I live in a cold climate I feed my bunniesoats with their pellets. I have not had a problem except rabbitssometimes get picky and wont eat the pellets!
 
This type of topicpops up fairly regularly on the forum, probably because of acombination of new members and the fact that the topic will never beagreed upon! ;)I still feed Sebastian assorted veggies fromthe "approved list", unlimited timothy hay, (purchased inaHUGE bale, grown fresh in our local area, which is greatfrom both a freshness and economical standpoint) he gets Purina pelletsevery day, measured out and I sprinkle a tsp of oats in with them forfiber. I made the choice to do the oat thing for additional fiberbecause of Sebastian's excessive coat, to help move it through hisdigestive tract and help eliminate fur blockages. I couldn'tfind any information that I personally found reliable that stated thatoats in moderation would be harmful. From what I've gatheredfrom Pam whose bunny wisdom I greatly respect, they don't hurt inmoderation, (she also says the info aboutnot feeding theinstant oatmeal is baloney) But I also don't know that shefeeds oatsdaily....I'm not sure that she finds it necessaryto feed oats, timothy hay, or vegetablesto her rabbits dailyif they are on a proper pellet diet. Pam, please correct me if I amwrong! It would only make sense to me that somewhere out there a pelletmanufacturer would concoct a pellet that would have the right mixtureof fiber, vitamins, and protein necessary for good health andmaintenance of show/breeder rabbits....That after all, is what thepurpose of the pellet is, and would be the market the manufacturer istrying to corner....and that, my friends is my .02 for this thread onthis topic this go around! :)

RaspberrySwirl
 
Well the information isn't really conflicting ifyou think about it. A large quantity can be dangerous to a bunny ifthey become fat so they are harmful, but not in moderation.

I too feed a mixture of pelleted and natural diets.
 
I've never heard that Oats where bad for rabbits.If they are, well my rabbits handle the disadvantages of it every day!My rabbits get either plain old fashion oats every day or a conditonmix(oats,calf manna, black oil sunflower seeds,
showbloom,nonfrosted spoon size shreadedwheatand wheat germ oil mix) every day. Or sometimes justnon-frosted spoon size shreaded wheat or once in a blue moon a slice ofapple. They get a table spoon of either 3 supplementsI givethem. All my rabbits seem to be alive and happy and I've beenusing oats in my rabbits for 365 days a year for a short time comparedto some breeders on this forum.(about 6 years);)However, Idon't feed too many fresh greens to my rabbits, only parsley on anoccasion. My rabbits alsoget haywhenitsmoulting season in the barn. Instead of giving them 24/7access of hayevery time of the year, they getablock of untreated wood. I've never had a rabbit digestthewoodso far!It has stopped a fewrabbitsfrom contuing to tear my barnapart.I have one doe who has teeth marks inbetweenthe wires on my wall. I also had a recent addition to my herd*coughboycough* who decided to chew at his CageTag to the point Icouldn't read his name or anything on the plastic card!

This is from my own experience, my rabbits are always withintheir weight limits and have never had one go 'over'. Actually theymaintain a nice healthy lower weight for their breed and are nice andcompact. They have a nice coat for the show table (except in moultingseason,but who has fantastic show coats at that time anyways? LOL!)

~*~Amanda~*~
 
We were discussing something about poos one dayand was it you, Raspberry, who said that the bunny's poos were"fluffier" with their oatmeal added daily?

I noticed that when I give Bo some oats, his poos are like and he seemsto feel a bit better. I think a few to aid in digestiondoesn't hurt.
 
i have 34 rabbits in my house, and of those 34, 2get extreamly soft stool if they eat hay. they are sistersand litter mates, interesting....ok.. is it some "family realatedthing"? I also have their brother litter mate, heeats hay all the time no problems.... interesting though... Like I saidthey are the only 2 who appear to have this problem.. thoughts on this?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top