Bunny salad?

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Cloud_the_bunny

Cloud_the_bunny

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What's a good salad to feed my bunny? And are bananas fine to feed her for a treat?
 
I would say...
-Romaine Lettuce
-Basil
-Cilantro
-Parsley
-Dandelion Greens
-Chard
-Beet and Carrot Tops (limit carrots as they are high in sugar)
-Herbs <----fresh not dried


Please limit items like broccoli and brussel sprouts as these items cause gas and bunnies have no ability to release gas :( and limit or avoid items like kale and spinach since they are too high in calcium.

But this is a good start, limit treats such as bananas to a thin slice every now and again. And don't forget about unlimited timothy hay :)
 
Each night I give my little 2 pound bun about a cup of organic romain or other types of lettuce with a small piece of spinach. That is what we always have in the house so that is what he gets each night. If we have other veggies in the house, or the garden is blooming, he will get things from there. Like last night he got some lettuce with a little parsley and mint because a tiny bit if the herbs had come up in our garden. ;)
 
My bunnies' salads normally consist of 1-2 fresh herbs, and carrot tops if I have them. :) Recently we've been diggin' the cilantro/parsley combination, with some small apple bits for dessert/treats!
 
Our local supermarket sells an organic "Spring Mix" which Natasha Rabbitova loves. Rabbits are selective grazers by nature, so having a mix of different young green leaves satisfies their urge to pick out just the right leaf they want at the moment. Of course, Natasha vacuums them all up in no time, but as she eats you can see her carefully choosing her next leaf from the mix. The organic mix is a bit pricier, but well worth it - it seems to last longer than the non-organic, and I think the quality is much better.
 
My rabbit consistantly gets kale as the bulk green, with parsley and cilantro mixed in. I feed him 2 cups twice daily. Sometimes I swap out the kale with mustard greens or turnip greens. There is plenty of good reading on why kale doesn't have to be limited like some think.
 
This is a simple article with info on what items are high in calcium. Bladder sludge, kidney issues to name a couple are real problems related to a high calcium diet. For your peace of mind and for the health of your rabbit, please limit high calcium fruits n veggies! Plus why risk it when there are soooo many other nutritious veggies available? http://animals.pawnation.com/lowcalcium-vegetables-rabbits-2048.html
 
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I don't want to get into the whole debate, but for every post saying kale is too high in calcium, there is another article saying why the amount of calcium isn't that important in this case.

Off the top of my head, here's a post I just saw the other day on this site:
MikeScone said:
You'll hear a lot about kale being high in calcium, spinach high in oxalates, and so on. Kale is high in calcium, relative to some other green vegetables - but it's important to realize that it isa relative thing. If you look at the tables for percentages of various substances in vegetables, they'll vary - but remember that those tables are for dry weights. Green vegetables are mostly water, so the actual amount of calcium in kale, while higher than in, say, lettuce, still isn't a huge amount in absolute terms.

I discussed this with the vets at Cornell when I had my first rabbit, Scone MacBunny, in the Exotics Clinic for a bout of stasis years ago. They said if he likes kale it was perfectly OK to feed him kale, and in fact that's what they used to entice him into eating again once he'd been rehydrated. It was only late in his life that they had me cut out the kale, because Scone had started having problems passing off the calcium in his urine as he did as a younger bun.

Unless your vet advises you otherwise, or the rabbit develops kidney stones, I wouldn't worry about eating reasonable amounts of kale as part of a mixed diet.
Click to expand...
 
Mine love kale. I alternate different greens. They enjoy spinach, kale, romaine, cilantro, and basil. They are ok with red leaf lettuce and will tolerate mustard greens. They don't like turnip greens.
 
I think every bunny is different. I have the same thing with cruciferous veg. Mine love broccoli, cabbage leaves and cauliflower leaves. I give them the leaves as treats. Never had problems but they can give some rabbits gas. I suppose kale is the same. It affects some buns more than others. Mine also love all fresh herbs.
 
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