What brand of pellet do you feed your bun?

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briemommy

briemommy

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I'm looking for alfalfa pellets (for now) AND timothy pellets (for later) .

We've started clicker training and I want to use pellets instead of tons of sweets. The banana chips work but the amount limits the training time.

I need brands that have LONG PIECES. The pellets I have now barely fit between my fingers with enough room for her to take it from me.

Recommendations, anyone?
 
I feed Sherwood Forest. http://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/sherwood-forest-natural-rabbit-food/
Its alfalfa AND timothy mixed together. It doesn't have all the sugar and other stuff they put into the other pellets. My bun is getting used to it, but so far so good.

Plus, they have long pieces, not the little tiny pieces. (I know what you mean about nubs, you have to hold them between your fingernails!)
What are you feeding her now?
 
I've fed small world alfalfa pellets to my rabbits in the past, and it's pretty good for a low cost pellet. It also doesn't have corn as an additive. I just got mine at walmart, and I never had a problem with fines and the pieces are a decent size. If you do switch foods, do you know about transitioning to new foods?
If your rabbit likes carrots they are a better lower sugar treat than fruit, so you'll be able to use more than you would with fruit. You could shred some and use little shredded pieces as treats.
 
I currently feed Oxbow but will be switching feeds next time I need food. It is to expensive according to my parents. I do not know what I will be switching to, but something that I can get locally for sure.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, Morgan. I ordered a sample today so hopefully we will get to try it soon. The product looks REALLY good! :thumbup

I'm not sure what we are feeding her right now. The BF picked up a pre-paper-bagged bag of pellets from the feed store where he got the litter. It was close to work for him, and neither of us knew anything about rabbits at the time. I've been pellet hunting at all the local pet stores but I didn't like the ingredients in most of them. Bleh.

Jbun, yeah, I'm familiar with the food switching process. We had to do it when we first got her. The breeder was nice (or responsible) enough to give us a small bag of what she was feeding and we slowly switched it out.

I never thought of the carrot shavings idea. Am definitely going to use it once I introduce her to it! Such a great idea. I hope she likes carrots.

:bunny19

These icons are so awesome. :rofl:
 
I also feed sherwood forest and LOVE it because it's so healthy! I've been hand-feeding the pellets a fair amount lately and almost all of them are long enough to do so with ease.

btw, don't be put off if your bunny seems to dislike the sherwood at first - mine would always eat all their old pellets (whatever the breeder was feeding) and leave the sherwood in the bottom of the bowl but eventually go back for it. I stuck with it, though - I saw it as the rabbit version of a parent forcing their kid to eat veggies... it's the healthiest food I could find, so they were going to have to learn to like it! it took about a month before they were diving into it as eagerly as they did their previous pellet.
 
If you feed Sherwood Forest, know that it contains 50-100% more calcium than do Oxbow or Kaytee. So if your rabbit isn't needing that much calcium [ie juvenile, long-haired, lactating] I would watch out for sludge in the urine. You can do this easiest if you have a litterless litter box as I do. Then the urine is separated from the poops & can be poured out into a glassed, lidded jar & left for a while to see what precipitates. The amount of sugar in Oxbow or Kaytee is trivial & doesn't do the harm that excess calcium does, in my opinion. Sherwood Forest also has lots of fat in it.

A good treat that you can hold in your hand is dried banana peel. Wash the skin before peeling the banana, then cut it into strips & let dry for a few days.
 
I feed Oxbow pellets and my rabbits do great on them, shiny coats, good weight and lots of energy.
While my rabbits will eat them and do get excited when getting fed, I don't think they would accept them as a treat. Your rabbit might be different. The pellets are long.
 
Hello. I feed Oxbow bene terra organic. Just offering another option :)

Pros: Organic, no molasses, no alfalfa

Cons: very expensive! $10.00 for 3 lbs, contains barley and wheat but I don't know if it's harvested before it goes to seed or not.

2 of my buns eat it. They are good weight, and no digestive issues. My third bunny doesn't eat pellets because he can't tolerate any at all. I think it's a good pellet for a healthy bunny. I hand-feed some pellets to my buns too and some of them are long enough to do it easily. But this is an adult food (over 1 year). Good luck picking out your pellet :wiggle
 
My Lulu eats Oxbow, but the pieces are small. I have small fingers so I do sometimes use them as treats but that might not be right for you.
 
I have tried Sherwood Forest but I think that fat and calcium are worse than a small amount of added sugar. I recommend Oxbow Young until 7 months then switch to 1/2 Young and 1/2 Adult or Organic, then take out Young completely at 1 year. My Mini Rexes and Lionheads flourish on this diet. Small World Rabbit, Kelly's, Templeton, Show Health, etc are good feeds if bunny only gets a very limited amount and gets plenty of fresh greens.
 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

I do like Oxbow overall as a brand, so I'm also going to look up the Bene Terra Organic.

For those who feed Sherwood, what do you think about the recommendation to use it so soon? I thought the general consensus was to feed baby pellets until 6 months.
 
LakeCondo said:
If you feed Sherwood Forest, know that it contains 50-100% more calcium than do Oxbow or Kaytee. So if your rabbit isn't needing that much calcium [ie juvenile, long-haired, lactating] I would watch out for sludge in the urine. You can do this easiest if you have a litterless litter box as I do. Then the urine is separated from the poops & can be poured out into a glassed, lidded jar & left for a while to see what precipitates. The amount of sugar in Oxbow or Kaytee is trivial & doesn't do the harm that excess calcium does, in my opinion. Sherwood Forest also has lots of fat in it.

A good treat that you can hold in your hand is dried banana peel. Wash the skin before peeling the banana, then cut it into strips & let dry for a few days.
Click to expand...

I knew I had forgotten something. This is a bit off-topic, but Orlena, would you mind sharing a bit about litterless litter boxes?
 
briemommy said:
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

I do like Oxbow overall as a brand, so I'm also going to look up the Bene Terra Organic.

For those who feed Sherwood, what do you think about the recommendation to use it so soon? I thought the general consensus was to feed baby pellets until 6 months.
Click to expand...

my girls have been on the adult sherwood formula since 12 weeks old and are perfectly healthy. they got alfalfa hay until 6-7 months, when I started weaning them onto grass hays.

as for comments about the higher calcium in sherwood... the total calcium is a fraction of a % higher, which isn't much at all... and the link between calcium content of foods and calcium-related health problems is dubious at best (I've even heard that from Geoff, the rabbit-savvy vet that hangs out in our infirmary section). calcium problems/sensitivity is most likely a genetic thing rather than anything caused by diet.
 
Well, the Sherwood Forest sampler came and just as predicted by some of you, Brie thinks she's too good for it. Oh, the first few pieces she gobbled up because it was new, but I started the transition with a small amount of it and lo and behold, the feed store pellets were gone first. We're almost out of the feed store stuff though, so she has no choice.

So we're down to sugar vs. calcium, then? I know about calcium being linked to urine, which means the small intestinal/bladder issues, but what about sugar? Diabetes?
 
I *really* doubt there's enough sugar in regular pellets to cause diabetes even in the long term, considering it's ok to give bunnies a little tidbit of fruit each day... the issue is more that some bunnies' digestive systems don't deal with sugars very well (plus, there's no benefit to consuming sugar).

it took mine a month, but they can't get enough of the sherwood pellets now. speaking of which, I need to go order another box, hehe... meant to do that this morning.
 
Diabetes is very rare in rabbits.
I too feed oxbow and have been very happy with it. I find that they're long enough for me to offer as treats (well, maybe not the bottom of the bag) but I will also offer treats out of the palm of my hand.
 
LakeCondo said:
A good treat that you can hold in your hand is dried banana peel. Wash the skin before peeling the banana, then cut it into strips & let dry for a few days.
Click to expand...
I would reconsider this unless you are using organic. ALL bananas except organic are gassed at your grocery store to ripen. This is also going to be where any pesticide is.
 
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