All natural diet?

[Luca]

My rabbit loves his fruits and veggies. I only give him 1/4 cup of pellets at a time. I was wondering if I cut the pellets out completely, what amounts of fruits and veggies I would need to get him the proper nutrients.

 

[Flashy]

Hi Luca.

Do your bunnies also get hay/grass?

To do an all veggie diet it is possible but takes a very unfussy rabbit and a lot of time and effort to work out what should be given and when.

There is a sticky at the top of this forum about FAQ, and that has info in it about a balanced veggie diet. That would be worth reading

 

[Luca]

Yes, I make sure he has lots of fresh grass every day. Its in a wicker basket and he sits in it like hes hatching eggs lol. Thanks.

 

[Flashy]

It's worthwhile reading all the links. There is a bit at the bottom of that first post about a pellet free diet, and in that thread there are links about the different kinds of veggies to feed and how often. You'll need to read the lot

 

[ra7751]

I am not a big fan of pellets by any means....we have rabbits that get no pellets and even our bonded pair of Flemish get only about 1/3 cup pellets per day to share. I also prefer an all natural diet whenever possible. We use pellets only to maintain weight and body conditioning. A subject I have mentioned quite a bit over the past few months and the subject of several threads around the forum is the lack of Vitamin D in a rabbit's diet. All of this links into the great calcium debate...which the argument against feeding calcium to rabbits has some serious flaws. Rabbits have bones and teeth....and bones and teeth need calcium. In order for calcium to abosorb into the body properly, that requires Vitamin D. That particular vitamin comes from two places...one is exposure to unfilitered sunlight....the other is fortifed foods. Many of us, me included, house our rabbits inside. That eliminates the chances of getting unfiltered sunlight....the commercial glass used in homes filters many of the UV rays. And that is where the body conditioning part of the pellets come in....we use them only to get Vitamin D. Lack of Vitamin D will result it various deficiencies that can result in some serious metabolic issues. This can also result in skeletal and dental issues in rabbits. Not something most rabbit people (or vets) are aware of but is something we deal with in wildlife all the time. Just something to consider.

Randy