Buying Rabbit Food in Bulk?

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Jess_sully

Jess_sully

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Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
There are absolutely no pet stores, rescues, or anything close to that anywhere near me, so I've been trying to figure out where I could get good quality rabbit food somewhere nearby. I could order online from Oxbow, but a ten pound bag of Bunny Basics is $25.00, and I'd have to reorder it a lot. However, I found a feed store nearby that sells Purina Complete Plus Rabbit Chow, it has 21% min fiber and 25% max, and it has good fat, protein, etc. levels too. Not to mention, it's CHEAP! A 50 pound bag is only $11.00.

My question is, how long would the food last before it expired? That's a LOT of rabbit food, and considering how little rabbits eat each day, I don't think we'd be able to use it up fast enough. This would be for an apporoximately 8-11 pound bunny. What do you think?
 
Feed should be consumed in 3-6 months but I throw out anything that's older than 4 months. I don't think it's a good idea to store that much for one rabbit to be honest. Is there someone in the area you could split a bag with?
 
I was thinking the same thing. There really isn't anyone I could split the food with, either :?I'm having a really hard time finding good rabbit pellets!
 
I suppose I could, I wasn't sure if that was an option. We have a large freezer in the garage in addition to the one attatched to the fridge. If I froze half of it, would that keep it from expiring?
 
I know freezing it in small packages (5 or 10 lb bags) helps it keep it's nutritional content longer and I'd assume it would allow you to feed it long thatn 4 months but I'll let someone who actually does it tell you for sure.
 
Well, I just found out that a feed store near me sells Kent Family Care Rabbit Food in 25 lb. bags, which is a much more manageable size, I think. However, there is ABSOLUTELY NO information online about it... no guarenteed analysis or anything... so I guess I have to go there and check it. Hmmm.
 
GREAT link, it's just what I was looking for! Well, here's the guarenteed analysis for the most important partsof the kind they sell in 25 lb. bags, and it's pretty dissapointing:

Crude Protein (max): 16%

Crude Fat (min): 3.5%

Crude Fiber (min): 15%

Crude Fiber (max): 17%






The protein is okay, but the fat is WAY too high, and the fiber is WAY too low. How dissapointing! Does anyone know of any other rabbit feeds (better ones) that would come in smaller bags? Or would freezinga lot of the 50 lb. bag of Purina be okay?

 
I'd just go with the 50lb bag. It seems like a pretty good rabbit pellet, and even if you do have to throw out some, you still save money if you were to buy from somewhere else and get a worse quality pellet. It's a bit of a waste, but still.
 
That's what I was thinking. At $10.00 for a fifty pound bag, even if I have to throw out half of it, I'm still saving money from the $30.00 it costs for one ten pound bag of Oxbow. From what I can tell, and from what I've heard from other owners, Purina has a pretty good guarenteed analysis, even if it IS made of alfalfa rather than Timothy. The fiber is still high... 21% minimum fiber! Low fat and moderate protein, too.
 
Here's the Purina green bag analysis:


[align=left]Crude Protein, not less than
16.0%

Crude Fat, not less than
1.5%

Crude Fiber, not less than
17.0%

Crude Fiber, not more than
20.0%[/align]
 
Thanks, the one I like better is Complete Plus, whichhas similar ingredients but the minimum fiber is 21%, max24%. This one would be better, right? Also,what's a good calcium and salt level? Does anyone know?
 
Kaytee Supreme:

Crude Protein (min)..........16.0%
Crude Fat (min).................2.0%
Crude Fiber (min).............15.0%
Crude Fiber (max)............18.0%

 
Kaytee Supreme? I don't like Kaytee brand feeds, they're mostly all overpriced and junk, in my opinion. It's what drove me to create my own food mix for my hamster, Mowgli, and our rats (rip). It's too bad we can't do that for rabbits! Did you know that some owners completely stop feeding pellets and only feed fresh veggies, hay, etc? I'd be uncomfortable with this though, because there's no way to know if the rabbit were getting all of it's minerals, vitamins, etc.

Here's the Purina Rabbit Chow Complete Plus guarenteed analysis.

[align=left]Crude Protein, not less than
16.0%

Crude Fat, not less than
1.5%

Crude Fiber, not less than
21.0%

Crude Fiber, not more than
24.0%

Calcium, not less than
0.6%

Calcium, not more than
1.1%

Phosphorus, not less than
0.4%

Salt, not less than
0.5%

Salt, not more than
1.0%

Vitamin A, not less than
2000 IU/lb[/align]
 
Can you find Mazuri Rabbit Diet.....it a subsidary Purina Mills Inc.

(alfalfa-based)

Protein, min = 14%
Fat, min = 1.5%
Fiber, min = 20%
Fiber, max = 24%
 
Hmmmm... I know PetSmart sells Mazuri for rats, but I don't think they carry the Rabbit kind. As with everything else, the closest PetSmart is two hours away, too... along with the closest mall, etc. Wow, I really hate living so far up north. My options are really limited :?

Edit: just saw your comparison link, nice find! They all have low fiber levels though, too :( and I doubt that I could find any in my area.
 
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