Has anyone thought about a NO pellet diet?

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whitelop

whitelop

Morgan
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
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Location
York, South Carolina, USA
I've been thinking about switching to no pellets. I had to cut Foo down on pellets because she wasn't eating enough hay. She doesn't over eat pellets, but when she has too many it seems like she eats them and waits longer to eat the hay.

So I was thinking, since I feed her a small amount of pellets a day, like 1/4 cup (heaping a little, because I feel bad) then maybe she could go without pellets.

Her diet every day is:
pellets
lettuce (romaine, red/green leaf)
cilantro
flat leaf parsley
timothy hay
orchard grass
grass from the yard
dandelions
clovers
a slice of banana twice a week
and a grape cut in half once a week (she gets fruit on different days)
and papaya things(2) when she's shedding and her poop is furry.

Do they need pellets as long as they get a complete diet with hay, veggies and grasses?
I know pellets are a "complete" diet, but if I'm feeding her all of the stuff listed almost every day, aren't the pellets kind of like a treat? I say almost every day because she gets alternating outdoor grasses and flowers.

Does anyone not feed pellets? Or know of anyone who doesn't feel pellets? Do they really need them?
 
Geoff the vet on here is supportive of a no pellet diet. Maybe he could weigh in or you could even PM him too.

I have heard of a no pellet diet and researched it briefly. I think if done correctly and the greens is a big enough variety to provide the vitamins and minerals they need it can work.

I won't do it because I'm nervous about getting all the veggies needed AND since I would have to buy all of them there's a financial factor there. I also believe that if fed correctly and in limited amounts pellets are not necessarily bad either.
 
whitelop wrote:
No, I don't think pellets are bad either!
Click to expand...

Oh yes I know :) I wasn't insinuating you thought they were bad. Just stating that I didn't either;)
 
if the concern is her eating enough hay, you could cut back on the pellets or split them into two feedings so she moves to the hay faster. I feed mine pellets first thing when I wake up and last thing before bed.
 
I know that she eats her hay and she eats enough hay,(shes a great pooper)
I don't have a problem feeding her pellets, but my thought process for this is, if she doesn't necessarily NEED the pellets, then why feed them?
If I stopped feeding her pellets then I would go to the spiffy health food store in town and get her a most diverse selection of greens. I go there sometimes and get her special stuff, but I don't go there every time.
 
well, I certainly think it could work if you're able and willing to provide a lot of variety
 
I've been thinking about this, too. Harvey and Halo are great hay eaters but I notice the same thing: they eat more hay when I wait to put the pellets out. They are (knock on wood) great poopers but I can see that if I get them to eat more hay, they really, really poop more. (As Jennifer said in another post, only rabbit owners understand the "joy of poop:)

I use timothy hay pellets by Oxbow and the babies love them. I worry about taking that away from them. I also would worry if I'd be able to give them enough variety. I'll probably stick with them but, perhaps, reduce the quantity and feed them after I've seen that a large quantity of timothy hay has been eaten.

But I'd love to hear from Geoff or anyone who has had success with a no pellet diet.
 
I just read somethings about feeding rabbits a no pellet diet, thought I would share.
http://www.suevet.com/bunny_health.html

Switching to no pellets is a transitional thing, so I just need to make sure that I mix the greens so all the vitamins are covered. I'll be able to do it, as long as I write down all the vitamins in the greens/veggies so I know what to give her every day.
 
From page 1 of Lucile Moore's Rabbit Nutrition and Nutritional Healing, 2011: "Many of the experts & veterinarians who once endorsed a pelletless diet now acknowledge that some pellets, at least, are necessary to provide needed minerals and other nutrients in the diet of most companion animals."

Elsewhere she says it's virtually impossible to eat the right balance of at least a dozen veggies to get the nutrients that way. Malnutrition will take many months to show up, but it apparently will.
 
I'm considering a no-pellet diet as well. I just can't seem to find a pellet that I'm happy with. They all seem to either have grains, molasses, or alfalfa.
I've had 2 vets tell me rabbits don't need pellets, and one vet tell me that rabbits can live on hay alone and obtain all the nutrients they need as long as it's good quality hay. 2 said if i choose to continue to feed pellets not to exceed 1/4c a day. I love feeding veggies though because my buns love them.
My buns do love their pellets but I wonder if it's because they love the sugar (molasses).
 
Morgan--it's so amazing that you wrote this now. I've just really started observing that this week...

It makes me really happy when they poop, too:) So good to have this site where people understand. A friend visited recently and when we went in to see the bunnies, I checked their litter boxes and, without thinking how it would sound, said "Yea!!! My babies got GOOD poopies!!!", as I usually do. My friend rolled her eyes and said "Oh my God, get some HELP." She was (sort of) kidding but she just doesn't get it;)

:brownbunny:heartbeat::brownbunny
 
I've also heard that it takes diligence in choosing a plentiful variety of greens. And my vet also recommended reducing pellets.
Rather than cut them out altogether (since I don't think I'd be able to keep up with enough variety in greens) I have my 2 bunnies share 1/4 cup of Oxbow pellets.

I know the oxbow has molasses :( but if they only get 1/8 cup each/day, hopefully it's not too bad. That's how I coax them into their cage for the night. (my other motive)

Morgan, maybe you can take it step by step. Reduce down to 1/8 cup for awhile and then re-assess whether you'd still like to cut pellets out altogether.
 
Thats what I was planning on doing. In order to cut out the pellets completely, you have to slowly decrease the pellets. Like how you introduce a new pellet, only the opposite.

I'm going to make a list later on (when the house calms down:p) of what veggies have what vitamins in them and try to formulate a proper schedule for her. I'll probably have to introduce new veggies to Foo, so I'll start that slowly too, while she's still eating pellets. I'm also going to get different kinds of hay, right now she has timothy and orchard, but I know there are other kinds that she may like.

All of this is a process and it will be a slow one. I hope that this year will be the last year that I have to buy hay. I'm planning on planting some next spring, different kinds. I'm also planning on making a bigger garden next year, to grow most of things that she needs. I have a 4 acre field that needs to be used! My chickens will also benefit from hay and greens/veggies being grown. Not to mention that it will cut down on my grocery bill considerably.
 
@Katherine-haha we are all poop obsessed :biggrin2:

@Suzette-I feed oxbow too. I want to write them and ask that they make a sensitive tummy bunny food with no grain and no sugar. They've recently come out with 2 new bunny foods but both have ingredients that I'm not happy with. One is natural science that has grain and molasses, the other is their organic line that has wheat straw, barley, and 2 fruits-cranberries and blueberries (isn't that just another sugar source?):?

@Morgan-I'm interested to see what combos you come up with, please keep posting

Why are all these extras in pellets anyway? Is it to make it more palatable to the bunnies? I mean, they eat plain old hay no problem so why the junk?:(
 
Yes, agreed, the biggest issue is providing enough volume and variety. If you can do that (eg: truly unlimited hay and preferably a mix) and a LOT of produce, you can skip the pellets.

sas :bunnydance:
 
I've thought about this, because when I'm older, I want to produce all of my own food (don't worry, rabbits will NEVER EVER be on my plate!) and I've thought about doing the same with pet food. I haven't done a lot of research though, because that's many years and many dollars away at this point.
 
whitelop wrote:
Thats what I was planning on doing. In order to cut out the pellets completely, you have to slowly decrease the pellets. Like how you introduce a new pellet, only the opposite.

I'm going to make a list later on (when the house calms down:p) of what veggies have what vitamins in them and try to formulate a proper schedule for her. I'll probably have to introduce new veggies to Foo, so I'll start that slowly too, while she's still eating pellets. I'm also going to get different kinds of hay, right now she has timothy and orchard, but I know there are other kinds that she may like.

All of this is a process and it will be a slow one. I hope that this year will be the last year that I have to buy hay. I'm planning on planting some next spring, different kinds. I'm also planning on making a bigger garden next year, to grow most of things that she needs. I have a 4 acre field that needs to be used! My chickens will also benefit from hay and greens/veggies being grown. Not to mention that it will cut down on my grocery bill considerably.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a challenging plan.You would need a backup food for every vitamin and mineral they need in case they don't like something you give them. Do you knowhow muchof each food they would need to eat to get the amount of vitamin and mineral they require for a balanced diet? Some vitamins/minerals can causehealth problems if given in excess. Good luck! I think I'll stick with the pellets :wink
 
I've just spent the last few hours looking up raw food diets for rabbits, getting the lists of safe veggies, fruits and herbs for them, and getting the vitamins and minerals in all of the safe foods.

Wow. What a process that was. Almost everything I read said something about feeding pellets. There was VERY LITTLE on feeding just raw foods to rabbits. Almost everything I read that was FOR a raw food diet, said the same thing; that pellets weren't created for pets. They were created for meat rabbits. I know that pellets have come a long way since then, but its still probably the same general ingredients that they use.

Most of the things that we're allowed to feed our rabbits, have all the minerals that they need. They have the minerals that you find in the pelleted food.
Minus the iodine, chlorine and sulfur? Do rabbits really need those things? I can understand iodine, but chlorine and sulfur?

Anyways, if I can put together a diet for her that has all of the vitamins and minerals that she would be eating in the pellets, then I think I could do this. I would watch the calcium intake.

I just don't know about protein. A lot of the protein in the pelleted food is soy and grains I guess, so how do I get her the protein she needs? Thats one of my only concerns is getting her the protein she needs.
 
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