hay and veggies?

[mskoala]

If I stopped giving Grace pellets, would that beok? Just hay and veggies? Or do the pellets dosomething vital for her??

help? thanks!onder:

 

[Lissa]

She must have pellets. If anything, drop the veggies.

 

[mskoala]

ok. but why must she have pellets?

 

[naturestee]

You can use a hay and veggie only diet, but youhave to pay close attention to what you feed her so that she gets allof the right nutrients. Pellets have all the vitamins andminerals in them, so many people will at least use them as a supplementto a hay and veggie diet. You could, for example, only feedher a few tablespoons of pellets a day.

This comes up on an email list fairly often, and through all thediscussions I've picked up a few important points. One isthat you'll need a wide variety of both veggies and hay types toprovide complete nutrition. Not only hay types too, butseveral people also fed timothy hay from different companies that wasgrown in different places. The fields and weather conditionscan greatly affect the nutrition of the hay. One field mightproduce hay with a lot of this mineral, while another place may producehay with more of a different mineral in it.

You'll also need to feed a lot, and I mean a lot, of veggies to make upthe calories unless you're doing this to help Grace looseweight. This site recommend a pile of veggies the size of therabbit... every day.:shock:

http://www.leithpetwerks.com/Bunfun/nonpellet.html

Check this Bunny 101 thread for more info on diet.

Feeding Your Rabbit

 

[mskoala]

ok! Thanks!

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Lissa wrote:

She must have pellets. If anything, drop the veggies.

what about wild rabbits? they cant have pellets.....just curious

 

[Lissa]

Wild rabbits are completely different than domesticated rabbits.

I believe that the pellets are essential for calories. Theyalso have other nutrition that hay does not have.

 

[nose_twitch]

I agree with the advice given before.It's really complicated if your rabbit goes off pellets. Hewill have to be given vitamin supplements and salt licks, plus a hugevariety of veggies. Best to just cut down on thepellets. My bunny gets about 1/2 cup pellets/day plusveggiesand lots of hay, and he's only a *little* chubby. Good luck.

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Lissa wrote:

Wild rabbits are completely different than domesticated rabbits.

I believe that the pellets are essential for calories. Theyalso have other nutrition that hay does not have.

I feed my rabbits pellets, hay, veggies and occassionally somefruit. But im confused myself as to why they NEEDpellets. how is a wild rabbit different from a domesticatedrabbit? a rabbit is a rabbit, no? just like a dogis a dog, a cat is a cat - they all essentially need the same things tosurvive....im just curious is all, i dont really understand.:huh

 

[Lissa]

A veterinarian can probably give you a betterexplanation. I know that mine told me that wild rabbits arequite different from domestic rabbits in several differentways. I can't give you a specific answer. All Iknow is that domestic rabbits need the nutrients in pellets.

For more information on rabbit diet:http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

 

[naturestee]

Depends on which wild rabbits you are lookingat. Domestic rabbits are desceded from wild European rabbits,which are very different from American cottontails. AndEuropean rabbits were originally from the dry grasslands ofSpain. They were spread throughout the continent and to theislands (and Australia, etc) by humans who wanted to be able to huntthem. Same reason that we have pheasants here. Ifyou didn't know, those are native to Asia.

Wild rabbits are not necessarily in the prime of health,either. They have a very very short life expectancy becausethey are small prey animals, so small nutrient deficiencies may notalways have time to show up.

Centuries of selective breeding has changed the domestic rabbit alot. Whereas wild European rabbits are around 3 lbs, domesticrabbits range from 2 lbs to more than 20. Changes in bodysize, body shape, fur type, meat-to-bone ratio (sorry, but that's whatmany of the larger breeds were bred for) change the amount and type ofnutrients required.

Having said that, I don't think domestic rabbits need pellets tosurvive. It's simply easier to feed them a small amount ofpellets rather than agonize over whether they're getting everythingthey need from their hay and veggies.

 

[Lissa]

naturestee wrote:

Having said that, I don't think domestic rabbits need pellets tosurvive. It's simply easier to feed them a small amount ofpellets rather than agonize over whether they're getting everythingthey need from their hay and veggies.

Just out of curiosity, would you feel comfortable advising all rabbitowners to discontinue feeding their rabbits pellets?

 

[Lissa]

I'm not trying to start an argument, I justdon't think it's okay to take away a rabbit's pellets. I knowwe're not talking about a human child here, but I think we all want ourrabbits to live very long and healthy lives. Proper care anddiet is essential. Taking away those vital nutrients could bedisastrous.

 

[naturestee]

Lissa wrote:

naturestee wrote:

Having said that, I don't think domestic rabbits need pellets tosurvive. It's simply easier to feed them a small amount ofpellets rather than agonize over whether they're getting everythingthey need from their hay and veggies.

Just out of curiosity, would you feel comfortable advising all rabbitowners to discontinue feeding their rabbits pellets?

All rabbit owners? No. Just the ones that have donethe research and feel capable of providing a healthy, well-rounded dietwithout pellets. Or that require pellet-free diets to behealthy. Just as some rabbits can't tolerate greens, otherscan't tolerate any pellets at all. Either can result inchronic poopy-butt or frequent bouts of stasis or gas.

Edit- I feed pellets along with large amounts of veggies. It's what I feel more comfortable with.

 

[Lissa]

naturestee wrote:

All rabbit owners? No. Just the onesthat have done the research and feel capable of providing a healthy,well-rounded diet without pellets. Or that requirepellet-free diets to be healthy. Just as some rabbits can'ttolerate greens, others can't tolerate any pellets at all.Either can result in chronic poopy-butt or frequent bouts of stasis orgas.

Okay, I just wanted that clarified.

 

[Lissa]

Great research by the way!

naturestee wrote:

Depends on which wild rabbits you are looking at.Domestic rabbits are desceded from wild European rabbits, which arevery different from American cottontails. And Europeanrabbits were originally from the dry grasslands of Spain.They were spread throughout the continent and to the islands (andAustralia, etc) by humans who wanted to be able to hunt them.Same reason that we have pheasants here. If you didn't know,those are native to Asia.

Wild rabbits are not necessarily in the prime of health,either. They have a very very short life expectancy becausethey are small prey animals, so small nutrient deficiencies may notalways have time to show up.

Centuries of selective breeding has changed the domestic rabbit alot. Whereas wild European rabbits are around 3 lbs, domesticrabbits range from 2 lbs to more than 20. Changes in bodysize, body shape, fur type, meat-to-bone ratio (sorry, but that's whatmany of the larger breeds were bred for) change the amount and type ofnutrients required.

Having said that, I don't think domestic rabbits need pellets tosurvive. It's simply easier to feed them a small amount ofpellets rather than agonize over whether they're getting everythingthey need from their hay and veggies.

 

[Lassie]

Hi,If you want to you can give herveggies. I give Buster a mix of rabbit food that has pelletts in it andhe gets hay blocks and veggies too. This is what I give himfor veg.

Carrots,Cerelary,Apples,sometimes Brocc.



Delia

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Very interesting naturestee and lissa. thanks for sharing.

 

[Prizm]

Hmm, this reminds me of the raw food diet forcats & dogs. My cat Fuzzball had severe problems eliminatingwaste to the point where he needed weekly enimas. The vet recomended ahard cat food with the number one ingredient being corn. This struck meas odd since I've never heard of farm cats gnawing on corn or grazingon wheat, so I looked to the internet for alternative cures. Raw foodcame up, which made sense. But, the reason people feed cats and dogsmanufactured cereal-styled pet food is because it isn't okay to give acarnivore a slab of beef and say "okay, there's your meat!" They needbalance, including bones for calcium, organs which are high in othernutrients, and while it would have been possible to give him acompletely healthy raw diet, I couldn't afford it all the ingredients.Sooo...I gave gave him some raw meet with his usual food ever day tosupply him with living enzymes, and you know what? His colon clearedright up and didn't need an enima since!

My thoughts are, a raw diet is probably possible for a pet bun. I mean,escaped pet rabbits are even part of our "wildlife" now in some partsof the US. But before eliminating pellets, it's probably imperative youknow your bunny is getting enough of the same nutrients through thenatural food you supply him.

Here's a supportive page on this: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/holistic_pet_care/115676/2

I'll google around a bit and see if there's a holistic raw food diet known for feeding rabbits

 

[Prizm]

http://www.galensgarden.co.uk/content/care/nutrition/index.phpYou might email the owner of this site for more details. It soulds likeher bunnies are pellet free, but it also sounds like a problem forcompanion rabbits is they are pickier eaters than the hungry wild ones,so they don't always choose to eat the healthiest foods offered them intheir natural mixtures.


*edits/updates*
Lol, you've got me interested XD

Here's another interesting page: http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/pubs/is1337.htm

And here's another, on holistic rabbit care:
http://www.petsynergy.com/rabbit.html