Kaytee Forti Diet Pro Health: Healthy Bits Treats. Are these good for my bunny?

[kuniklos]

This past weekend it was Rabbit Love Weekend at Petco, and we were the only ones to show up. We walked away with a gift certificate, free treats and coupons (aawwe yeah!). The General was wonderfully well behaved the entire time. But the treats we picked up gave me pause. Even with my own items in the house I tend to lean towards more natural products. If I can't identify everything int he ingredients, I put it down and keep shopping. This treat would have been something I'd put down.

But he's been so well behaved and extra friendly lately. It's like General Bismark is a new bunny! I wondered if there was something in these treats that elevated him mood, or something nutritionally I wasn't giving him that this weird little balls of stuff were now providing him.

They treats are the Kaytee FortiDiet Pro-Health treats. Looks at all the ingredients on that back made me leery about letting him try them. He seems to really like them, but nothing comes close to a good cranberry! I wonder if his mood changed due to his new treat? Was I denying the general something nutritionally? Hm.

This is our food regime:

He always has unlimited hay (and water of course!), and his pellet bowl is always full. It's nice that he's not an over eater, as he just nibbles a little throughout the day. If he eats a half cup I'd be surprised. I would be monitoring his pellet amounts more if he wasn't so good with just taking what he needs. I had made a point to give him organic fresh greens and treats. This means lots of fresh kale, parsley, swish chard and a grape or a few cranberries as treats. He has 2-3 large kale leaves a day (or an equivalent in amount in other greens), a grape or about 5-10 small cranberries in serving of 3 or 4 throughout the day. He's got a ton of energy and he's in great health. But anything I can do to make him happier is fair game to me!

Feel free to feed me some pointers in case you have used these treats or anything I should be adding into his diet.

"Parsley boring...more treats!"

 

[JimD]

I steer clear of the "mystery treats", too.

Treats at my place consist of dried papaya (no additives), old fashioned rolls oats (Quaker Oats), and plain black sunflower seeds (from the bird seed aisle).

I go through a LOT of dried papaya so I buy it in bulk. Buying it in those little bags at the pet store would cost me a fortune!
I buy it from Sweet Meadow Farms.....
http://www.sweetmeadowfarm.com/trt_papaya.html

 

[kkiddle]

The only thing I would watch out for is the kale. The place where I got Cheeto has a "Bunny Basics" booklet that gives a great list of what is okay and what isn't. Kale is fine for rabbits, but apparently it might cause problems over time.
This is what the booklet says: "Use sparingly, high in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time."

Otherwise, I agree that those treats shouldn't be given all the time. Once in a blue moon probably won't do anything to hurt him. Maybe he was in a sugar coma! LOL I notice that when I feed my bun an overload of raisins, he is very calm and cuddly after the hyperactivity has worn off. :rollseyes

 

[LakeCondo]

I was wondering about kale, too, but I see in a table in Rabbit Nutrition that kale has less oxalate & calcium that dandelion greens do, & everyone says dandelion greens are great. And parsley is way higher in oxalates & calcium than either kale or dandelion greens do. I'd replace the parsley with Romaine, if he likes it.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Just about anything in small amounts is alright. Just see how your bunny reacts and go from there. Some are "Nutzi's" when it comes to this subject--I will refer you to Dr. Dean Edell. He was asked about always eating right and said (paraphrasing) that if you watch every thing you eat, you will add about 4 years to your life, but it will be very boring. The best guide is "moderation" in all things. Ours get a "treat" in the morning and the evening, and Coal will be 13 next month and has never been sick, although she's is starting to slow way down.

 

[LakeCondo]

I looked at the Kaytee treats & don't think I'd get them. While finding the treats I found Kaytee has FortiDiet adult rabbit food that's essentially pellets with more things in it than regular adult rabbit pellets, ie probiotics etc. Does anyone know anything about them?

 

[kuniklos]

LakeCondo wrote:

I was wondering about kale, too, but I see in a table in Rabbit Nutrition that kale has less oxalate & calcium that dandelion greens do, & everyone says dandelion greens are great. And parsley is way higher in oxalates & calcium than either kale or dandelion greens do. I'd replace the parsley with Romaine, if he likes it.

I think I'll add in more variety than I have as he seems to be really good, and just had his yearly blood work to make sure everything is ok. That's new kale info to me though! Seems like rabbits.org has an artcile that many studies show that sme rabbits can get kale and high calcium veggies constantly don't usually exhibit bladder sludge or other issues, but that it's often a hereditary thing. Sort of neat, but I will stick more variety in anyhow.

http://www.rabbit.org/health/urolith.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

I won't be feeding my rabbit lettuce or romaine and I have read it's very bad for them. He had it once and poopies were not happy.

http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/Bad-Rabbt-Food-What-NOT-To-Feed-Your-Bunny

One bag of treats won't be bad, but I won't be buying them in the future.

Thanks all!

 

[Piglet II]

General has a beautiful coat! Wow!
Mine love kale, but in large, constant amounts, it can be toxic! (I had to reduce my 4 bunnies to only a bit of kale a week.)
Can you make your own treats? I make my own and I know exactly what is in them. If you stick to pumpkin for the sweet part, it is good. pumpkin is great for a bunny's tummy, and they love it in treats.
Need a recipe? PM me!
Piglet

 

[Piglet II]

Hi LakeCondo,
What I heard about the Kaytee brand that you mentioned is that it is very flavorful and can help an elderbun who needs to keep weight on. (That's 3 of us here). But Mom sticks to Oxbow since they use only human-grade ingredients, and any company who created Critical Care (life saver) is trusted by us. But the Kaytee got a thumbs up from a very knowledgable shelter coordinator. We may try it so that Piglet can keep some weight on.

 

[LakeCondo]

kuniklos wrote:

I won't be feeding my rabbit lettuce or romaine and I have read it's very bad for them. He had it once and poopies were not happy.

http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/Bad-Rabbt-Food-What-NOT-To-Feed-Your-Bunny

I looked at this source & was amazed what they wrote about Romaine. I trust Rabbit Nutrition because Lucile Moore is a wildlife biologist & cites many professional journal articles in the book. And every other rabbit book I have [8-9 by now] lists Romaine as good for rabbits. Honey has gotten it every day since I got her 3 months ago. The advantage of Rabbit Nutrition over the other books is that it contains tables, so the various foods can be compared. The other books just use undefined cutoffs between good & bad. And kale is always listed as bad, though the numbers show it's not that bad.

Piglet, thanks for the information. I got the impression that this line of Kaytee food is new, so we might be talking about 2 different products. But I suspect that they made this new Forti Diet line of products by just adding some more minerals etc to their regular pellets, so what you said still applies. If it came in small samples, I'd try it, but I don't want to try a whole 5 lb bag.

 

[mrbunny]

No advice. Simply that variety is the spice of life =)

I usually just buy what's in season. You would be surprised what you can find in your backyard that your rabbits will also enjoy. (Just make sure it isn't sprayed and have your soil tested.)

 

[JimD]

LakeCondo wrote:

I got the impression that this line of Kaytee food is new, so we might be talking about 2 different products. But I suspect that they made this new Forti Diet line of products by just adding some more minerals etc to their regular pellets, so what you said still applies. If it came in small samples, I'd try it, but I don't want to try a whole 5 lb bag.

There's Forti Diet...and then there's Forti Diet Pro Health.
The Pro Health is a newer product and comes in Juvenile and Adult blends.

 

[deaners]

I have been giving them as treats for many years. Of course in moderation. Munches loved them.
I am giving them to Pearl and George too as a morning treat before I leave for work. So one per day per bun.