Rabbit Chow® Garden Recipe

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I've seen them around but never tried them my self. Personally I would compare nutritional value of this brand with the one your feeding your rabbits now to see if cost is worth the switch.
 
Anyone else able to help me out? It's got pieces of dried carrots in it which I want to make sure aren't going to make him fat. It does have pieces of hay in it which he actually eats, I've never been able to get him to eat loose hay although he does eat hay cubes.
 
I read the product description, saw the word "seeds," and pretty much stopped right there. Rabbits are not granivores; they are grazing animals. Their diet should be dominated by grasses. Things like sunflower seeds and oats are not a necessary part of their diet and if fed at all should only be fed as a treat, not a daily part of the diet. I feel the same way about the carrots and papayas found in the food; an acceptable occasional treat, not something that should be mixed in with the food daily.

Foods like this are not really marketed based on the animal's needs. They are based on owner appeal. People see a plain pellet diet and think "How boring! My rabbit surely wants seeds and fruit and carrots to make things interesting!" However, this is not sound nutritional science and is based more on appealing to anthropomorphism (if I like x in my food, so will my bunny). That's not to say it doesn't match basic nutritional requirements, but I would consider it a poorer caliber than an all-pellet formula.

Animals are biologically designed to want foods that are sugary and fatty, because these nutrients are commodities in nature. In the captive environment, however, they are abundant - so it is up to a responsible and educated owner to provide a nutritionally complete diet and control the ammount of "junk food" in the diet. In the case of rabbits, this means a small ammount of a nutritionally complete, high quality pellet, hay provided ad libitum, and fresh greens and veggies in an ammount appropriate for the rabbit's size and age.

I hope that answers your questions. Also, I saw you mention that your bun won't eat loose hay. Can I ask how much pellet is being provided? When pellets are over-fed, ignoring hay tends to be fairly common. However, as the owner of a hay-hating bunny myself, one thing that has worked for me is simply throwing some hay in a chopper with some greens until it's cut to maybe 3-4" lengths, then putting it in a bowl for her. She is all about the hay then since it's all mixed in with tasty greens. It isn't as ideal as long strands consumed when they free-eat loose hay, but it can be a good compromise.
 

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