Rabbits eating our dog food

[mama24]

Hello. Our two recently acquired bunnies love toeat our Pro Plan dog food that are Boxers consume. It doesn'tseem to be bothering them and it is hilarious to see the two 50 lbboxers wait in line to eat their food when the bunnies are out runningaround. Just curious as to what others thoughts are onthis?

 

[Sweetdelight]

It's too late! they now have the taste of meat! what next, human meat?!? *runs off*


Is that even safe for bunnies to eat meat?

 

[naturestee]

I'd make sure the rabbits can't get to the dogfood. They're not set up to digest meat so it could cause adigestive upset. Plus too much protein can cause problemswith excess cecals and "poopie butt."

Although it's cool that your rabbits have your dogs trained to wait!

 

[mama24]

I have just spoken to our Vet and we will put upthe dog dishes from now on when the bunnies are loose, just in casethey have a problem. They will contininue ontheirdiet of hay, vegies and fruit. Thank you forresponding.

 

[BACI]

Thanks for posting that, last night I walkedinto the room to find my husband freaking out, for a lack of a betterterm. Here I thought the rabbit had eaten something poisonous, but hewas upset she sniffed the dog bowl... Cannibalism, he said. He isfirmly convinced eating the meat would kill her. I too will pick up thedishes, she never seemed interested before.

 

[Bun~Bun]

When Bun-Bun was young, and we would let himroam around the house, I saw him near the dog bowl. He was nibbling atthe dog food!! LOL!!
But meat-eating rabbits? Wouldn't that skrew up their digestivesystem? Not mention giving them bigger smellier poops!!
There is one thing Bun-Bun has an interesting taste for -spegetty(Spelling.) noodles(Of course no sause!!)!! Back then I droppeda noodle on the floor, and he ate it!! When we made spagette, we wouldmake sure to make a tiny plate for Bun!!

 

[Maureen Las]

Bunnies systems are not made to digest meatproducts,however I doubt a small amount of kibble eaten by accidentwould hurt them. I wouldn't let my buns eat any meat products.

 

[kitschkitty]

Female rabbits have been known to eat theirnewly born babies if they feel in danger - apparently it is a survivalthing to avoid predators (sounds gross). :shock:So it doesn'tkill them, but as a lifestyle thing obviously meat is not part of abunny's regular diet.



P.S. why did my first post have to be so icky! lol -

Hi, really I love fluffy bunnies (actually I like Dutch, Rex and Belgian hares) and pink things :elephant:

 

[BACI]

BACI wrote:

Cannibalism, he said. He is firmly convinced eating the meat would kill her..

I did not mean "meat". I meant that dog food is meat based (chicken,beef etc) I know other animals that eat their young if they are notable to survive. However, I was not going there. sorry for theconfusion.:?

 

[BACI]

OOOPS Did not mean to be so rude.

WELCOME TO THE FORUM kitschkitt!!!:elephant:
Do you have rabbits or just pink elephants? LOL

 

[gentle giants]

I am not really disagreeing with everybody who has posted on here, but I did want to make a couple of points.
First, unless you get really good dog food, a lot of brands list theirmain ingredients as corn. Of course, I still wouldn't give it tobunnies except mabye as a once in a rare while kind of treat.
Second, I know a rabbit's digestive system is not made to eat meat on aregular basis, but they obviously can handle some of it. There is athread on here somewhere about putting a slice of bacon in a doe's cageto help prevent her cannibalising the kits. I have also read somewhere(could be old wives tale, don't quote me on it) that snowshoe haresoften eat carrion. I don't know how much a snowshoe's systmem woulddiffer froma domestic rabbit's, though.
Once again, I am not trying to argue with anyone, just wanted to put in my two cents.

 

[Nadezhda]

Cannibalism? Zorro's worn a cone for two weeks because he couldn't stop eating his neuter area!

As for wild rabbits: they often have parasites that would allow thebuns to eat trash and meat. The parasites would feed off theickies. It would take away nutrients from the bun, but alsosave buns life. Wild buns have a short lifespan, however...

I wouldn't let my buns eat my Hunter's puppy chow! What about dog toys, like stiff hide chews?

 

[Greta]

Mmmm! Dog food! (sorry, I just had to do that!)
I would imagine the dry kibble wouldn't be bad for her, infact my buns love dog biscuits! good for their teeth, too. I wouldn'tlet her eat the canned stuff if I could help it, though...

 

[kitschkitty]

See, I knew my first post would not only raisean icky issue, but upset someone -oops :embarrassed: (when infact I wasjust trying to be reassuring that an occasional increase in protienwasn't ythe end of the world, though we do know our bunscanhave quite sensitive digestion).

I image the less meaty dog biscuits and most crunchy sort would be goodfor buns teeth -no? We give them to our pet rats for thier teeth(though obviously meat is part of a rats diet).

Anyway hope the dog's are getting all thier dinner (sometimes my mumscat will steal the dogs dinner and he doeesn't dare to stopher)!



:dutch


Oh yes we have a bunny he's called Dijon, he's a tricolour Dutch, he's fab!

My mum made me laugh the other day I was telling her how Iovercooked some Tuna steaks so the rats were going to begetting a very nice snack, and she said aren't you going to give thebunny some?

Um, no. Bunny's dont tend to go fishing, tuna is not really part of thier diet! :craziness

 

[Prizm]

My bun hops up and down and stamps when we feedour cat. His little nose snuffles a mile a minute until we give him afew peices. He will not stop if he is not fed some of the cat's food,so we must trick him by feeding him a carrot instead. Then he's okayand his nose hasn't fallen off yet:bunnydance:

 

[kfonz]

My BunBun will dig through grocery bags to catcha snack now. Once he dug through my backpack and ate half aSamoa Cookie (girl scout cookie with caramel, chocolate, andcoconut!). :disgust: I know, soundsreally bad, but the weird part is he didn't even get runs and no poopybutt! Now he sniffs out everything to get a taste of humansnacks. Like the whole meat thing, I think he's figured outwhat tastes good, and wants it real bad!

 

[TinysMom]

My rabbits regularly get into the dog's food andsnack on it. I'm talking about my younger rabbits (shortlyafter weaniing) and my adults...even Tiny.

They'll even do this if their food is present...I think that to them it is as if they're scavenging....which they love to do.

I've picked up the dog food - only to have them go looking for the dog food bag, etc.

They never seem to eat much - its just part of their curiousity andexploration here I think. Tiny does like the dog's food asmuch as his own food....so he'll eat some of his and then he'll eatsome of his food...

Peg

P.S I'm not saying I encourage it....just that it hashappened...and if I forget to pick up the dog food bowl...they'll getinto it...