So I'm going to buy Oxbow pellets

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juicyjuicee

juicyjuicee

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I'm hoping this will clear up Charie's poopy butt.

The food i'm feeding is currently Alfalfa based so i'm switching to timothy.

There are no stores around here that carry oxbow. TSC and Agway don't i believe.

So i'm buying it off of www.rabbitstop.com and going to pay roughly $20. But it's worth it.

Anyone know of any stores that carry oxbow or maybe even Kaytee timothy pellets?
 
I would say the first thing would be to get a vet to diagnose just why he has a poopy butt, then you can go from there. He should be getting free-fed hay regardless.

Just cutting back on pellets can help, if pellets are the problem. If an adult you can go down to as little as 1/8 cup/day depending on his size.

If you switch to tim pellets, it should be gradual. Keep in mind tho that many rabbits reject most or all brands of tim pellets, or take a long time to accept them.
 
I was going to feed Oxbow as well but it turns out the cheapest I can get it for is $120 for 50 lbs, I can't afford that by any means. I have noticed a huge improvement in Mocha though so I'm going to but the Kaytee Timothy Complete pellet since it works out closer to $50 for 50 lbs. I know a lot of Petsmarts carry them.

Go here to find where you can find them:

http://www.kaytee.com/store_locator/

Beware, Kaytee does contain a known cancer causer but as another member pointed out, Oxbow also has it's down side as well.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I had a real problem with Mocha having excess cecals and squishing them although he didn't have a poopy butt, excess protein can cause it.
 
I order oxbow hay all the time over the phone. They have a special "nutritionist who can tell you about ingredients in their products. I think if that company knew that it is "going around" on rabbit websites that there is a cancer producing ingredient in their pellets that they would listen. I have to remeber where I read about it.
 
No offence, but I never trust a person supplied by the company to tell me about the product, the person is biased by the company. Most of the time, the problem is in the preservatives so it's nearly unavoidable. m.e. pointed out that Oxbow pellets also contain an ingredient that can cause health problems but I forget what it was.
 
A lot of very well respected exotic animal hospitals and exotic animal vets promote Oxbow and sell Oxbow productsl. The company has a very good reputation which I"m sure they do not want to lose. I think they would listen.
 
It is the BEST rabbit pellet you can buy, but it is not perfect either. That's why it's most recommended by vets. I think that if it was avoidable to use these things, they would have found a way to avoid using these harmful products but it may just not be possible right now.
 
I found it!

m.e. wrote:
Well, not to rain on anyone's parade, but Oxbow contains Menadione, a synthetic Vitamin K additive thatis believedto cause (among other things) "cytotoxicity in liver cells".Many pet food manufacturers are starting to remove it from their products.I feed my rabbits Oxbow, and recently started researching this.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione

If there's a perfect food out there I haven't found it yet...
Click to expand...


http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=14574&forum_id=1&jump_to=210309#p210309
 
As I said, there is no perfect pellet, there will never be something perfect that's man-made.
 
Fiver our bunny hasn't wanted to eat hay from being a baby, although its always in his cage and always will be. Oxbow's rabbit pellets have been a life saver for him. He had to have dental treatment at one year old. He even went into gastric stasis in which I managed to pull him through by hand feeding. He hasbeen living on unlimitedOxbow's pellets for 3 years now. Since being on Oxbow he's needed just one dental operation so far, he had onemolar spur.

He occassionally has a messy bottom, but compared to how he used to be, he produces lovely sized poops. I would of course prefer him to tuck into hay, but he only ever eats tiny bits, even grass or Timothy hay doesn't tempt him very much, so I really do think Oxbows pellets saved his life.

Like Bunman has mentioned juicyjuicee, I would advise that you take Charie to the vets to make sure his teethare ok.Sometimes atooth problem that stops them eating enough fibre can upset their digestive system.



 
Thanks everyone.

He did have a checkup a couple months back and he was fine.

MBB yeah he has excess cecals so i think that was caused by the alfalfa based food. That's what is sticking to him.

I bought the oxbow but i didn't read what you had said about synthetic vitamin K additive. Now i'm a little concerned.
 
To be honest, Oxbow pellets are the best you can feed your rabbit. They are highly recommended by vets and the cons of it are by far outweighed by the benefits of their pellets. There is no perfect pellet, there will always be something wrong with them. I think the best bet is to keep him on Oxbow if you can afford it.
 
I use Kaytee Timothy Complete and can get it at most of the pet supplies in my area.

Oxbow is not available by me in the quantity I need, and is too expensive if I order online.

I have 2 buns that have a hard time with the higher protein feeds. Kaytee actually had 1% less protein than the Oxbow, and being that was the issue with my buns it was a good alternative. Since switching over, the poopy-butt issues have pretty much been eliminated.

Even hay can have preservatives...that's the bright green stuff you see from time to time.

Oxbow hay online is a pretty good deal as compared to buying the Kaytee in the store. Oxbox comes to $1 pound for a 50lb box (including shipping)...as compared to Kaytee at $2 a pound.
 
JimD, I am also going to use Kaytee Timothy complete despite the fact that it contains a carcinogen. Oxbow works out to about $120 for 50 lbs while Kaytee works out to about $50 for 50 lbs. It's much more affordable and I don't see the point of paying over double the price for pellets that also have some bad ingredients as well. Not to mention, the lower protein is exactly what Mocha needs.

Ever since switching from the alfalfa pellets, Mocha has not had a single excess cecal pellet. I thought it was the veggies at first, but I've added them again and it has not reoccured. The only thing is that I'm keeping Spice on Alfalfa because he refuses to eat the Timothy and he has not had an issue on the Alfalfa pellets. If worse comes to worse, when Spice is older, I will put him on a much higher quantity of veggies and cut the pellets if he still wont take the Timothy ones.

As for hay and preservatives, none of my hay has any, ever. I buy farm hay and I talk to the farmer to know exactly how they grow it, etc.
 
MyBabyBunnies wrote:
As for hay and preservatives, none of my hay has any, ever. I buy farm hay and I talk to the farmer to know exactly how they grow it, etc.
Click to expand...


I wish I could buy farm hay. No places near me, though.

Buck bought from a place in Creamridge,NJ.....about 80 miles from me.

I live up by NYC...not too many farms, but there are a few riding/boarding stables around. Maybe I'll check with them.


 
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