What do you think

[dr_peter_kraz]

Hi its Peter again and I have aquestion. I have been giving Faye(my rab) a normal amount ofveggies around 11 in the morning. She is 3 years in may andis chubby. I put up a question yesterday asking is nuts badfor rabbits and received the information I needed to make a educateddecision. It was of course the nuts and 20 some odd raisins Iwas giving her a day that put her at 7 pounds. She only needsto lose a pound to be at her regular weight, so shes not to fargone. What I started doing as we speak is giving her 2 cupsaday of veggies at two separate times (11am and 5pm) in amounts ofapproximately 1 cup. She communicates very well and Ipreciously was giving her a handful of lettuce whenever she wanted,thinking, its only around 15 calories per humanserving.She is also a somewhat activeindoor rabbit and has Lived with me since 5 mouths old. ShouldI expect trouble with her digestive system?How longwould it take for a7 pound rabbit that enjoys sitting on thebed as much as I do to lose that pound? Is there any crunchyeatables that I could include to help the transition of nuts andraisins to just small portions of veggies? Am I going theright way about this? I know the rabbit books I have say 2cups a day is the way to go but I just want some input, THANKS.



Peter & Faye

 

[AnnaS]

I don't give my bunny so much veggies, I only usethem for treats. He is mostly on pellets diet. Every day he gets 2leaves of lettuce or some parsley or a piece of green pepper.Occasionally, he gets a raisin or piece of apple or piece of banana.

 

[Stephanie]

I am pretty sure a "normal" rabbit is supposed toget a cup and a half of pellets a day, and veggies on occassion. Idon't give my rabbits veggies daily, well, ok, sometimes I do but notalways. I'm not on a strict diet with them, other than the constantsupply of timothy hay (I assume your Faye is getting her hay intake),and pellets.

 

[MyBunnyLovesMe]

I give my rabbits pellets whenever their dish isempty... I fill it to the top... then, fill it again when its empty...it usually takes them a day, or a day and a half to get through itall...the hay they go through much more quickly so I give that to themprobably two or 3 times a day.

They don't get veggies or anything...they don't like them for some reason

 

[Stephanie]

My rabbits can be snobs with certain veggies too.God forbid I dare give them regular carrots, it's baby carrots ornothing with them! lol

 

[Fergi]

Hello Dr. Peter...There is a lot of contradictinginformation on how to feed your rabbit. Most people agree that a dietof pellets, hay, and a variety of greens is the way to go. If you dochoose to start supplementing more greens you will need to do so slowlyto allow your rabbits digestive system time to adapt to the changes.Watch her stools, if she is getting too many greens she will mostlikley develop some diarrhea or soft stools. I have read that dependingon what kind of bun you have and how old it is you should feed 1 ounceof pellets per pound of rabbit. Young buns need to free-feed as donursing does and I believe the smaller breeds you do a littledifferently as well. The best thing to do in my opinion is to amass allthe facts and once again make an educated decision based on what worksfor you. Buns seem to do well on a variety of diets...what works for memay not work for you, etc.. Hope this helps a little and good luck!

Fergi's mom

 

[dr_peter_kraz]

Thanks everyone

The books I have indulged myself in have pointed me to think that 2onces divided into twoportions for a 5-7 pound rabbit andsame withtwo cups of veggies (three different types of greensincluded) as well as unlimited hay is what rabbits need forlongevity. As foragers I fully agree that greensmust be a daily diet. I would read up on justpellet feeding. I say that because in recent years it hasbeen found to be detrimental to your little buns health.

Peter

P.S. I love the input thank you so much

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Peter, what type of lettuce are you using?

This is how I feed Bo.

Morning: something treat-like but very small... like 2craisins, a pinch of oats,or a small slice of dehydratedpapaya or banana.

I also put his pellets in his dish (about 1/8 cup)

His hay rack is full all the time (timothy hay, orchard grass and oat hay)

Sometime between 8 and 10 pmI give him about 1 cup of veggies/salad (he's 3.5 pounds)

I mix up his veggies all the time. Romaine and cilantro arehis favorites, but I also use carrot tops, parsley, kale, carrots, bokchoy, and more.

Sometimes mid-day I will give him a piece of romaine or a little cilantro......

I usually give him a bit of pellets at night also. If hisbowl is empty I will just give him enough to cover the bottom (probably1 TBLSP) and he usually has a few left in the morning.....

His morning treat is likely what made him a bit chunky before, but he'sgrown a bit and we haven't raised his quantity.

 

[Lissa]

Can animal crackers and cherrios be used in place of daily veggies?

 

[dr_peter_kraz]

Yea I use prepackaged romaine lettuce and Iwanted to say on Saturday I am going to be taking some pic of Faye,myself, and are home. Hopefully you well all get a laugh outof them. Its going to be hard competing against Lisaandher very funny picture of the bun in the pot(I'm smilingjust thinking about that bun)

Peter

 

[SLRabbits]

Well, this is how my feeding goes (for a 3lb rabbit):

-Rabbits over 6 months get 1/2 c. of feed in winter, 1/3 c. in summer of pellets.

-Rabbits under 6 months and females with babies get unlimited pellets.

-They all get 1tsp. oats and black oiled sunflower seeds with the pellets.

-All get unlimited hay.

-EverySaturday night each rabbit gets a "salad" of parsley, lettuce, grapes, baby carrots, and raisins.

-Rabbits that aremolting get a 1tbs of canned pumpkin and a slice of pinapple every other night until molting is done.

I am still kind of experimenting with the feeding as I don't have toomany rabbits at the moment, but it seems to be working well.

~Nichole

 

[Spiced77]

everyone does it different lol igive my two buns a heart of romaine every morning, and 1 cup of pelletsbetween them a day. (ok sometimes a little more pellets..)sometimes they also get about half a bunch of cilantro (abunch being what the store sells them by..)

 

[Dwarf_Angel04]

Peter & Faye

First off.. Welcome to Rabbits Only!

As you can see everyone has their own way of feeding their rabbits.


A rule of thumb that us breeders use is one ounce of pellets per poundof rabbit. Since your rabbit is 6 lbs then 6 ounces of feed should befed to keep her at the current weight. I've never had a problem withoverweight rabbits so I'm helpless on that degree.

My rabbits are about 2 lbs and are on a diet of
1/4 cup of alfalfa based pellets
timothy hay (on occasion... normally more in the winter then in the summer)
Also I have them on a conditioning mixI make...
2Partsold fashion oats
1partcalf manna
1 part black oiled sunflower seeds
1 part spoon size non-frosted shreaded wheat
1 partshowbloom
and wheatgerm oil justenough to make iteverything 'stick' together

My rabbits get fed this once a day.

This is just an example to showyou how everyone feeds theirrabbits in their own way andkeep them healthy. On anoccasion, if I have an apple in the house I cut it up andgivea piece of apple to the rabbits. Parsley is alsogiven on aoccasion. My rabbits live a perfectly healthy life and itdoesn't consisted of fresh greens. I'm not saying that feeingfreshgreens is wrong. I'm justtrying to prove thateveryone's diets are different for their own rabbits.

Hope youcan get the weightdown on yourrabbit.However a pound is abig dose of weight toloose for a rabbit.:? It's not like humans loosing a pound. Good Luck!

~*~Amanda~*~
breeder of Dwarf Hotots

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Spiced77 wrote:

everyone does it different lol i give my twobuns a heart of romaine every morning, and 1 cup of pellets betweenthem a day. (ok sometimes a little more pellets..) sometimesthey also get about half a bunch of cilantro (a bunchbeing what the store sells them by..)

Do they love cilantro? I thought it smelled bad but now I'mso used to it, and if it's really yummy and fresh I can tell by thesmell LOL!

I think Bo could eat his weight in the stuff!

 

[*nepo*]

I give my bunny:

1/4 of a cup of pellets or sometimes 1/2 when he needs it.

Unlimited timothy hay.

Today I started giving him half a piece of celery

 

[LuvaBun]

Hi Peter, welcome. As you can probably tell,everyone has different ways of feeding their rabbits. In the UK, wetend to feed more veggies than used in the US, and our Rabbit Welfaresites recommend that - again, I believe it's different in the States. Igive my two rabbits two feeds a day, morning and night, and they getpellets, with a mix of either carrot, brocoli, celery, kale, apple,pear, mixed greens. They are healthy and happy, and the only differenceI really notice is that they don't drink as much water as rabbits on amainly pelleted diet, I suppose because they are getting fluid from thefruit and veg. The one thing we all have in common is that they haveunlimited hay. - Jan