Yet another pellet question

[RandomWiktor]

Howdy folks. I'm hoping a more seasoned rabbit keeper will have some advice for me here.

Our rabbits have been fed a pretty poor quality pellet traditionally, mostly due to my parents being in control of past buns we've had, and more recently just out of habit/familiarity. Our bunny Brindam has a very sensitive tummy that's gotten worse as she ages. She has FAR fewer issues when we feed her barely any of these lousy pellets, thus forcing her to eat hay, but in order to achieve this she really probably isn't getting quite enough pellets for her size (and I worry about deficiency). Wendy has no issues with the pellets but she's young and healthy and I'd like to get her on a better diet to keep her healthy for a long time.

My problem is this. Oxbow Bunny Basics/Tseems to be one of the few decent timothy based foods around here, but obviously it is greviously overpriced; they're wanting $15 for a 5lb bag and sorry, that's insane. I don't even pay that much for organic parrot food pound for pound.I'm not sure I can afford such a massively overpriced food with the precarious state of the economy. One of the next best thing which is MUCH less priceyis Zupreme Nature's Promise, which is also timothy based and has fairly decent ingredients. The problem is, it's 18% protien, and I believe rabbits should only have 16% or less.

So I guess my long winded question is: if you're only feeding ~1/4cup and the diet is dominated by hay, grazing, greens, and veggies, is it the end of the world that this food is slightly higher in protien? Or am I asking to destroy my rabbits' kidneys by being a miser? Is there a good quality timothy based pellet that IS within the right range and WON'T break the bank?

Your responses appreciated.

ETA: Oh yeah, and I know alfalfa based is popular here, but I'm really only looking for suggestions of timothy based pellets. Our old pellets are alfalfa based and whenever we give Brinny alfalfa cubes or alfalfa grass as a treat, her stomach acts up badly, so I'm guessing it's part of what isn't agreeing with her.

 

[pamnock]

You are correct that adding lower protein foods to the diet will lower the overall protein percentage of the diet below that of the 18% pellets. The optimal percentage of protein for a mature pet rabbit is 14%.

 

[Mrs. PBJ]

I can say I feed zupreem at the moment and storms loves itMy problem is zupreem is raising there prices. For ten pound you are loooking at 12 to 13 bucks.

So i am switching storm to purina rabbit fibre3.

its a alfha based but ti seems a lot of folks feed it without problems.

But I was just tellling you I think zupreem is a great food.

I may keep storm on it if I can save with hay somewhere

 

[tamsin]

Is her tummy okay with fresh foods? Most of what's in pellets you can get by feeding a wide range of fresh foods (different plants have different levels of vitamins). So if your doing that already, rather than swapping to a cheaper brand of pellets I would just reduce the number of pellets you feed. Monitor her weight to ensure she keeps it up but pellets aren't essential.

If you do feed the higher protein pellets I would spread them out over the whole day, don't feed a bowl at once. Although you can drop the daily average by feeding lower protein foods, you'd still be giving her a big bowl of high protein food in a short period which could upset her gut.

 

[pherber12]

The only Timothy pellet available in my area is Oxbow but it's ridiculously overpriced so I feed my bun Blue Seal Bunny 16 which is a maintenance pellet. Pellets are such a small part of her diet that I don't really worry about it.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

pherber12 wrote:

The only Timothy pellet available in my area is Oxbow but it's ridiculously overpriced so I feed my bun Blue Seal Bunny 16 which is a maintenance pellet. Pellets are such a small part of her diet that I don't really worry about it.

very well put.!!.-it seems all too common people free hand pellets and jepordize the health and well being of their rabbit.--sincerely james waller:wave::rose:

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Sounds good to me, especially if you are feeding the veggies and lots of hay. You could also change up hays and try Oat/Grassy Hays too just so it doesn't get old.

 

[RandomWiktor]

To be clear, I'm not switching her to a cheaper brand of pellets. I'm switching her from a very cheap but very poor quality pellet to a better quality timothy based pellet. I just am considering going with the slightly less expensive of the two and wondering, since I don't feed more than 1/4 cup and feed plenty of hay & fresh foods, if the slightly higher protein is an issue. It seems from the posts that as long as her diet continues to be dominated by other items, it probably won't be a big issue. I can probably even feed slightly less if I up her fresh stuff (which does not bother her belly, generally). Thanks folks!

Thanks for the tip on stretching the meals out, tamsin, I will definitely try that.

Also... she isn't free fed. She gets about 1/4 cup now as per the feeding guidelines, and her tummy upsets seem very closely related to the pellets. Shesporadically has issues on this ammount, if we feed less (which is too little for a bun of her size) she has fewer issues still but probably isn't getting complete nutrition, if she ever eats more they flare up hugely; she had major issues when my pet sitter fed her a half instead of a quarter when I was away. So, while I appreciate the opinion that "pellet ingredients don't really matter because they're a small portion of the diet," which may be true for a healthier rabbit, this rabbit has issues specifically related to her current (small ammount of) pellets and thus it DOES matter. As I mentioned I feel it may be related to the alfalfa base because she has similar issues from alfalfa hay and cubes.