Pet Forum / Mammals / Rabbits / February 2008

How many/what type of pellets do you feed her daily? What is her weight at
present?
What breed is she? Do you have photos posted anywhere?

What else is in her diet besides pellets?
She may need her pellets rationed; the general rule of thumb is 1/4 to 1/3
cup pellets per five pounds of rabbit per day once they hit seven months
old. The type of pellet makes a difference as well. Alfalfa pellets are
richer and more fattening. I switched Cocoa to timothy hay based pellets
which are higher in fibre and less fattening. Avoid pellets with nuts,
seeds, corn and coloured bits. Avoid carbs like breads, crackers, cookies or
other people foods.

Rabbits are not like people.  A diet could be more dangerous than a
couple of extra ounces.  One coffee scoop of pellets for a four pound
rabbit two scoops for an eight pound rabbit.  As long as you are feeding
real food I would not worry.  Three cups of greens a day per rabbit.  A
healthy bunny has a full round tummy.  That's the first thing my vet
checks for.  Buy the best hay you can find.  Give some carrot as a daily
treat and once a week five or six dried cranberries (no sugar) and a
walnut to counter calcium build up.  A slice of banana, only as thick as
a quarter will make (quite literally) their but twitch with joy.  
Bananas have sugar so this is only a special treat.

Now kiss your rabbit and say with emotion, "My sweet little fat rabbit"
.  Repeat this three times.

Professor, The Jump, Zolo, Wizard, & Magic Brenda

Petunia is 5.6Lbs as of last week, and was 4.6Lbs when she was
spayed.  I don't think she is any particular breed, but I am not
sure.  She has the markings of a Cinnamon, but also some white, and
isn't as large.  I don't have any photos posted anywhere, but I have
emailed you a few pictures of her out in the snow a couple weeks
ago.

Her diet consists of 1/4 cup of pellets daily with unlimited grass hay
and roughly a cup of fresh veggies on the side, mostly romaine
lettuce, parsley and other herbs, and/or mixed salad greens (mesclun
mix).  She gets a small piece of fruit (usually a slice of apple or a
small piece of banana) once a week.  The pellets are alfalfa based and
we get them in large bags at an agricultural feed store (co-op) since
it is more cost effective when feeding four hungry rabbits!  We never
give our buns people food like breads/cereal or cookies or anything
like that, so I guess maybe it is the alfalfa pellets?  Are the
timothy pellets more expensive than alfalfa pellets?  I have never
seen them before. Can I get them at any old pet store?  Do you think
they would be available at the co-op?  I will have to look into it.

Many thanks!

oh Professor... you and I must have posted at the same time!  Thank
you for your nutritional tips.  I will definitely increase our buns'
intake of fresh greens - it is so much easier in the summer when
things are in season, as veggies seem to be so expensive at this time
of year!  Oh well, spring is soon upon us here in frosty Ontario (I
hope).  I did not know about the walnuts and cranberries, and will
incorporate them this week.  I am sure our girls will be delighted,
for the most part - Petunia is actually the picky one, which is
surprising since she seems kind of chubby, but we shall see how it
goes.  And I guess no more bananas!  she'll be disappointed about
that, as it is one of her favourites ha ha.
The hay we get is awesome; I am sometimes tempted to try it myself, it
smells so good!  ha ha   My husband's uncle is a  farmer and raises
Simmental cattle in Lindsay, Ontario.  He gives us a square bale of
Timothy a few times a year, and it is stored in a cool dry place in
the house so I think we are ok on the hay front.

thanks again!

Hello,

My vet is recomending 1/8th cup of timothy pellets per 5 pounds of
body weight and 1 cup of greens per pound of body weight per day.
Jack is a dutch but I believe this would be a good rule of thumb for
all breeds.  A good check up with a Bun savy vet would be a good idea
they could let you know what an ideal weight for the specific breed
would be.

John, Connie and Jack

Well, since my girls generally hate each other's guts, they are all
fed separately so it is darn near impossible for Petunia to be eating
anyone else's food.  (well, they all hate each other with the
exception of Chicken and Hoppie... Chicken LOVES Hoppie and would love
to be with her more than anything in the world, but Hoppie only
tolerates her if I am around to supervise... I think it is a case of
age differences - Hoppie is a wise old girl of eight and has settled
down, while Chicken is just under two and gets a little rambunctious
for Hoppie's liking).  I am going to look for timothy pellets, and
maybe give them just to Petunia for now (or a mix of timothy/alfalfa)
since if they are too expensive I can't afford to give them to
everyone right now!  I like to think that we feed our buns pretty well
- pet health/nutrition has always been very important in our household
- most of the time our pets eat better than we do!

Do you suppose they would eat fresh cranberries?  I love cranberry
sauce and I make it all year 'round rather than just at holidays, so I
always have a bag of cranberries in the house.  Is there any advantage
of the dried berries over fresh?  I guess maybe the dried ones (even
though they are not sweetened with sugar) would be sweeter because the
natural sugars in the fruit are concentrated in their dried form, and
therefore are more appealing to buns.  Although it seems safe to me,
is there any reason why I should not try giving them fresh cranberries
(if they will eat them, of course)?

I visit the OREO website frequently, but have never used their forum
and am not a member.  I will have to look into it further.

once again, thanks for all the great info... you are all so amazing!
I learn something new every time I'm here ha ha

I have joined a photo sharing site, so here are some pictures of
Petunia in the snow just recently, so you can all judge her pudge
factor... let me know what you think!

When we brought Roxie in for her annual wellness check the vet weighed
her and even though we kept her on the same diet (2 coffee scoops/day
of pellets mixed 50/50 alfalfa/timothy, greens,unlimited grass hay,
and very tiny piece of fruit) she had gained one pound in a year.  He
could feel the excess fat and said she had to lose weight and he
wanted to be able to feel her waist again.  He suggested we cut out
all pellets.  I've not quite done that, but she is now down to less
than 1 T pellets/day & I suspect that she was eating more because she
probably finished Biscuit's pellets too.
Anyway, the vet can tell you what's up.
Martha

You want to be able to feel the nubs of her spine if you run your hand
over her back. They sound feel like your knuckles. If you can't feel
the nubs, she's too heavy. You should be able to feel her ribs with
no/little pressure.

If you can't feel her bone structure she is too heavy. There are a
couple things you can do. The easiest is to reduce the amount of
pellets. You'll also want to feed lots of greens, but limit the amount
of carrots and other energy dense veggies.

b