How To Know If Your Rabbit Is Having The Good Food
Most pet owners know that a rabbit’s diet will consist of things like water, pellets and vegetables. Although fruit is a nice treat, it shouldn’t be something you regularly feed your rabbit as it can end up obese. Because of the fact rabbits can dehydrate quite quickly, a constant water supply is essential to keep them healthy. Now lets look at some more information to guide you in the right direction with your rabbit food.
Pellets
Feeding rabbits pellets is common practice and these are available from a wide range of pet stores, both online and offline. Although still a popular choice with pet owners, pellets were originally used by breeders.
Hay
Of course, we all know that rabbits need some hay. A steady supply of hay will help prevent digestive tract problems in rabbits. As well as this, hay is also full of vitamins which your rabbit needs. Most rabbits enjoy nibbling on hay and this prevents them from chewing other things, so it is definitely useful to have.
Treats
In addition to hay and pellets, there are also many different rabbit food treats available. Treats are unhealthy in large quantities for rabbits, just as they are for humans. In pet stores, you will often find that a lot of the treats are full of carbs and high in sugar. If an owner is determined to feed the rabbit treats, the best treat to provide it with is fruit.
Acceptable fruits (seeds and pips MUST be removed): Banana, Mango, Pineapple, Peach, Apple, Kiwi, Berries, Orange and other citrus fruits.
Like you already know, any sort of treats should be fed in moderation so that your rabbit doesn’t suffer health problems. Their diet should consist of no more than half a tablespoon of fruits or treats per day.
However, fresh fruits should not be given to rabbits under the age of 4 months because their digestive systems are not always developed enough to handle the fruit. If you don’t follow these rules, you could have a dead bunny within 48 hours, which is very sad.
Please also note that lettuce isn’t recommended either, as it can also cause rabbit death due to the lack of nutritional value.
Caecal pellets
Something else you should be aware of is that some rabbits do eat their faeces. The official name for these is ‘cecal’ pellets and they are actually an important part of a rabbit’s diet. The cecal pellets are a rabbit’s only way of obtaining vitamin B12, which is an essential part of staying healthy. Because of the way a rabbit’s digestive system is designed, they cannot get the vitamins they need directly from their food and therefore need to eat their faeces. This is perfectly normal though.
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