What Do you feed your Rabbit

[Karen]

Miss Hoppy has never eaten pellets. The day we brought her home, we put some in a dish, she sniffed them and dumped the dish out and looked at us as if to say ... "well? where's the food?"

As a baby bunny she got alfalfa hay - and once full grown it's been Timothy hay.

Besides that, she eats:

parsley
dandelion greens
dandelion flowers in season
junior baby bok choy (regular bok choy is vehemently refused)
chicory
dill
radish tops - she usually just leaves the radishes, sometimes will nibble a teensy bit, but usually not
there is usually a carrot in some stage of being consumed around, she used to love the carrot tops, now she's 50/50 about them ...
every once in a while lacinto kale - but that's high in potassium, so she cannot have it very often
an ear of[COLOR= GoldenRod] corn[/COLOR], complete with the husks can keep her busy for days - some husks she eats right away, some she peels of so the get dried and crunchy, then eats them, and she does eat the corn kernels as well
frisee - though she likes to let it get good and brown and disgusting before she eats it - Paul calls this "the bacon effect"
every once in while some other greens, like she had some sage today
basil
she gets seed treats, likes those, but like all treats, they are given sparingly, these days she gets a salted peanut sometimes when I am having some

and of course her very important three raisins every night at 11!

and the bark off yummy sticks Grandpa finds her

That's pretty much her diet, and she is 10 1/2 years old, and after her treatment for her thymoma this fall, she is back to her energetic self, too! You try getting just three raisins out of a box that is in a ziplock bag, when you have a rabbit who has hopped up on the couch and then climbed up you, pushing her face in yours and saying "Raisin! Where's my Raisin???!!!!"

[Argranade]

I give Bullet pellets & since he's lazy I try not to give him too many. So I guess when he's about 5 or 6 months old I can just give him veggies & hay all the time with maybe a few pellets once a week, I want him as healthy as possible.

Wow Miss Hoppy sounds like a Queen in your house Karen lol.

[Karen]

Wow Miss Hoppy sounds like a Queen in your house Karen lol.

I hope that doesn't come as a surprise to anyone!

Growing up, Dad always joked that if there's reincarnation, he wants to come back as a pet in one of our families! He should know - being half of the team that raised us to spoil our critters ... Yes, he's the one who gets Miss Hoppy the sticks, and refers to her as The Grandbunny!

Well no wonder Miss Hoppy is doing so well for a gal her age!

People are always surprised at how old Miss Hoppy is, and then delighted. There's a cleark at the Whole Foods where I buy Miss Hoppy's greens (one of two places) who noticed me buying three bunches of dandelion greens at once and mentioned her bunny likes them. I told her that yes, they were for my bunny, and showed her Miss Hoppy's picture. She asked how old she is, and said "Oh, good!" when I said 10 years old, as her bunny is less than a year old, and she wants to have it for a long time.

It's funny, because the signs in the stores like Petco say "rabbits can live to be 5 to 8 years old" and I often point that out and ask the clerk if I should tell mine she's past her expiration date! Gives tham a chuckle, but plants the seed of knowledge that with proper care, some bunnies can live longer than the sign says!

[Aspen and Misty]

Julian and Sharra eat all the timothy hay they want and only get 1/4 cup of timothy hay based pellets every day.

No actually, pellets are just compacted alfalpha which isn't supposed to be fed to adult rabbits.

There are timothy based rabbit pellets made for Adult rabbits. Oxbow has some, but they are also sold in stores like Petsmart and Petco.

Here is a link to Oxbow's Timothy based pellets:

http://www.oxbowhay.com/Shop/showPro...?PRODUCT_NO=44


Ashley

[Blue Dragonfly]

i heard from the rabbit specialist vet that we go to that a rabbit's diet should consist of 80% - 90% hay and grass and the rest fruit and veggies. She says they shouldn't be having pellets at all.

[buttercup132]

i heard from the rabbit specialist vet that we go to that a rabbit's diet should consist of 80% - 90% hay and grass and the rest fruit and veggies. She says they shouldn't be having pellets at all.

Finally someone else who knows what I'm talking about.
People just think they should be feeding pellets because society has grown used to doing that. Big rabbit breeders and people who have lots of rabbits still feed pellet because it's easier. In the wild rabbits don't eat pellets and they do just fine.

I have owned rabbits for several years and have learned that from many rabbit message boards and websites

Doesn't mean it's right. Like I said society has grown to think they should be feeding pellets. Even people who claim to be rabbit experts feed their rabbits pellets.

If you guys are feeding them all hay why are you feeding pellets, what is the point? Since they are compacted they have even less nutrition.

I guess it's like arguing with people that feeding raw food for dogs is better then feeding kibble. Some people just won't belive it.

[Scooter's Mom]

My bunnies got pellets in addition to fresh fruits & veggies and timothy hay. They were very happy, and none of them were overweight.

As a kid, my bunnies got hay and pellets. My family didn't know any differently... but our bunnies still lived long lives.

[cali]

I feed Nutriphase pellets plus veggies and fruit. Kari hardly eats any pellets though, only like 1/8 of a cup a day sometimes less(she is free fed her pellets). she also munches on her litter(swheat scoop, its edible) so I think she tend to fill up on that. fruits and veggies vary, I rarly give her carrots as they give her loose stools though. she LOVES apples, anything apple, whole one, part ones apple juice, anything apple favoured etc.. lol. it was funny when I would have a glass of apple juice on my head board while she was out and about, I would look over and see her on my bed walking sidwalks on her hind legs sniffing along my headboard, she would find my cup, tip it into her front paws(so she was holding the cup) and drink it all. it was really funny lol