Rabbit Nutrition
If I only feed my rabbits grass hay, will she still get the vitamins she needs if she is not eating pellets?
Rabbit pellets are quite valuable during a rabbit’s early months of development and rapid growth since they are a ready-made nutrition packet filled with all the necessary nutrients. If the goal is to have a rabbit in a research lab, grow them for meat or for a short-term 4-H project, pellets are the easiest way to accomplish this. However, now that rabbit numbers exceed horse numbers in the United States, many people are discovering how beneficial a rabbit can be as a normal family pet and companion. Few are willing to accept a life expectancy of only a couple of months but would like to look forward to several years or more.
Rabbits are herbivores or plant eaters. The process of making commercial pellets shreds the alfalfa into manageable, high energy, tasty, bite size pieces. Unfortunately, this robs the rabbits of important chewing benefits. Rabbits and rodents have teeth that continuously grow all their life and they need to be worn down. Wooden blocks or other chew toys minimally help only the front teeth while the back teeth need the most work. The fibrous hay is needed to stimulate the stomach and cecum (pouch from the large intestine) to work properly as well.
Rabbits in the wild survive on lots of things that people and other pets would starve on if we ate them. Grasses, branch buds, tree bark. Yuck! This is their niche in those environments, however. They have bacteria and protozoa in a wonderful cecum that converts these fibrous materials into nutrients and vitamins. Some are absorbed immediately and others must be processed again. Rabbits actually will pass these mucousy, pasty droppings and ingest them.
Double yuck! These cecotropes or “night feces” are eaten by rabbits so they can obtain a full spectrum of nutrition. Problems arise if rabbits do not get enough fiber to have the cecum work properly or if they become obese due to inactivity and eating only high-energy pellets and they can’t reach around to get these cecotropes.
A lack of adequate grass fiber can cause not only tooth and diarrhea problems, but also hair balls. Rabbits are pretty big groomers, similar to cats, and swallow lots of hair. If the stomach has weak contractions, hair can build up, cause a feeling of fullness, and result in a reduced appetite. Timothy, Bermuda and other grass hays are preferred over alfalfa (it is very sweet and has extra calcium which can be a problem if fed exclusively). Fiber and regular exercise (lots of hopping) are necessary to keep the stomach contents mixing and moving. Increasing fiber and water intake as well as improved house romps can avoid the need for advanced medical or surgical intervention.
General nutrition guidelines are to feed 75-80% grass hay with small amounts of leafy green, yellow, or orange vegetables. If pellets are offered, do not give more than 1/8 cup per two pound rabbit each day. An exercise room is advisable for several hours each day but must be rabbit-proofed to prevent house damage (especially electric cords), injury to your rabbit and be cool enough that temperatures will not exceed 80 degrees, a temperature at which rabbits can develop heat stroke.
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