Bunny Tips Healthy Bunny Diet

							Your Rabbit’s Diet
Vegetables and Herbs
In order for them to obtain essential nutrients, rabbits need a varied diet. Feed your rabbit plenty of fresh vegetables every day – a minimum of one cup of vegetables for every four pounds of body weight. Select at least three types of vegetables daily, and make sure at least one vegetable per day is high in Vitamin A (indicated by an asterisk in the list below). Don’t add too many new veggies all at once, though, since rabbits have fairly delicate digestive systems. Add one vegetable to the diet at a time and watch your bunny’s stool. Eliminate any vegetable that causes soft stool or diarrhea. Here are some suggestions: Romaine lettuce Green leaf and red leaf lettuce Escarole Endive Kale Mustard greens* Collard greens* Dandelion greens* Radicchio Carrot tops* Radish tops Carrots (occasionally) Broccoli leaves Spinach*

Herbs are also a wonderful addition to your rabbit’s diet. Try basil, mint, cilantro, parsley* or dill.

Pellets
Rabbits should also be fed fresh, good-quality timothy pellets every day. If you switch from one brand of pellet to another, do it gradually to avoid upsetting your rabbit’s digestive system. You should not purchase more than a six-week supply of food at a time since it can become spoiled or rancid, and can cause the rabbit to stop eating. Choose pellets with the following nutritional values: 16% to 18% protein and a minimum of 18% fiber (the higher the better). Do not purchase a feed that is medicated or supplemented with bits of dried fruit and seed (very high in sugar and fat). Both can upset your rabbit’s intestinal balance. Rabbits who are less than six months old should be free-fed (i.e., fed unlimited hay and alfalfa-based pellets). After six months of age, pellets should be reduced to 1/4 cup per five pounds of body weight per day.

Hay
Fresh hay must be available 24 hours a day. Rabbits who are less than six months old should be fed alfalfa hay. After six months of age, rabbits should be slowly converted to fresh timothy hay.

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Water
Clean, fresh water should be available at all times. Ceramic bowls are preferable to water bottles and should be cleaned regularly.

Treats
Treats should be natural. Small pieces of fruit or a favorite herb are excellent choices. Fruit such as apples and pears should be served without the seeds. Papaya and pineapple are good treats, since they aid in digestion. Avoid store-bought treats – they are high in sugar and low in nutritional value. Sugar increases the “bad” bacteria in a rabbit’s intestines and can cause disease, resulting in diarrhea and loss of appetite. Do not give your rabbit chocolate, cookies, cereal, pasta or other human treats. There is research to suggest that these items contribute to fatal cases of enterotoxaemia, a toxic overgrowth of bad bacteria in the intestinal tract. This resource was compiled by Liz DiNorma of the House Rabbit Society and rabbit expert Cinnamon Gimness.

• 435-644-2001 • www.bestfriends.org