Feeding Rabbits

Rabbit Nutrition - The technical among us (including me) might like to know exactly what are some nutritional needs of rabbits. This page is applicable to all rabbit owners, breeders and managers.

Rabbit Feed - Our review of a new rabbit pellet formulation on the market and now available online, plus info on what makes an excellent rabbit feed. Take the info and evaluate your own rabbit feed.

Show Rabbit Conditioning - Nothing so disappointing than to run your hand over the back of a gorgeous rabbit and feel the knobby backbone, to find a bunch of flabby folds around a rabbit's dewlap, or find a disastrously blown coat on show day. Not all of these situations are avoidable...but some are!

Don't raise show rabbits? No prob. You'll still get great tips for keeping any rabbit in the peak of health.

Show Rabbit Conditioning Part II will help you troubleshoot any problems you may have with conditioning your rabbits for show.

Feeding Baby Rabbits - Tips and techniques to care for and feed baby rabbits, should something drastic happen to the doe.

Feeding Wild Rabbits - Discover a formula and feeding program for orphaned baby rabbits. Designed to feed wild cottontails and jackrabbits, it is also appropriate for domestic rabbits, and will help you avoid the main threat to the lives of baby rabbits: enterotoxemia - bunny diarrhea.

Rabbit Food - Once upon a time, there was no such thing as rabbit pellets. Feeding rabbits without commercial pellets is definitely possible, with the correct know-how. If you can't obtain pellets where you live, or if pellets are too expensive, check out this page and see if there's a way to raise rabbits without pellets.

Pet-Safe Plants - Use this handy list to identify fruits, vegetables, plants, herbs, flowers and trees etc. that are safe to feed to your rabbits. Plus, we included a few safety tips on problematic plants.

Rabbit Diet - we show you the exact diet we feed our Rex rabbit show herd at Aurora Rex Rabbit Ranch.

Fresh is Best! Maintenance & Show Rabbit Food Soy Free With Timothy Hay & Flax More Information

Feeding Rabbits: Different Needs for Different Rabbits

Pet and house rabbits:
The adult pet rabbit requires only maintenance rations...but is frequently fed too many treats by a loving owner! The greatest danger to a pet rabbit may be obesity, because obesity brings with it a plethora of health dangers.

Wool rabbits:
Require high protein to grow all that wool, and additionally these rabbits are more prone to potentially fatal wool block (impaction). Keep mineral oil, papaya enzymes and lots of grass hay at the ready in case the rabbit goes off feed.

Fur rabbits:
Producing a prime pelt at age 6 months necessitates strong protein levels, and knowing when it's time to lower the protein content of the feed so the rabbit will hold the coat and not blow it in a molt.

Meat rabbits:
A busy maternal doe and her kits need high protein, but also critical is an adequate balance of fiber for her health and that of her kits. You definitely want to avoid a potentially fatal case of enteritis. Definitely helpful to know this about feeding rabbits.

Large commercial herds:
The pressure to make a financial go of the enterprise puts pressure on the manager to produce an 8-week-old fryer rabbit that has gained sufficient weight for market. All without pushing the doe too hard. This requires a good feed-to-weight-gain ratio, and good management that eliminates feed waste. (Wasted feed cuts into profits.)

The backyard meat rabbit set up:
Your family will get more meat out of your rabbits, or maybe less, depending on how you feed and how healthy you can keep the rabbits. Feeding rabbits adequate protein levels will speed weight gain.

Show rabbitries:
Show breeders typically keep anywhere from a few, up to, say, 100 rabbits. He is not only very interested in conditioning the show rabbits to improve his chances of winning, but he is striving to produce excellent rabbits that closely match the breed's standard of perfection, thereby improving upon the breed of rabbits.

Coprophagy

Coprophagy is defined as the act of consuming feces. You may have seen your rabbits doing this--they bend themselves around and nibble at their hind end. They're not usually cleaning, they're eating their 'vitamins,' so to speak.

A Cecotrope is the technical term for the soft clusters of feces that come straight from the cecum. They look a bit like grape clusters, are surrounded by a little membrane, and are rich in vitamins and a bit of bacterial protein.

Cecotropes give the rabbit important nutrients and vitamins which have been synthesized by gut bacteria, including Vitamin K and a plethora of B vitamins. Scientists have put collars on rabbits so they couldn’t eat the stuff, and their nutritional status declined.

Rabbits don’t eat the hard round ‘marbles,’ only the soft clusters. And the rabbit only consumes it directly from the hind end. If a cecotrope should hit the ground without being eaten, the rabbit loses all interest in it.

May I offer a gentle warning?

Beware of moldy feed and hay--

Moldy hay is downright dangerous. Old feed might look okay, but after about 3 months, the vitamins have degraded. Add a little moisture to the bag through time, and some not-readily-obvious mold begins to grow.

Not good, because all of a sudden a lot of your rabbits can become sick. They may show some warning diarrhea, and if you're not alert, they could die from the mold toxins coupled with lack of nutrients.

It's not worth it to try to save money by using up and feeding rabbits old food or moldy hay.

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