Diet and Nutrition
Rabbits are herbivores (plant eaters). In the wild, their main diet is grass although they also eat a range of other vegetation including leaves, twigs, and tree bark. All these foods have something in common: they are high in fibre but low in nutrients. To cope with this, rabbits have evolved a specialised digestive system that can process plant fibre and extract the additional nutrients locked inside (something that most animals, including humans, are not able to do).
Rabbits' specialised digestive system means you must feed the right combination of foods to keep your rabbit healthy and their digestive system working effectively.
Around 80% of a rabbit's diet should be grass or hay (dried grass). The rest is made up of a combination of fresh foods (e.g. vegetables and plants) and commercial dry food (e.g. pellets/nuggets). Select the foods below to learn more about each.
No single diet can be right for every rabbit and getting the right balance of foods can be complicated. Even rabbits the same size may have different diet requirements. The exact combination and quantity of foods a rabbit requires daily to meet their energy and nutrient needs depends on several factors including their age, size, breed (eg long or short coated), environment, and level of physical activity. As these factors change throughout your rabbit's life you may need to reassess their diet regularly to ensure it is still meeting their needs.
Why getting the diet right is so important ..
Preventing Health Problems - Having such a specialised digestion system has drawbacks. Whilst it's very efficient at processing high fibre food, the wrong types of food or sudden diet changes can easily disrupt it throwing the whole digestive system out of balance. This can have serious consequences, the most common include:
Poopy Butt
This is the common name for the production of excess cecal droppings, which is characterised by sticky droppings caught in the fur around the tail. It leaves a rabbit prone to secondary problems like fly-strike. This is often the first indication that your rabbit's diet isn't quite right.
Stasis
Stasis is a potentially fatal illness in which the content of the gut stops moving along the digestive tract. The initial symptoms are a loss of appetite and reduction in size and quantity of droppings, as it progresses dropping production completely halts. Without prompt treatment, a rabbit will deteriorate rapidly.
Bloat
This has similar symptoms to stasis but the gut becomes filled with gas. This is very painful and again needs prompt veterinary intervention.
Diet is also a factor in other health problems, such as:
Dental Health
Rabbits teeth grow continually throughout their life. An appropriate diet, high in rough fibre, such as grass and hay, is essential to prevent the teeth growing too long and cutting into the tongue and cheeks. As well a mouth injuries, dental problems can results in long term problems with overgrown roots, tooth abscesses and blocked tear ducts.
Obesity
Being overweight puts extra pressure on your rabbits body and organs which can results in sore hocks, heart and liver disease and mobility impairments.
Behaviour
The types of food you feed and the manner in which you feed them also affect your rabbit's behaviour. Wild rabbits naturally spend over two-thirds of each day moving around their territory grazing. When pet rabbits are fed too much concentrated food, which is quick to eat, they often become bored and develop behaviour problems because they do not have any activities to fill the hours that would usually be spent feeding. With no appropriate outlet for foraging behaviours, such as striping bark from trees, they can become destructive behaviours, like wallpaper striping and cage chewing. By making your rabbit's diet and feeding pattern more natural, you can encourage your rabbit to exercise both its brain and body, helping to maintain a healthy weight and prevent boredom.
Please note: you should never make sudden changes to your rabbit's diet. Even if your rabbit has a 'bad' diet, suddenly changing to a 'good' diet can do more harm than good. Changing or introducing new foods should always be done gradually.
Whilst diet is not the only factor in preventing illness and disease, it plays an important part in maintaining your rabbit's health and well-being. By feeding the right foods, you can prevent a whole range of health problems and in doing so lengthen your rabbit's lifespan.
Source:
Rabbit Diet and Feeding - The Rabbit House
Dietary Requirements
The cornerstone of any good adult rabbit diet consists of fresh hay, hay and more hay, long fibrous grasses, quality pellets, water, and some greens. Anything other than these basics should be considered a "treat" and be given in limited quantities. The amounts of these diet essentials varies with the age of the rabbit.
Pellets
Pellets are most important in the younger stages of rabbit development because they are highly concentrated in nutrients, helping to ensure proper weight gain. A quality pelleted food should be high in fibre (18% minimum) and nutritionally balanced. As a rabbit reaches maturity, however, pellets should make up less of the diet replaced with higher quantities of hay and greens. Overfeeding pellets in mature rabbits can lead to obesity and other medical conditions.
Read more about this here - Pellets - Which Ones and How Many?
Hay
Rabbits should have fresh hay available 24 hours a day. Rabbits less than 7 months old may have alfalfa hay mixed with their hay 50/50, but older rabbits should only have grass hays such as Timothy or Meadow hay. Hay is essential to a rabbit's dental and gut health, providing the roughage that helps reduce the danger of hairballs and other blockages.
Read more about this here - Hay and Grasses
Fresh Water
Fresh water should be available to your pet around the clock, as well. Each day, change the water in the dish or water bottle with fresh water. On a weekly basis, sanitise the water dish/bottle with a mild dish detergent and rinse thoroughly before adding drinking water. If a bottle is used, a heavy tip proof bowl should always be available as well.
Greens
Greens provide valuable roughage, as well as essential vitamins. As early as 3-4 months of age, you can begin to offer greens. Introduce fresh, fibrous grass first. After the kit’s gut has adjusted to that start introducing weeds one at a time. This way, if a digestive upset occurs, you will know which food may be the culprit. Eliminate those that cause soft stools or diarrhoea. Weeds are nutritionally superior and are preferable to veges.
Read more about this here - Veges ... Proceed with Caution!
Read more about this here - Weeds to Gather, Grow & Feed
Chewing items
In addition to nutrition, hay and greens are also important to your rabbit's dental health. A diet that requires little chewing produces uneven tooth wear, causing enamel to grow on the sides of the teeth. These spikes can cause severe oral pain and excessive salivation (often called "slobbers"). They also cause reluctance to chew, inability to close the mouth, and reduced food intake.
The situation deteriorates as the teeth continue to grow, and, if it is not treated, results in severe malnutrition. In addition to hay and greens, you will want to provide your rabbit with chew sticks of untreated wood of various sizes and shapes. Cardboard tubes and untreated wicker can also be used.
Treats
Treats including fresh fruits, should be given sparingly because of their calorie content. Avoid things like Oats as they have been associated with blockages and too much carbohydrate has been associated with enteritis in rabbits.
Feeding Rabbits at Different Life Stages
Like human beings, rabbits need to be fed differently at different stages of their growth to ensure healthy development, digestion, and weight. Throughout a rabbit's life, avoid any sudden changes in diet; new foods should always be introduced gradually. Remember to keep fresh clean water available at all times, too. Water dishes versus bottles are recommended.
Baby rabbits: up to 8 weeks
A baby rabbit, or kit, feeds solely on its mother's milk for about the first three weeks. During the first few days, the milk contains high levels of antibodies that help protect the kit from disease. After three weeks, the kit will begin nibbling on alfalfa and grass hays and pellets. By 7 weeks of age, baby rabbits can handle unlimited access to pellets (as long as they are eating hay), alfalfa and grass hays in addition to mother's milk. Kits are usually weaned from their mother's milk by 8 weeks of age, depending on the breed.
Juveniles: 8 weeks to 7 months
Opinions for feeding at this stage vary. There is no hard and fast rule...
Your young rabbit should have unlimited access to sweet, fresh grass hays at all times. This should form the basis of their diet and should be available 24/7.
Pellets - Some say that between weaning and 7 months of age, the young rabbit can have an unlimited amount of pellets as long as they are eating hay. However allowing this often to leads to hay resistance so it can pay to limit pellets, using the rabbit's weight as a guide for feeding amount (use the weight based feeding guide on your pellet bag at this stage) but again, this is influenced by the rabbit's breed, activity level, hay consumption, body condition etc. For some kits having unrestricted access means they will not begin to eat hay at all so a better approach may be to offer small meals - the amount of pellets that the kit will eat in 10-15 minutes, throughout the day - to encourage the kit to eat hay in between.
Greens/Weeds - At 3-4 months of age, start introducing small amounts of greens into your rabbit's diet. Introduce one green food at a time. If any green food seems to cause digestive problems, avoid feeding it in the future.
Young adults: 7 months to 12 - 18 months
Young adult rabbits from age 7 months to 1 year should continue to eat fresh, sweet hay all day long. The fibre in the hay is essential for their digestive systems to work properly as well as for dental health. At this point, they will no longer require alfalfa hay, and will need fewer pellets. Alfalfa hay has more calories and calcium than rabbits need at this stage of development, and the high calorie content of pellets can also begin to cause weight problems. Instead of offering unlimited pellets, a good rule of thumb is 1/8th of a cup of pellets per kg of body weight daily. You can feed up to 1 cup of greens per 2.5kg of bun body weight. You can feed your rabbit some fruits during this stage, but because of calories, limit them to no more than 1-2 very small pieces - 1 thin slice of apple or carrot for example, per week.
Mature adults: 12 - 18 months to 6 years
Mature adult rabbits should be fed unlimited sweet, fresh grass hay - this means hay that is made from grasses and is fed fresh daily. You may need to reduce the pellet portion of the diet if your rabbit becomes overweight. Several servings of greens are required (1 cup per 2.5kg of body weight daily). Treats, including fruits, must be fed sparingly.
Seniors: 6 years and over
Senior rabbits over 6 years of age can be fed the same diet as mature adults if they do not have weight loss problems. You may need to increase pellet intake if your pet is not able to maintain his or her weight. Alfalfa can also be given to underweight rabbits, but only if calcium levels are normal. Annual blood workups are highly recommended for senior rabbits to determine the level of calcium and other components of the blood.
Source: Article:
Veterinary & Aquatic Services Department, Drs. Foster & Smith with appropriate alterations for NZ conditions.
See also:
Diet for Young/Baby Rabbits - The Rabbit House
The dangerous pet products readily available in pet stores and supermarkets - News Hub Article
Natural Nutrition I: The Importance of Fiber - House Rabbit Society
Natural Nutrition II: Pellets and Veggies - House Rabbit Society
Dietary Basics
What Should I Feed my Bunny? - Dana Krempels
Grass and Hay for Rabbits - The House Rabbit
Hay and Grasses - Westley’s World
The Components of a Balanced Diet - The House Rabbit
Home Made Rabbit Treats - Westley’s World