Diet For Rabbits

Diet for Rabbits 

1. Hay (Oat or Timothy) must be available 24 hours a day!

2. Feed a minimum of 1 cup vegetables for each 4 pounds of body weight.

3. Feed a minimum of 3 types of vegetables daily. A variety is necessary in order to obtain the necessary nutrients. Choose one vegetable each day that contains Vitamin A, indicated by *.

4. Vegetables followed by an exclamation point (!) are high in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time.
USE THESE VEGETABLES SPARINGLY.

5. Vegetables can be added to a rabbits diet once it reaches 12 weeks of age. Add 1 vegetable at a time. If soft stools or diarrhea occurs, eliminate that vegetable from the diet.

6. Pellets should be purchased fresh and be high in fiber. Rabbits 7 months to 1 year should be limited to ½ cup of pellets per 6 pounds of body weight a day. Rabbits younger then 7 months can be fed unlimited pellets.

7. An ideal pellet will have the following values:
Crude Fiber 20 – 25%
Crude Protein 13 – 15% Calcium < 1% Crude Fat < 2%
DO NOT BUY PELLETS THAT CONTAIN SEEDS, NUTS, OR STARCH RICH CEREAL KIBBLE MIXED IN.

8. FUR recommends the following pellet brands:
Sherwood Forest Natural Rabbit Food
Oxbow Bunny Basic T
Zupreem Timothy
Kaytee Timothy Complete (without nuts, seeds or fruit).

VEGETABLES

FRUITS

1. Small amounts totaling only 1-2 level tablespoons per 5 lbs of body weight.
2. No fruits if rabbit is on a diet or is ill.
Apple, peach, pear, melon, raspberries, papaya, blueberries, pineapple, plums, strawberries