Good nutrition is the cornerstone to your rabbit’s overall health and wellbeing and with rabbits now being the third most popular pet mammal after dogs and cats the availability of the correct foods is greater. Most manufacturers of rabbit food nowadays have done extensive research into rabbit nutrition and produce ranges that will optimise your rabbit’s health and longevity. Research has proven that the rabbit is designed to have a diet that is high in fibre, low in starchy carbohydrates and low in fat.
Although most tame rabbits will eat most things it is important that the majority of their diet is forage i.e.
Hay based. This helps the rabbit in 3 ways. Firstly it helps the digestive system work correctly because of the high fibre content of
Hay. Secondly as the rabbit has to chew the
Hay for a considerable amount of time in order to digest it its teeth wear down naturally.
A rabbits teeth grow continually throughout its life (in some cases as much as 3mm per day) therefore it is vital that chewing for long periods of time takes place. Thirdly chewing for long periods of time has the benefit of relieving the onset of boredom for the rabbit. Therefore good fresh forage like
Excel Fresh Forage is essential to your rabbit and should be fed in plentiful amounts and changed daily. It contains 55% Beneficial Fibre and 14% Protein.
To supplement the feeding of hay your rabbit needs essential vitamins and minerals, this should be given in the form of a concentrated pellet feed or a muesli mix. We recommend feeding the
Burgess Excel range as it is a pellet that gives you the added security that your rabbit is getting everything it needs.
If you feed a muesli mix the rabbit can pick out what it likes, leaving other pieces of food it doesn’t (selective feeding) so when you clean out its bowl you could be constantly taking away an essential part of its nutrition. That’s why it is better to feed a pellet, although this can be governed by the rabbit if they are a fussy eater.
Other sources of vitamins and minerals are green leaf plants and vegetables, commercial grown plants include, broccoli, cabbage, watercress, celery leaves, parsley and carrot tops. Wild plants include dock, dandelion, bramble, wild strawberry, sunflower and yarrow. These are a good source of micro-nutrients and should ideally make up to but not more than 20% of your rabbits diet as most plants are 90-95% water and low in fibre.
Treats such as
Excel Nature Snacks Gnaw Sticks are ideal to add a bit of variety to your rabbits diet - but like any treat they should be fed in moderation to prevent obesity.
Remember to always leave fresh clean drinking water, either in a
Bottle or Bowl, for your rabbit at all times.