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I live in the inner city, and it's impossible to find hay. I have three house rabbits, but until now, they've just been happy eating cardboard. Something tells me this isn't the best substitute for the hay that they need in their diets... What should I be giving them instead?

2006-07-28 03:03:20 · 12 answers · asked by Qin_ai_de 2 in Pets Other - Pets

12 answers

I went to one of those city run animal farms in a small park and got a flake of hay from them - that was a good four months ago and I still have half of it left. The local pet stores still carry it, but I was skeptical of it's freshnesh. I also give my rabbit shredded wheat.

2006-07-28 03:19:35 · answer #1 · answered by iceni 7 · 0 0

WHY ARE PEOPLE POSTING INFO THAT CAN HURT YOUR RABBITS?

Please do your own research before following any of this advice. Go to the House Rabbit Society website: http://rabbit.org

There is no substitute for grass hay. You can get it at pet stores or online. Get timothy and orchard grass. It is the single most important part of a rabbit's diet. A rabbit may live without hay for years, but will suffer from bordom, diarrhea/constipation, hairballs and foreign bodies in their GI track, overgrown teeth, obesity, too much protien, among other things. If you need to eliminate one thing out of their diet it woud be pellets. Rabbits eat grass, leaves, veggies, flowers, and sticks in the wild.

If there is no way to possibly get grass hay, you should think about getting a different pet that doesn't require it, like a hamster, gerbil, rat, etc. I don't mean to be short, but nobody would get a horse or goat without having access to hay! It would be like having a cat and not giving it meat.

2006-07-28 04:05:56 · answer #2 · answered by Emily 3 · 1 0

I have rabbits and can't give them hay as I have developed allergies. Feed them as much pelleted rabbit food as they want. Also give them carrots, apples, romaine lettuce, dandelion leaves, dark green leafy vegetables. Give them about as much as a quarter of a carrot per day to start and gradually increase until it is about as much as half a carrot per day. Give them branches from fruit or willow trees to gnaw on. You can also buy hay and chew sticks at the pet store. Rabbits need at least 1 hour per day out of their cage every day to exercise. Rabbits also like to have toys. Cardboard boxes, the cardboard that masking tape comes wrapped around, Kong dog toys, rope dog toys all are great fun for rabbits.
Never give them iceberg lettuce. The light green kind that looks like a ball and mc donald's uses on hamburgers. It has no food value and can cause deadly diarrhea.

2006-07-28 04:15:15 · answer #3 · answered by ppqppq10 3 · 1 0

Alfalfa cubes or pellets are basically compressed hay that's also what most rabbit food pellets are with a few vitamins added. They are probably only chewing their cardboard paper products of any kind aren't food. It should be easy to find alfalfa and wooden chew sticks at a pet store to keep them happy and healthy. They will also love dandylion leaves and stems as treats!

2006-07-28 03:22:26 · answer #4 · answered by emily 5 · 0 1

To be honest with you, if you feed them clover, (found growing everywhere,and ONLY IF they are older than 6 months old,) and use paper shavings, (found at Wal Mart,) your rabbits will be ok. DO NOT feed them lettuce, as this gives them diarrehea and will cause them to dehydrate and die. Also there are vitamins you can put in their water, made specially for rabbits. With all this known, your rabbit should be ok.

As someone who used to have her own house rabbits... I know all the concerns you are having, I used to have the same ones. After having them for years, I learned a lot.

Hope this helps you and good luck!

2006-07-28 03:14:17 · answer #5 · answered by Cutelilminxy 5 · 1 0

There's no substitute for hay - hay is essential for rabbits - all rabbits NEED hay for fibre for their complex stomach digestion (rabbits have the longest digestive system of any mammal!), and if they don't get hay, they can develop 'gastric stasis', a slowing of their digestive system, which can lead to constipation and death. Have a read of these articles which explain in more detail -
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html

2006-07-29 20:21:18 · answer #6 · answered by Lea 5 · 1 0

No, cardboard isn't good for them!

Are they eating pelleted rabbit feed? If so, they shouldn't NEED another source of fiber to be healthy, but you can give them a bit of dry oatmeal if you want.

No alfalfa cubes...rabbit pellets are made of alfalfa and giving them more of it isn't going to do them any good, it's pretty rich. No lettuce either, it's too watery. Small pieces of carrot, apple, or banana are good, but these are treats and not a fiber source!

2006-07-28 03:35:21 · answer #7 · answered by BB 5 · 0 1

There is no substitute.
cardboard, grass (which you don't know if it's sprayed or not!) and other suggestions are not safe. *some* can be made up with sweet corn husks, etc but there really is no substitute for hay.

2006-07-28 15:27:53 · answer #8 · answered by Jan H 5 · 1 0

ask a pet store salesperson or go on line in the search engine. rabbits need to eat most of the time due to there teeth growth. Remember they are from the rodent family.

2006-07-28 03:09:42 · answer #9 · answered by maquanut 1 · 1 0

when i had a rabbit once all it like to eat were they clover weeds thats what what they liked they most and also grass because thats they kinda of food that taste good to them and they also like chewing on gass in they sun to.

2006-07-28 03:09:38 · answer #10 · answered by kathy f 1 · 0 1

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