What types of vegetables can my rabbit eat?

Question

Can they eat anything else besides vegetables?

Answer 1

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Rabbits are designed to eat grass, plus a bit of bark and other tough, fibrous materials. Letting your lawn grow wild and feeding it to your bun would suit your rabbit's digestive system (and teeth) down to the ground. But sacrificing the lawn is not a practical proposition for the vast majority of rabbit owners, especially those of us with house bunnies! Instead, look at what makes grass such a perfect rabbit food and make sure you supply these characteristics in other food combinations.

High fibre - at least 20%
Moderate protein - 12 to 15%
Low fat
Abrasive action on teeth

Food Safety
There have been several deaths in pet bunnies where components of coarse mixes have blocked the gut. Many major feed manufacturers (including Supreme and Burgess) are now removing locust bean pods from their coarse mixes and we hope more will follow. If you feed a coarse mix, or buy locust bean pods as a treat, be aware that the locust bean seed (a small, smooth, dark thing rather like an apple pip often hidden inside the piece of pod) is potentially hazardous - check the food bowl carefully and remove any you can see. Unsquashed corn pips or dried peas are also potentially dangerous and should be removed.

Some coarse mixes are molassed to minimise dust. A light spraying is OK, but avoid mixes that are so heavily molassed they are sticky - too much sugar is bad news for bunnies!

Top Tips - Greens & veggies for bunnies

Introduce one at a time, in small quantities at first
Build up gradually; aim to feed a selection every day
Keep your rabbit's vaccinations up to date, especially if you're out collecting weeds!
Grass is brilliant, but it needs to be a decent length - not lawn clippings
Don't pick greens from polluted verges or where dogs frequently foul
Basil
Spring greens
Broccoli (including leaves)
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots and carrot tops
Cauliflower leaves
Celery
Coriander
Clover
Dandelion greens and flowers
Escarole
Green peppers
Mint
Parsley
Pea pods
Radish tops
Raspberry leaves
Romaine Lettuce (not iceberg or light coloured leaf)
Watercress
Sweetcorn
Groundsel
Sow thistle
Plantain
Ground elder
Docks
Brambles
Chickweed
Spinach and kale may be given in small quantities
Fruits: one daily; fresh or dried - one tablespoon per 2kg bodyweight
Apple
Banana
Pineapple
Melon
Peach
Pear
Strawberries

Answer 2

I've been raising rabbits for 25 years and I've studied animal nutrition at Purdue University and have gone to a few seminars on rabbit nutrition.

The first thing I would mention is that you want to be careful giving your rabbit vegetables, greens, or fruit....especially if your rabbit is a young rabbit.

Your rabbit pellets are formulated to give your rabbit about the right nutritional balance that it needs as far as food regarding fiber, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, etc.

What happens when you start giving vegetables, fruits and stuff like that is you start thowing off that balance. The biggest affect you have by feeding that kind of stuff is that you reduce the amount of fiber and roughage your rabbit receives and you increase the amount of sugars and carbohydrates it receives. That causes a couple things to happen. Fiber and roughage help prevent diahrrea. An increase in sugars and carbohydrates increases the energy level of the food. When you increase the energy level that increases the chances of diahrrea also and it also increases the production of fat, making your rabbit fatter.

Rabbits can handle a small amount of vegetables and such, but not very much. The amount they can handle will depend upon the rabbit's size and age. The younger the rabbit is, the more it will be susceptible to getting diahrrea and the less amount of vegetables, greens or fruit it can handle. I recommend avoiding vegetables, greens, and fruits altogether.

If you want to give your rabbit a treat. Give it a small handful of timothy hay. This will increase the amount of roughage and fiber it gets and will help prevent diahrrea. Timothy hay is a stemmy hay, meaning that the hay is mainly composed of the stem and doesn't have a lot of leaves. The stem is the portion that has the most fiber. The fibrous portions come from the areas of the plant that are more woody or hard in nature. This is due to a chemical in the plant fiber called lignin. Other stemmy hays such as orchard grass or even straw would work well.

Another good treat would be about a quarter to half slice of bread a day. A rabbit's digestive system digests most of the nutrients in the lower portion of it's digestive tract making it good for absorbing B vitamins. Bread contains yeast which can be converted into B vitamins which is good for the rabbit. Many rabbit breeders will give their rabbit a small amount of bread to help slicken up the fur.

Diahrrea is caused by a bacteria. And you might ask how, if it is caused by a bacteria does giving my rabbit vegetables give my rabbit diahrrea? It does so by altering the nutrient ratio in their digestive system, the altered nutrient ratio in the digestive system creates a situation where bad bacteria can grow more easily. The more the ratio is off from where it should be the more easily the bad bacteria can grow. Once the bad bacteria levels get so high, your rabbit gets diahrrea.

Answer 3

Here's a great list to take with you when shopping. Also limit anything other then veggies, pellets and hay because of sugar content and weight problems.

Apple (seedless)
Asparagus
Banana
Basil
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots and Carrot Tops
Cauliflower leaves and stalks
Celery
Chicory Greens
Cucumber
Dill
Endive
Fennel
Grapes
Green Pepper
Kale
Mint
Orange (peeled)
Oregano
Parsley - a good tonic
Red Leaf Lettuce
Red Cabbage
Romaine Lettuce
Savoy Cabbage
Spinach
Tomato
Turnip Greens
Watercress

Vegetables and herbs that should not be fed are:


Apple seeds
Potato and Potato Tops
Rhubarb and Rhubarb Leaves
Tomato Leaves

Answer 4

I copied this from the sites listed below for you.

"Select at least three kinds of vegetables daily. A variety is necessary in order to obtain the necessary nutrients, with one each day that contains Vitamin A, indicated by an *. Add one vegetable to the diet at a time. Eliminate if it causes soft stools or diarrhea.

Alfalfa, radish & clover sprouts
Basil
Beet greens (tops)*
Bok choy
Broccoli (mostly leaves/stems)*
Brussels sprouts
Carrot & carrot tops*
Celery
Cilantro
Clover
Collard greens*
Dandelion greens and flowers (no pesticides)*
Endive*
Escarole
Green peppers
Kale (!)*
Mint
Mustard greens*
Parsley*
Pea pods (the flat edible kind)*
Peppermint leaves
Raddichio
Radish tops
Raspberry leaves
Romaine lettuce (no iceberg or light colored leaf)*
Spinach (!)*
Watercress*
Wheat grass

(!)=Use sparingly. High in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time.

These are the fruits, read their site for more important on serving fruits.Please refer to the Diet FAQ for detailed info on proper quantities and combinations to feed for a well-ballanced diet.

Apple (remove stem and seeds)
Blueberries
Melon
Orange (including peel)
Papaya
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries

Sugary fruits such as bananas and grapes should be used only sparingly, as occasional treats. Bunnies have a sweet tooth and if left to their own devices will devour sugary foods to the exclusion of healthful ones.

Refer to the last link for a huge, but needed list of poisonous plants to rabbits. Examples: "Oak (acorns, foliage), Nutmeg,
Mustard (root), Tomato (leaves, vines), Tree Philodendron.
Tulip (bulb), Poison Hemlock, Poison Ivy, Poison Oak,and
Poison sumac".

They should also still get some pellet food each day, mine enjoy eating a handfull or two of Timothy Hay each day, too.

Answer 5

I feed my bun every night a combo of pellet food, lots of different veggies, once in awhile I'll throw a small piece of fruit in there, and be sure to always supply timothy or alfalfa hay-I use orchard grass though, not as rough as hay. Here's a good website for them, they're vegans, so they like the veggies best. You'll also want to stay away from Iceberg lettuce, has no nutritional value.

http://www.rabbithaven.org/BunnyBasics/bunnybasics.htm

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Answer 6

limit the amount of sweet things that you feed your rabbit -this includes carrots and other fruits.
each rabbit is different. make sure it gets lots of fresh leafy greens -try kale, parsley, and dark lettuces. you will quickly learn its favorites. be sure it has lots of fresh water, timothy hay, and space to play. tollet paper and paper towel rolls make good toys that are edible. i usually give my rabbit a brown, cardboard box and wad up lots of newsprint (no ads) from the newspaper. he eats thru the boxes and tears the paper up having a great time.
only feed your rabbit the dry food without fruit pieces. when in doubt, query the fruit or vegie on the computer (i.e. pet rabbit orange). if you query without the word "pet", you may get recipes for cooked rabbit!!

Answer 7

My rabbit likes to eat my dogs food lol. But I always get stuck with the psycho animals! I think it is because they know I will love them anyway.

Answer 8

Carrots and lettuce are the best vegies for rabbits it helps them keep there health good and you can buy pellets for your rabbit to hope i helped
bye

Answer 9

I used to give my bun small pieces of granola bars. He loved them. He also used to like little bits of banannas, apples, and mixed greens - the kind you find prepackaged in the grocery. In the summer, we'd put him out in the grass and he'd eat grass all day. They also really like dandilion greens.

Answer 10

Vegetables are healthiest for them because just like humans, pets can get high cholesterol from table scraps and high fat content.