rabbit food ?

Question

can rabbits eat cucumber? also my rabbit has dry food but she seems to pick out certain bits of her food and leaves others bits all the time, i give her hay and carrots,cabbage leaf what else can i give her ?

i didnt think rabbits could eat lettuce because give them the runs is this true ?

Answer 1

I give my rabbit cucumber but just as a little treat. Other food that you can give include.

Vegetables:

Artichoke leaves
Asparagus
Baby Sweetcorns (but not full size ones)
Beetroot (care with leafy tops as high levels of oxalic acid)
Broccoli (and its leaves, including purple sprouting varieties)
Brussel Sprouts (leaves and sprouts)
Cabbage (can sometimes cause digestive upsets)
Carrots (and carrot tops) – the roots should be limited as they are high in sugars
Cauliflower (and the leaves)
Celeriac
Celery (and its leaves)
Chicory
Courgette (and flowers)
Cucumber
Curly Kale
Fennel
Green beans
Kohl rabi
Parsnip
Peas (including the leaves and pods)
Peppers (red, green and yellow)
Pumpkin
Radish Tops
Rocket
Romaine lettuce (not Iceberg or light coloured leaf)
Spinach (only occasional)
Spring Greens
Squash (e.g. Butternut)
Swede
Turnip (only occasional)
Watercress


Herbs (often powerful tastes so may take some getting used to):
Basil
Coriander
Dill
Mint (peppermint)
Parsley
Oregano
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme

Fruits (should be fed in moderation, due to sugar content – up to 2 tablespoons worth per day):

Raisans
Apple
Apricot
Banana (high in potassium)
Blackberries (and leaves – excellent astringent properties)
Blueberries
Cherries
Grapes
Kiwi Fruit
Mango
Melon
Nectarines
Oranges (not the peel)
Papaya
Peaches
Pears
Pineapple
Plums
Raspberries (and leaves – excellent astringent properties)
Strawberries (and leaves)
Tomatoes (not the leaves)

As with most things all veg should be given in moderation.

If she is selective feeding you would be better getting her onto a food which looks all the same such as oxbow or burgess. Also fresh grass is an important part of her diet and should be freely available.

Answer 2

for your question, No i wouldn't give cucumber for the same reasons as you don't give lettuce, it has too high of a water content and can give your pet diarrhoea.

rabbits fed a mixed diet can selective feed, this is why a lot of people do not like mixed foods, i feed all mine mixed feeds and fine that there is nothing wrong with them as long as you treat the rabbits like you do a fussy child. a child if given a beefburger and salad, would normally eat the burger and leave the salad. do you let the child get away with it? or do you make the child eat the salad as well? most make the child eat it. which is what you should do with your rabbit.

give him a bowl of mixed food and a good handful of hay each morning, if your rabbit picks his favourite bits from the bowl, and tries to leave the rest, don't re-fill his bowl, make him eat it all before re-filling it, just like you say to a child "eat your salad and you can have a desert" then, when your rabbit has eaten the other bits, then you give him the veges in a evening. as his treat.

if you give your rabbit the veg in the morning, he is bound to leave his least favourite bits because he has other things to eat. make him eat the full mix before refilling his bowl / giving him his treats. otherwise, you will end up with a over weight bunny. make him eat it all, that's the only way to ensure he gets a balanced diet!

as for what to give her, carrot, cabbage, broccoli, turnip, suede, apple, cauliflower, dandelion leaves, anything like that

Answer 3

First, switch her dry food to one that doesn't have treats in it. They are really unhealthy for her and can cause GI upset (diarrhea, etc).

Here is a great list of safe rabbit veggies:
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

Rabbits can eat the darker lettuces like romaine or escarole. Iceberg lettuce tends to give them diarrhea because it's all water no nutrients. Since it hardly has any nutrients it's not a good thing to feed anyway.

Make sure you limit the sugary veggies like cucumber and carrots too. These can also cause GI upset as well as fat little bunnies. You should mainly be feeding leafy green stuff for her veggies.

Answer 4

Selective feeding is normal. Make sure you give her endless amounts of hay. Don't overdo the carrot because it has a high sugar content. You should feed her a wide variety of dark leafy vegetables, but not too much. Pellets are good too, but make sure they have at least 18% protein. Dandelion leaves are good too. I would say cucumber is ok for rabbits, though I'm not sure. You can give her a treat of a piece of apple or banana, or any fruit really, but only occasionally.
Don't buy yoghurt drops and the like from pet shops. They are full of fat and sugar that rabbits just don't need.
Do not feed her lettuce. Especially iceberg lettuce as it causes death in rabbits.
And finally make sure she has enough clean water everday.

Answer 5

Rabbits diet should be 70-80% hay. Alfalfa hay if they are less than 9 months old, and Timothy hay if they are older than 9 months. Oxbow is an excellent company for rabbit food, they have the best quality food anywhere.
http://www.oxbowhay.com/index.sp
Also, the House Rabbit Society is a great organization for info. on keeping rabbits:
http://www.rabbit.org/
Check out their site for what foods you can feed your bunny, they have helped me learn alot!
Usually the rule of thumb is dark green vegetables are the best, they have the most nutrition in them. Personally, I like to feed mine Kale and Spinach.

Answer 6

no lettuce dose not give a rabbit runs i fed it ti mine all the time. she can eat cucumber and apples carrots watermelon without the seeds of course and bannanas. your bunny probably eats dry food that way because the rabbit likes em
my bunny picks at her food to but after a while she'll eat it cause well she knows its not gonna be taken away so she might as well eat it. its nothin to worrty about.=)

Answer 7

I've been raising and showing rabbits for 25 years and have also taken animal nutrition courses on how to formulate animals feeds at Purdue University along with studying rabbit nutrition for years.

Can you feed cucumber and other veggies? Yes

Should you feed cucumber and other veggies? No


Many of the answerers that I read have little experience regarding rabbits and little to no experience regarding taking animal nutrition and rabbit diseases. They don't know how those foods affect the rabbit.

It's not the amount of water in the food that gives a rabbit diahrrea. It's the sugars, amount of energy, and lack of fiber. Many people mistakenly make that assumption then when their rabbit gets diahrrea they pull the rabbit off of its water thinking that will help dry the rabbit up. When in fact the opposite should be done. The rabbit is losing a lot of water and getting dehydrated and that water needs replaced.

Vegetables, leafy greens, fruits and plants that have a lot of starches can easily give your rabbit diahrrea. Whether they give your rabbit diahrrea depends on how much they eat and how big they are.

Technically, diahrrea in rabbits is referred to as bacterial entertitis. It's called that because diahrrea is caused by a build up of bad bacteria. That build up occurs because something had caused too much of a build up of bad bacteria in the digestive track. Adding foods such as what I described can do that. Because due to their nature low in fiber and high in energy, they allow the bacteria to reproduce much more easily. Once the bacteria build up to a certain level your rabbit gets diahrrea. Smaller rabbits have a smaller digestive system that holds less food. So a smaller amount of those kind of foods will give the rabbit diahrrea. It's sort of like chili cooking. You don't put as much hot spices into a small crock pot as you do into a great big kettle of chili to get the same taste outcome.

Not only can those type of foods possibly give your rabbit diahrrea but they can make it fat. Whether or not your rabbit gets diahrrea depends on how much you feed of that stuff. But however much you feed (a little or a lot) will contribute to slowly but surely making it fat.

Also, it's not a good idea to feed 70-80% hay. Hay does not have all of the protein and microminerals and vitamins that the rabbit needs, which it gets in the rabbit pellets. Hay doesn't have to be included because it is already the mainstay in the rabbit pellets. An addition of about a quarter of the rabbits feed can be supplemented with hay, but I don't recommend over 25%. Normally, I like to add timothy hay to to my rabbits' diets in the summer. This reduces the amount of energy that the rabbit eats during the summer. During the summer a rabbit does not need as much energy as it does during the winter. And by adding timothy hay it increases the fiber and reduces the energy in the diet helping reduce the chance of your rabbit getting diahrrea.

So you can give your rabbit that kind of stuff. Just remember that it needs to be done in moderation to avoid getting your rabbit sick, especially during the summer. Also remember that it is not the most healthy in the world for your rabbit and will tend to make it fat.

Many people on here are trying to play the role of an animal nutritionist who formulates feeds. People who formulate them have gone to college and studied what nutrition different animals need such as I have. They learn about the digestive system, what vitamins, minerals, proteins, salt, fat, etc that they need and what those different vitamins, minerals, etc do. Trust the person who formulated the feed and went to college specifically to learn how to do that. They are the professionals. They even know more about that kind of stuff than probably veterinarians do.

Also, you might notice if you feed too many vegetables and grass, that even though it will make the rabbit fat. At the same time your rabbit may lose muscle. Run your hand over the back. If it starts feeling bony over the back, the veggies could be causing it to get boney due to an unbalanced diet. A rabbit should get about 16% protein in it's diet. Alfalfa hay only has about 14% protein. In rabbit nutrition a percentage or two of protein can make a lot of difference in how they grow. If your rabbit feels bony over the back either it's not getting enough protein, it's not getting fed enough, or it's gotten sick at some point and gone off of its feed.

Answer 8

Rabbits can eat cucumber, a lot of garden plants and as much fruite and veg as it will eat

Answer 9

a small amount of rabbit pellets, like 1/4 cup for every 5 pounds

Answer 10

rabbits can eat anything edible

in fact any of gods creatures can eat anything edible as long as they find it tasty

please take 2 mins to look at this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6gZE0MdaVY&mode=related&search=

show this to your rabbit , he might appreciate his food more