rabbit feeding?

Question

I have two rabbits one is two months old the other is nine months old. How much and what should each of them be eating/drinking?

actually my problem is my two moonth old rabbit is barely eating she only nibble on her hay and drinks water. she hasn't even touched her pellets! :(

Answer 1

Thew general rule of thumb is that rabbits will eat 1 oz. of pellets for every pound of body weight. So if you have a 4 pound rabbit, it should receive 4 oz of food. Plus they should be given unlimited hay. Treats are ok occasionally, and in moderation. Rabbits will overeat and can become unhealthy.

We will often mix in oats (uncooked) to entice eating. However, you need to be careful, as some smaller rabbits will have a difficult time getting them down, and may choke. Although, we try not to give rabbits under 6 months any treats, you could try to put a small amount of banana in with the pellets to see if you can get the rabbit to eat.

Water is important and they should have fresh water available all the time.

Answer 2

Did you just buy the young rabbit? What are you currently feeding your rabbits?

Young rabbits are more susceptible to going off of their food when they are moved or go through any kind of change such as switching foods, etc on them.

Turn the two month old rabbit over and see if you see any signs of diarrhea. If the rabbit has diarrhea you should see dried or wet feces around the tail area. The poop in the pen may be runny or the rabbit may look wet around the rear end.

If you are feeding any greens, vegetables or fruit stop feeding them. They can give your rabbit diarrhea, especially on young rabbits.

I've been raising and showing rabbits for 25 years and here's how I feed mine. It's pretty simple and I've won a ton of best in shows.

Feed your rabbits just rabbit pellets and water. If you give them anything else, give them a small handful of timothy hay or orchard grass hay or some hay with narrow leaves like the ones I mentioned. I don't feed hays with wide leaves like alfalfa or clover very often.

I feed my rabbits pellets once a day except for litters which I feed twice per day because I want to make sure litters get all of the food they need. I feed everything but the litters once per day because I can notice a change in the amount they eat easier. Also rabbits normally eat at night, so for the most part there really isn't a reason to feed twice.

For growing rabbits, milking mothers, and litters I like to use a rabbit feed with 16-17% protein. Rabbits need that much protein when they are growing to grow properly. This will be the family ration on most rabbit feeds. The show ration which has about 15% protein I use for older rabbits that are no longer growing and that aren't raising litters or being used a lot.

As far as the amount, there is a real simple way to judge the amount regardless of the breed. I've raised New Zealands, Satins, Mini Lops, Florida Whites, Dutch, Californians, and Checkered Giants and this method has worked great for each of the breeds:

Feed the rabbit just what it will barely clean up in 24 hours. The bowl should be empty by the next time you feed the rabbit with no more than just a pellet or two in the feeder. It may take an adjustment or two to find this amount. Start out by feeding more than the rabbit will eat in 24 hours. Then keep reducing the amount slightly until you find the point where the rabbit cleans up all of the food in the bowl. That's how much you want to feed them. You'll notice that some days your rabbit will eat less and some days it will eat more. If your rabbit doesn't eat all of the food one day, when you add pellets on top, subtract the amount that is in the bottom of the feeder from what they normally eat and give that remainder to them. Rabbits normally will eat less when the weather is hotter.

For example:

My New Zealands normally eat a cup of food a day. During a hot summer day they may only eat 3/4 cup of food. So 1/4 cup is left in the feeder. The next day I'll only feed that rabbit 3/4 cup of food so the rabbit still has 1 cup of food in the bowl. The rabbit may eat more the next day if the weather is cooler.

Also don't try putting your rabbit on a diet to get it to be less fat. That's a very bad idea. Rabbit's get fat from what they eat, not how much they eat. They quit eating when they are full.

Here are some feed brands that I would recommend:

Heinolds
Kent
Purina
Show Rite
Nutritional

Also make sure you change the water for your rabbit at least once a day and make sure that it has water at least twice a day. Clean water is very important.

If your young rabbit is barely eating, it may be a good idea to take it to the vet and have it checked out. Have the vet take a stool sample. Would be a good idea to have it checked for bacterial entertitis (diarrhea) and coccidiosis.

Answer 3

Hi I own 5 rabbits and I feed them 1 cup of food and if you have a water bottle fill it up all the way if you have a dish fill it 3/4 the way up. I would feed them any kind of rabbit food just not store brand but make sure you buy the same kind every time.

Answer 4

You might want to check the pet store for a special rabbit food for younger rabbits. I have two female lionhead rabbits and I feed them Purina Show Breed rabbit pellets and they eat some alfalfa that we put in their cage.

Answer 5

I had two rabbits that just recently passed away. They were both 11.5 yrs old. I fed them, carrots, carrot tops and any vegetable or fresh fruit they would eat. NEVER lettuce. Endive is ok. BUT I did feed them a bowl of uncooked regular oatmeal everyday. I also fed them Purina rabbit chow. I filled the bowl and they ate as they pleased.A freshly filled water bottle allows them to drink at will. Good luck!

Answer 6

you can feed them dandelions and clover from your yard. I had a rabbit for 11 years and thankfully our whole yard was full of what most people call weeds. We fed her pellets daily along with carrots.