It is essential to provide the right diet for your rabbit to promote good health. Incorrect diet can lead to problems such as dental disease and obesity.
The best diet is a mixed diet which includes:
- 80% Hay and Grass
- 15% Fresh Vegetables/ weeds/ wild plants*- offer a handful morning and evening
- 5% Commercial Dry Rabbit Food- just 1 tablespoon is enough. We recommend Supreme or Burgess Excel.
*Please check all food is safe before feeding to your bunny
Hay and grass are the key elements of the diet as they ensure good dental and digestive health. It is important to buy a good quality hay and store it somewhere dry and pest free. Lawn clippings should never be fed to rabbits as they ferment quickly and can be extremely harmful!
Muesli diets should be avoided as these can result in selective feeding, and the bits they leave are usually the bits they need to eat! These ‘complete’ diets also fail to provide the correct dental exercise for your pet, which leads to dental disease. You should aim for a high fibre content and an extruded pellet rather than a mix/muesli style food. However, you should never change your rabbits’ mix or pellets suddenly as this can trigger fatal stomach upsets. It is advisable to take at least 1-2 weeks to change over to a new food.
Water bottles are ideal for bunnies but always check they are working by lightly squeezing. They should also be covered during winter to prevent freezing. It is ideal to also provide a water bowl as they are easier to drink from and will not get blocked.
We recommend to check all food before offering to your rabbit to ensure it is not toxic. Some poisonous plants include: poppies, oak leaves, lily of the valley, foxglove, deadly nightshade, lupin, rhubarb, ivy and most evergreens. All plants that grow from bulbs are toxic to rabbits. For a comprehensive list of safe foods please visit: www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/safefoods.htm