hay only diet

[kamdynandsunshinesmom]

I was watching a very informational video on rabbit and the rabbit vet in there said that rabbits can have a hay only diet just hay? Is this true and does anyone do this?

[Silly Sungura]

Hmmm. That seems odd, coming from a vet. Vegetables are quite important, too; from what I’ve read they’re secondary only to hay. I know pellets can be left out, but I don’t think most rabbit-savvy people even do that because pellets provide certain vitamins that it might be hard to ensure your bunny is getting in the proper amounts otherwise. Maybe hay alone would be recommended for a bunny that doesn’t tolerate veggies and pellets well for some reason, but probably the majority of bunnies need at least a variety of three different veggies a day. I am following the advice in The House Rabbit Handbook on diet, which I bought from the Binky Bunny store. My vet asked us about what we were feeding our bunny, and she was so pleased that we were giving Hodari daily greens in a salad of three to five different veggies.

[Tate]

Yup, a hay only diet is perfectly acceptable. Both of my bunnies are pretty much on a hay only diet, except for a negligible amount of pellets in the morning. One of them does not tolerate veggies at all and can only do minimum pellets. It’s not ideal but in this case, adding in veggies and more pellets will do much more harm than leaving them out. Most rabbit handbooks are designed for an average and healthy rabbit and do not necessarily take into consideration health issues.

[BinkyBunny]

I definitely have heard of hay only diets in certain cases — dealing with certain health issues. A rabbit’s system is geared to extract all the nutrients out of low nutrient food, and that is why sometimes their system can easily get overloaded when a diet is richer than it can handle. However, I wouldn’t necessarily advise a hay only diet unless my vet recommended.

Greens can provide more hydration and vitamins/nutrients for a well-rounded diet.

[Helenor]

My vet suggested a hay only diet as a possibility for Lago since they found points on her peg teeth. She said to make sure she had plenty of veggies along with the hay. I don’t really give much pellets to her and Panko anyways, but I may change their diet in the future if Lago’s teeth get bad enough that she’ll need clipping.

[miley14]

i went to the vet today and she said hay should be 90% what thy eaters
5%feggis
3% frutes
1% correts
1%pelts
and that the 1% are treats not maine food

[Author]

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