Soy In Your Pellets Good Or Bad? Spinach Bad? Grains Bad?

[Thorunn]

I am a member of another online forum and on the topic of nutrition one member said soy and grain often included in pellets are bad for your rabbit. But after Thorunn’s first vet check up they gave me an Ox Bow rabbit care guide and in it was a section on soy. “Soy: Good Digestion & Complete Protein” and said “Soyhulls are a fiber source with a curved shape to keep vitamins distributed evenly.”, “Soyhulls are ideal because they stay fresh longer and will not irritate an animal’s intestine like other fibers. It also does not absorb water from the intestine, unlike beet pulp which can cause intestinal blockage and threaten your pet’s life!” 

The other forum member also said the spinach I include in her daily salad is bad for her. But the reason I give it to her is because it’s on the list of healthy greens for rabbits on the House Rabbit Society’s website.

This is the band I currently use which includes soybean hulls, soybean meal, dried spinach, and soybean oil among other things:

Picture Link

Does anyone have an opinion on this or knows something I don’t about soy, spinach, or grains?

[litheandgraphic]

I believe that soy can become problematic if served in large quantities, as can the molasses also present in Oxbow pellets and other brands, which is why you want to limit the pellets to 1/4 – 1/8 cup a day.

Having said that, though, in general, Oxbow is considered one of the best brands out there, so I would trust whatever ingredients they use, especially since your vet handed you this info. You don’t want too much soy in the diet. Grains are also something you definitely want to avoid, since rabbits aren’t made to digest grains.

Spinach is generally not a good idea for a daily dose – it’s a safe veggie, but because it’s extremely high in oxalic acid and calcium, it should be limited in the diet as well.

[Bam]

Oxbow has soy and Oxbow is still a great brand. My only problem with Oxbow is that it’s not tasty enough for the bunnies to finish it before everything else (exept hay of course) is finished, so my dog steals the pellets from them. It doesn’t matter how healthy a pellet is, if it doesn’t get eaten by the bunny.

From your name I’m guessing you’re from a Nordic country (Norway?). I am too and I feed grainless pellets (Versele-Laga CuniComplete and JR Farm Grainless) to my bunnies, bunnies don’t really eat grain. They eat grasses. I’m guessing it’s a huge trend both for pets and humans right now, I don’t give my dog grain anymore either. The soy industry is sort of environmentally questionable too, rainforests and so on. Soy is staple for farm-animals that need to gain weight quickly/produce lots of milk – but with pets we’re more interested in longevity than in yield, of course. Selective is considered a very good brand though and so is FibaFirst, both of which have soy.

That said, I think most, if not all, of the bunny-savvy people here on BB feeds their bunnies Oxbow pellets, and that is a clear sign that Oxbow pellets are great. (Yes, I do have a lot of faith in my fellow members and mentors here at BB, I’ve had good reason too over the years.)

Spinach is high in oxalic and calcium and not to be given daily. I try to rotate greens. If you are in Norway you should still be able to find dandelion, apple-leaves etc outside. Those are also very good greens for bunnies =)

[Thorunn]

Hm, I’ll have to cut back on the spinach. Shame she loves it though!  

My grandmother and grandfather are from Norway. Kjeldahl family. How did you guess Norway off the name Thorunn? LOL That’s pretty good. Actually my rabbit’s name is Thorunn. My name is Karina. I live in North Carolina but was born and raised in Minnesota. Can you imagine when I took her to her first vet visit I had to keep repeating “Thorunn” over and over, slowly, spelling it out for them “No not double R, just one R… It’s a double N… Yes at the end.” Even though I wrote it on her sign in/background sheet they still couldn’t read it or wright it correctly! “Borun? Torun?” “No, Thorunn… Like the Norse god Thor… With an UN at the end… Thor-unn.” 

I’ve thought about next time spelling her name “Þorunn”on her sign in sheet. LOL But that would be too cruel.

Still don’t understand whats so hard about it. The doctor tried to pronounce it to be respectful to me in referring to her but he gave up after the second time. I think he thought the assistant didn’t know what she was saying or wasn’t saying it correctly.

Seriously what the heck?

Now I’m off topic and ranting. 

[Bam]

Aww =) That’s so cute, a bunny named Thorunn! I can’t see why they found Thorunn so hard though, the Thor-films are big in the USA aren’t they? (“Borun”!!! LOL)

Thorunn is a very Norwegian name. I had a classmate called Thorunn, her mother was from Norway. Karina is a name that is very popular in Sweden, so I’d have guessed you were from Sweden based on that name (I’m from Sweden).

Since you are in the USA, I think Oxbow (or Selective) will be excellent for Thorunn. Oxbow can sometimes be difficult to get here, but in the USA there should be no problem.

I’m sure she’ll learn to love other greens as well as spinach. They often take a little while before they accept sth new, but once introduced, they go crazy for it. Mine love cilantro, mint, romaine, kale, black kale, leafy lettuce, celery stalks (the bitter leaves at the ends of the stalks especially), parsley, dill, fennel…and many more.

[litheandgraphic]

Thorunn er et fint norsk navn og det er ikke så vanskelig å si. Cx
(My family is also Norwegian, we still have relatives there so I decided I oughta learn Norwegian.)

Anyways, I concur with everything bam said.

[LBJ10]

I was seeing it as Thor-unn. I wonder why that is so difficult. Weird.

Well, anyway, soybeans are lower in carbs and higher in proteins. They have fat in them, but it’s “good” fat. That’s probably part of the reason they are used. Oxbow is a good food, with most of it being made up of timothy hay. The little bit of soy that’s added probably serves as a supplement. Which makes sense, since most of us see pellets as more of a supplement.

Spinach is fine to feed. It is high in oxalate and calcium, but they essentially cancel each other out. If you offer it as part of a larger variety, it shouldn’t cause any issues. I buy my rabbits spring mix and there is spinach in there. If a few leaves are in there every day, it doesn’t really hurt because they are a small percentage of the overall mix.

As for grains, rabbits are not meant to eat grains on a regular basis. Wild rabbits will eat them when they need the energy for the winter months. They probably don’t cause a problem because they are burning all those calories while trying to survive in harsh conditions. Pet rabbits do not need that and the extra calories just end up making them fat.

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