Pellets for picky bunny?

[Dee]

Hi Everyone,

My rabbit, Lukie, was on Sweet Meadow alfalfa/Timothy blend pellets, which he liked. But then the lady I adopted my bunnies from said that she’s noticed rabbits on Sweet Meadow pellets tend to get bladder sludge, which made me nervous. So I switched to Oxbow Science Select, which Luke did NOT approve of. Then I ordered Sherwood Adult Rabbit pellets, alfalfa/timothy blend. I like the fact that they don’t have wheat middlings or lots of weird ingredients in them- Lukie, however, is not impressed. My female rabbit, Precious, inhales anything I put before her ?. But little Luke is a problem. I like them to have a small amount of pellets, just in case they aren’t getting all the nutrients they need from their other food.
Does anyone know of some extra palatable, nutritious pellets? I hate to keep randomly ordering pellets in the hopes that Luke will like them.

[Q8bunny]

I heard that buns often hoover Burgess pellets but I’ve never tried them. My little guy is a piglet.

[Mel94]

My Thumper was really fussy with pellets until we tried him on Science Selective. It’s high in fibre at 25% too.

[tobyluv]

Do you know the amount of pellets the lady was feeding to her rabbits? If you are just feeding a small amount to your rabbits, you may not ever have that problem with Sweet Meadow. I use Oxbow Adult Essentials, with a little bit of Oxbow Organic pellets mixed in.

[Azerane]

Luna hoovers down Burgess Excel, so much so that I get very concerned about her choking. But I get the impression she would hoover down any brand of pellet. Providing you’re not feeding much, I doubt you would see sludge issues, most of that stuff happens when over fed.

[Dee]

Thanks, everyone! Now I have some ideas to try ☺. The rescue lady hadn’t feed her rabbits the pellets, I guess it was an observation made from taking to others. And it’s very possible that those people had overfed the pellets! I agree that many people still makes pellets too much of a rabbit’s diet. Mine get a small amount: Precious- weighs 6 lbs, gets 1/4 cup daily. Luke- weighs 4 lbs, gets 2 tbsp daily. So I might be obsessing a bit too much on this. What a surprise, me obsessing about my rabbits ?.

I’m going to check out the pellets mentioned anyway. I love online shopping! I actually have a more stressful undertaking today as well- bonding my bunnies. I’m going to make a separate post about that, I think ?.

[Odette]

Usually sludge is caused by excess calcium. Alfalfa-based pellets often have a lot of calcium. Young bunnies need alfalfa, but sometimes it does cause issues. You’d notice if their urine was unusually chalky. I think some white is normal (someone correct me, please, if I’m wrong), but excess chalkiness is usually from too much calcium or calcium malabsorption.

Odette is sensitive to calcium, so I sometimes see chalky urine with some veggies that are high in calcium (like kale). I cut those from her diet since I know she gets enough calcium from other sources and her urine will clear up again.

I’m sure those pellets are fine in moderation. Good luck with bonding!

[Bam]

Just want to say that Odette is right about the calcium. Rabbits expel excess calcium via their kidneys -most other mammals poop out surplus calcium instead. So it’s normal to see chalkiness in rabbit urine now and then. It’s as a rule not a problem unless the bun is sensitive. In fact, bunny urine should never be perfectly clear and colorless.

As for pellets, I now have Supreme Science Select for my bun. He’s a little piggy though, so I don’t think a pellet he’d refuse has been invented yet.

[Author]

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