animal products in pellets

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This topic has 6sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 9 months ago by Gravehearted.

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- 09/27/2006 at 5:06 PM
  Ester Yeh
  Participant
  126 posts
  what does it mean when they say there are "animal products" in pellets?
- 09/30/2006 at 4:19 PM
  Anita Stark
  Participant
  194 posts
  I’m not sure what they mean by that, but I wouldn’t buy any pellet that lists "animal products" It brings to mind the now banned practice of using deadstock in cattlefeed to boost the protein content even though cows are not carnivores.
  
  Which pellets did you find this on?
- 09/30/2006 at 6:14 PM
  Ester Yeh
  Participant
  126 posts
  it was just something mentioned on etherbun i saw…someone was asking for pellets that didnt contain animal products..and the more of these etherbun mails i read, Im starting to think that they’re talking about something called vit D3? thats derived from animals? not sure…
- 09/30/2006 at 6:17 PM
  Ester Yeh
  Participant
  126 posts
  i think this was the mail that started it all…
  
  We are looking for a high quality pellet that does not contain animal
  > products. Any ideas? I have used Oxbow, but now I learn that it has
  > animal products in it.
  
  and this was one person’s reply
  
  I would hazard a guess that they are not. Reading the label does not
  tell you they are veg. It is not that they are adding meat to the
  food, the problem is with the vitamin D supplement. The only form of
  vit D3 that the body can use without natural sunlight is from animal
  sources (it looks like fish mainly). It would be incredibly
  irresponsible of a company to make a food without this in it. Not
  all rabbits are exposed to natural unfiltered sunlight and without
  vit D3 you start to get problems with bone loss as well as a whole
  host of other health issues. A company making a food without VitD3
  in it is promoting greater health problems than anything that may
  happen due to the tiny amount of animal matter from the vitamin
  supplement.
- 10/02/2006 at 8:26 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  This is very interesting! I never knew this, and so I’m going to add this to the list of things to "Learn About"
  So I’m going to ask around to a few rabbit experts as well, and research and see what I find out.
  
  I use Oxbow and they are always one of the most recommended companies by rabbit experts, so this will be an interesting search.
  
  Thanks for sharing! And I’ll keep you updated with what I find out too.
- 04/30/2007 at 11:46 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  UPDATE! Okay, so I have finally have an answer for this.(only five months later, but hey, getting to the real truth can take time) Thanks to my awesome vet, Dr. Harvey, who contacted Oxbow and actually received a reply from their Director of Vet Services regarding this issue. According to Oxbow, the animal product that is used to create D3 is sheeps wool. The sheep themselves are not harmed. “They just get a little cooler and lighter during their vitamin D donation”.
- 05/01/2007 at 12:32 AM
  Gravehearted
  Participant
  2428 posts
  wow – that’s weird! i never would have guessed that…
  thanks for checking into it and letting us know
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