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› FORUM › DIET & CARE › cranberries/craisins
I have looked at the store and the only Craisins I find have added sugar- it is possible to find them without sugar? I bought a bag of fresh cranberries and offered some to the buns- Cotton wouldn’t eat hers but Penny liked them. I am thinking about trying to dehydrate a batch and see what they end up like. Has anyone else gotten their bun to eat fresh cranberries (now is the time of year!)?
I have never given my bunnies Craisins or raisins because I seem to find sugar or oil added. Maybe I would have better luck at a health food store?
I had dehydrated a batch of blueberries but they ended up weird looking- they still looked round with a puffy/crackly skin and a denser area of dried blueberry inside. They reminded me of puffed cereal kinda.
Yuck! I just find them in the produce section, they’re some kind of natural dried cranberries with nothing added. I’ve no idea how to dry fruit though!
I agree, I can’t find Craisins without added sugar. It’s frustrating. Fresh cranberries have got to be the nastiest thing in the world to eat…but that’s me as a human talking. My guess is, if bunny will eat a papaya tablet, the cranberries can’t be too much more of a stretch.
If you have a fruit drier, I’d try it. It can’t hurt and they could always be used in your turkey stuffing if you do that kind of thing.
I buy dried blueberries (which are exactly a you describe) at my organics section of my supermarket. They’re called “Just Blueberries” because that’s what they are. Mimzy loves them. Pip is more partial to the dried strawberries/bananas from the same company. I don’t feed many and they really don’t need many, one or two a week is enough of a treat for them. However, I tend to sneak them from the bags at the same time and they often catch me raiding the goodies at more frequent intervals. ^_^ I am a bad bunny slave.
I’ve seen some freeze dried cranberries from Just Tomatoes but they are not very palatable really – couldn’t get any of my rabbits to touch them.
what exactly are crasins, are they just dried cranberries? i see those at the store and they always look to have extra stuff on them… i think they have a version with yogurt which would be a definte no-no.
Craisins is actually the brand name by Ocean Spray I believe – it’s dried cranberries. They do have mixes but they also have just the regular “craisins” as well. My rabbits love them but they only get a small amount – honestly I’ve never looked at the ingredients – I know that’s bad but my rabbits have not had any problems eating them as a treat.
do you have any idea how the natural sugar content would stack up against raisins of the same amount, like 1 ounce of craisins versus 1 ounce of raisins? mine are no longer receiving raisins due to Mead’s stasis scares, would craisins be a better alternative to raisins as an occasional treat?
Well they are sweetened with added sucrose so and really is pretty high in sugar. Honestly I don’t think there are any freeze dried or dried fruits that have a low sugar content. Even a fresh apple has about 16 grams of sugar.
Raisins have 29 grams of sugar and Craisins have 22 grams of sugar from what I can find out – that’s per serving…
I’m sure you could find dried cranberries at a Natural grocery that don’t have added sugar.
I get dried blueberries, my husbands favorite. There great in oatmeal. My buns wouldn’t touch them.
As I have just made a trip to the market for my rabbit SPECIALLY – it seriously cracks me up that we have ( and I read with great interest) discussions regarding how to better dry our own fruit for our rabbits.
And I am sure you can simply dry the cranberries vis a vis a string and needle – not fast – but effective. It is the same way we used to dry apple rings and peppers when I was a little girl. I can only thing that El Queen Diva Bun may turn up her nose at the sheer tartness of a true, unadulterated dried cranberry. Nearly everything we get has some type of sugar added.
Whole Paycheck has just cranberries…actually their store brand is just cranberries w/o added sugar. They have most dried fruits w/o added sugar. So I would check Whole Paycheck AKA Whole Foods or Trader Joes.
DUH!! *smacks head* don’t they do that for christmas decorations, string cranberries and popcorn on strings? That would totally work to dry your own!!
I have no idea the brand I bought…I have a tin container I dump all the treats in and jingle to get the buns to come…It’s some sort of almost no name brand cheapy farmer type thing at walmart…it’s in the produce section…That helps alot I’m sure!
Stringing cranberries on a xmas tree. Never heard of that.
Also a food dehydrator would work too.
So is it okay to give them cranberries with sugar on them? I fed my rabbit one the other day, he ate it right up…
Really bunnytowne? Growing up in New England that is “the thing” to do – and for YEARS we needle and threaded it . When I grew up and moved out, I bought wooden “cranberries” to avoid the hours of stringing.
PLUS when you toss your tree, the strings can stay on, as they feed the birds in the back yard! Seriously – white lights and cranberry strings is THE New England christmas tree! I am fascinated when I see some of the ones here in Montreal with the blue lights – I can;t imagine wanting blue lights on my tree!
And Fluffybunny – I am thinking the consensus is that Yes – But these are treats, like raisins – not tooooo many, cause they are like a giant bunny twix.
I bought fresh cranberries last week and I cut them in half and gave them to the buns. They all 4 ate them-eventually. Two of them acted quite insulted by them at first. lol
so you guys are thinking just strinking them like you would on a chrsitmas tree would dry them out? I dont have a dehydrator..
› FORUM › DIET & CARE › cranberries/craisins
