A few edibles questions

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 5sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 5 months ago by RabbitPam.

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- 09/18/2009 at 4:07 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  Okay, I have a few questions about things bunnies can/can’t eat.
  
  One is, Fiver began chewing on the paper bag that the BB.com hay comes in, so figuring it’s probably the best paper money can buy (I know how conscientious BB is) I tore off about a 5 inch long, 1 inch wide strip and let him have it to play with. Of course, now that it’s not something he has to try and sneak away from me, it’s just getting tossed about the habitat…but I wonder, will it hurt him if he does eat all of it? I notice I can’t really give him cardboard tubes, because they tend to upset his stomach, but I wonder if plain brown paper is okay?
  
  Plus, I am still trying to track down the cause of Mimzy’s illness (the sneezing and scratching he does have all been checked out to be sure he doesn’t have teeth/abscess problems, he doesn’t) and I notice he gets to the Oxbow pellets at night and seems to like them less and less, although he will still eat them because they are there. I see that he chews long and hard with anything like pellets or APD cookies. So I wonder if it’s just a lop thing, the shape of his jaw or something? Anyway, I’m thinking of switching back to the Kaytee pellets for awhile since he seemed to like those, and I’ll use the guide BB put up for making the switch gradual.
  
  My worry is this, taking into account the rash of stasis on this board lately. Remember the problems with the dog food coming from China? It seems to me in all the posts I’ve read about stasis lately that the first thing the bunnies turn their noses up at are the pellets. So should I be equally worried about where I get my pellets from? What kind of pellets are everyone else on this board using? I have to wonder if the same thing isn’t happening to our bunnies in some way. Could rabbit pellets be tainted? And if so, how would we be able to tell? Or should we only buy them from one source?
  
  I can see Mimzy is getting tired of Oxbow, so I want to switch him to something else or wean him off pellets altogether, but what to substitute? Any suggestions for a safe transition?
- 09/18/2009 at 4:12 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Well most vets are going to tell you to decrease or cut out pellets when a rabbit has a gut slowdown and increase green leafy vegetables and hay.
  
  And definitely a rabbits pellets can be tainted probably moreso than hay.
  
  I only feed a few of my rabbits pellets at all. And honestly my little Dutch pair that have them all the time don’t eat that much of them.
- 09/18/2009 at 5:03 PM
  MimzMum
  Participant
  8029 posts
  Well it makes sense I suppose, after all where do bunnies get pellets in the wild, right? All three bunnies are of good size, so it’s not like they’re starving or anything. Pip doesn’t even have pellets anymore, and her weight is constant. Perhaps it’s just not adding that much to their nutrition?
  
  If I want to cut them out completely, how would you suggest the best way to do that? I mean, if Mimz is already on the way to telling them goodbye, he shouldn’t be too tough to wean form them, but Fiver definitely loves them and will be harder to retrain not to eat them. It’s really a nighttime snack for both of them and Fiver is the only one who seems to relish it at this point.
  I’m trying to think of a suitable substitute for him. I always give him oodles of hay, so that is not a concern, (Mimzy too, but he doesn’t enjoy his hay much-it probably tickles his nose), and right now Fiver’s only getting the minimum dose of pellets in a tiny crock that one would use for a hamster (the pellets barely cover the bottom of this bowl). I’d say I only give him 1/8 to 1/4 of a teaspoon.
  Too many veggies give Pip & Fiver runny stools, so I have to be careful how I dispense these. Too many veggies for Mimzy and he won’t touch his hay at all, which leaves him with small stools. I do my best to make sure any greens are not still dripping wet when I feed them, barring the days when it seems like the buns haven’t drunk a lot of water or hot days (which are over now-we have snow forecast for Tues. *cries* )
- 09/18/2009 at 5:13 PM
  Sarita
  Participant
  18851 posts
  Well too I think that when they get older their metabolism slows down just like ours – they just don’t need as much food because they also aren’t as active either. I think if Fiver is just eating a minimal amount keep giving him that – it’s not hurting him and it’s not much anyway. I don’t think you really need to substitute either.
  
  Think about how small a rabbit really is – how large is their stomach (small) – so in my opinion on this I think about the size of the animal (small), the amount of food they really need for their (in)active lifestyle (after all we are feeding them, they are not foraging for food by any means) they probably just don’t need that much energy (food). I find that the majority of my rabbits don’t eat all the greens I put out (some do, some don’t) but none are starving. The only one who begs for treats is Emmy – no one else is begging.
  
  You obviously know your rabbits and their habits so you are well on your way to knowing what you are going to have to do for their diet.
  
  I think too that you might want to double check with your vet as well as to what they recommend as well.
- 09/19/2009 at 1:41 AM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  I really don’t have anything more to add to what Sarita has posted. I just wanted to answer your question about the bags. I get them from uline (http://www.uline.com/BL_5502/Hardware-Bags). They are made of strong kraft paper and I also use soy based inks to stamp the BinkyBunny logo and hay types on the bags, so they should be harmless. Normally cardboard breaks down easily in a bunny’s tummy, however if Fiver’s stomach is sensitive to cardboard, then I would suspect he would be sensitive to kraft paper as well, so you may want to watch that.
- 09/19/2009 at 6:41 AM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  I still feel more comfortable with the Oxbow products, which is based on nothing but concern about other pellets being worse. If he isn’t that interested, instead of giving him his pellets in a bowl you could try scattering them around his cage. At least if he wants some, he could forage and find them, giving him a bit of movement to do so. Make sure he’s not rejecting them because his teeth are bothering him, though.
  
  I would steer clear of the paper bags except as a shredded diggy box type of toy. Maybe everyone needs some willow treat sticks to gnaw on instead for some variety.
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