You can do it daily as a treat.

In a pet store – I would say if you can find Oxbow products in a pet store or American Pet Diner then those are the only treats I would recommend.

You are right to be careful about petstore bought treats. I would stick with natural things such as raisins or the treats you see in the BB store. If you do shop at a petstore, look at the treats this way: if a treat is labeled for a number of small animals including rabbits, don’t buy it. If it is only and specifically formulated for rabbits, I would consider buying it depending on the ingedients.

Actually the best would be fresh papaya. Apparently the enzyme in papaya that aids digestion is very fragile and the more processing it undergoes the less effective it is thought to be. Some rabbit owners use dried diced papaya, too.

Fresh papaya being hard to get year round most places, and kind of a pain to chop just a bit each day for one bunny and have the fruit last, I have been using dried diced papaya or the tablets. Koji loves both, so I give one per day of either/or along with maybe another small treat. He has rather long fur, though not quite a long-haired rabbit I suspect he has some in him somewhere because he doesn’t have that short flyback fur, it’s longer and wooly almost, so I worry about him ingesting it so I make sure to give the papaya stuff every day… I did wonder about the enzymes getting destroyed through processing, but product info says they not only powder the fruit but then add extra of the enzymes to be sure that a guaranteed amount of those enzymes is in there even with harvesting and processing concerns, and since Oxbow has a good reputation I trust that. And since it’s really a good price for 90 treats and probably is good for him, I figure why not?

As an FYI, if you can’t find the unsweetened dried papaya at your local shops, doctors foster & smith sell it for fairly cheap on their website. I found it in an organic grocery here but the regular groceries did not carry it. I’m sure other websites would carry it, too, and maybe non-pet sites would be cheaper, I just noticed that when I was flipping around their site.

I guess that is a matter of opinion. The tablets have both pineapple and papaya enzymes. But I guess the dried fruit being less processed it could have higher quality enzymes.

It’s probably also a question of taste. I know some older threads on those tablets, people were commenting that this newer healthier formula of the tablets is not as well liked by their bunnies. Koji seems to eat pretty indiscriminately so I have not seen a preference either way. But with them being like $5 and $2, why not try both?

I wish I had a better answer on what is better for them… I would like to know that also. I do not know who might be an expert on rabbit nutrition like that though to ask. I have to talk to my vet tomorrow regarding our urinalysis results, so maybe I can ask him if he knows anything about this.

Well, there is no scientific proof that it aids digestion in rabbits. Some people swear it works and some don’t as far as preventing blockage. Papaya and pineapple enzymes don’t dissolve the hair.

That’s why I just say use it as a treat. The best prevention for blockages or sluggish motility is hay, exercise and fluids (water).

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e., increase the rates of) chemical reactions.

I just got the Oxbow once myself just this weekend. I give Papaya tables during molts, as an evening treat to everyone. When buying the human brand ones i was always very specific to what ones, as many were just sweet sugar tables
Oh, I feed fresh and dried papaya as well, and eat it myself as it is high in fiber.

Mocha, enzymes are a type of protein that work to “catalyze” (cause) certain chemical reactions in the body. There’s many many types of them and they help to make a variety of biological processes work. Basically, no living thing could survive without them, because we need them to do basically everything. Fun/delicious use for enzymes: marinate chicken breast in buttermilk (or buttermilk ranch) for 8 hours, squeegee the excess off and grill it – the enzymes of the buttermilk work to break down the chicken and make it more tender. Meat tenderizer seasoning stuff you buy at the grocery I think uses the same pineapple enzyme used in the tablets to do the same for steaks.

Sarita, digestive problems are due to more than just hair right? Blockages are also food particles and stuff that hold that hair together? Even if it doesn’t break down the hair it seems like it could help with the other stuff. But I did some googling and it seems that some people theorize that the acid in a rabbit’s stomach may destroy the enzymes regardless of what source they come from. So even if it does help the digestive tract, maybe it is destroyed before it gets there. But, there are a lot of people through experience who swear by it, and the HRS seems to advocate it from “statistical evidence” which may not be a scientific trial but I guess it’s something.

Oh well, it’s cheap, rabbit likes it, and it *may* help, so that’s enough for me!

Data collected by the House Rabbit Society suggest that the enzymes contained in papaya and pineapple benefit rabbits who take them. This is just statistics of course, but since they also make a nice treat, why not feed them.

Blockages are a slow down in gut motility so yes, the blockage can be a variety of things including food particles, fur, etc…I don’t think that papaya tablets hurt but I don’t think their is proof that they help. I don’t know if HRS actually advocates it or not because I don’t find anything on their site at all about papaya tablets but I think they would say the same thing about it not hurting and that it may help. I think as far as treats, papaya tablets are a great rabbit treat. But I think rabbit owners need to know that there is no guarantee that they help prevent “blockages”.

Here’s a good article on it on the HRS:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html

I had seen it here

http://www.coloradohrs.com/articles/diet_detailed_generic.asp

Thanks for the article – I almost chose vet school instead of accounting (decided I was too sensitive to animal suffering) so I’m always interested to read these things! Very interesting. Who knows, I dream of going back to school some day for something science related, maybe I can put some of these debates to rest someday, there seems to be a lack of good research for house rabbit care.

http://www.coloradohrs.com/articles/diet_detailed_generic.asp
This one was one I found that said their data found it is useful in prevention and treatment, a little older it looks like though. I guess that’s not advocating exactly either but seems they are in favor of giving it. But, of course you are right to point out that it shouldn’t be hailed as a magic fix or anything so that people won’t think they don’t need to keep an eye out, feed plenty of hay, etc.

I’m just happy Oxbow made these healthier versions without all the sugars. It’s nice to have at least a couple brands who are actually providing nutritionally sound products, even if I can’t get them in the local pet shops here.

I’ve seen that too but I think I have to stick by what this vet says. Her advice seems very sound about the diet. I do find it odd that the Colorado HRS describes it as hairball too.

The other thing that I just remembered is that this data collection is done by volunteers. It is possible that the impression that these enzymes prevent blockages of organic matter is subjective. It does say that there is no hard evidence. But if you’ve ever made a dessert containing pineapple or papaya and you tried to gel it using gelatin– you’d have seen that these enzymes really do split the proteins and it does not gel. ~ People take papaya for digestion and it works. So I am a believer!

Well, I love green papaya salad but I’m sure I could not get my rabbits to eat that – jello either LOL.