Sounds very interesting!

Can’t wait! I am very interested in nutrition.

I have 3 other books by Lucile Moore and I’ll be getting this one too.

I’m adding this to my wishlist. It will be nice to have all that info in one place. Aside from The House Rabbit Handbook and a brief talk with my vet, the majority of what I know about diet is coming from the internet; some of it’s contradictory. I’ve just been following the advice that everyone seems to agree on.

Will buy this when I get paid tomorrow

looks like a great book- I added it to my Wish List for when I order next. I just ordered 4 days ago from Amazon- and did not think to look for new rabbit books!

Anybody got their copy yet?

I got it in the mail on Wednesday and was super psyched

I’m reading it slowly and will be taking it with me to work to read on my break.

i flipped through the book a little bit and it talked about pellet – less diets. I found it rather interesting that it stated, if a rabbit were to go pelletless, they would need at least 17 different vegetables to get all the nutrients a pellet offers O_o It went on to say that 17 would be tough to find, as there are different climates in america and not all veggies are in season 24/7.

Posted By LoveChaCha on 05/14/2011 12:35 AM
I found it rather interesting that it stated, if a rabbit were to go pelletless, they would need at least 17 different vegetables to get all the nutrients a pellet offers O_o It went on to say that 17 would be tough to find, as there are different climates in america and not all veggies are in season 24/7.

Wow, that is difficult!  My vet recommended a pellletless diet due to how Jack processes calcium, and I thought I was doing great with 14 different veggies.  I am sure I could add three more if really needed, but being in California I have a ton of great choices throughout the season. . However,. I know the options in the midwest and some East Coast areas would really be challenged!   Yikes! Thank goodness, a pelletless diet choice is not necessary for all.   (Though I know that a bunny’s digestive system is pretty darn good at getting every last nutrient it can out of something –which is why they have “cecals” ). 

hahaha, well, i’m sure what jack gets is good enough

i work at a grocery store, so I should pick up something new for chacha.. but knowing her, she might turn her nose up to it.. o_O perhaps I should throw some of the veggie on a fishing pole and throw it out to jack in san francisco

I got my copy of the book a couple of days ago. I have read the first 4 chapters and skimmed through parts of the rest of it. Besides saying that she thought rabbits should have some pellets, and not just be on a hay and veggie diet, since it’s difficult to get all the needed nutrients from that diet, she also thinks that it’s fine for adult rabbits to have alfalfa based pellets, unless they have a condition where alfalfa is contraindicated. Some of the treats surprised me too–bread, seeds and nuts. I always thought that those were not to be given to rabbits. Of course, she is only talking about small quantities, but I didn’t think I would see those listed.

I was hoping to see some comparisons of rabbit pellets, and thought that Oxbow would be mentioned as a good pellet. The one talked about is Kaytee Exact Rainbow Rabbit, which is extruded instead of pelletted. I’m not sure what the difference is, but I never thought of Kaytee as that good of a brand, although I’ve only tried their hay. Apparently the Exact Rainbow is more of a complete food, but I notice that it has artificial color, which surely isn’t necessary (or good) for rabbits.

There is a lot of interesting and useful information in the book.  I liked reading about the physiology of the rabbit and seeing the lists of foods, comparing the percentages of fats and protein, etc.  Reading how carbohydrates, fat, and other components of their diet is needed and used by rabbits is very educational.

On my wishlilst! I love the “When your Rabbit needs special care book”. Great to have on hand.

I don’t think that there are even close to 17 rabbit veggies in my area! That’s insane. My rabbits get very little pellets and I have about 6 or 7 veggie varieties that I mix and match. I do the best I can but it’s very difficult to find a good variety. My vet didn’t seem to think it was a problem with going pelletless.

Tobyluv- I agree. I hated Kaytee hay and I’ve tried several different bags and varieties.

The Kaytee Exact food wouldn’t have been among my preferences at all! I agree about the food coloring. It’s meant to appeal to people, not rabbits. It makes me think of the Trix cereal commercials: “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”

And I thought Hodari was really lucky to be getting five different veggies most days because it’s so hard to find fresh produce and to keep it fresh for long. Sometimes she’s especially lucky and has more than five. Yesterday my husband was looking for something in the crisper drawers and he wanted to know if anything in the drawers wasn’t for Hodari.

After reading that Lucile Moore fed Kaytee Exact Rainbow Rabbit food to her rabbits, then going to the Kaytee site and seeing that the pellets include artificial color and flavor, I filled out a contact form on their site and asked why they had artificial color in the pellets. I haven’t heard back from them yet. My rabbits get about 1/4 cup of Oxbow pellets each day, and they have about 7 or 8 different vegetables in their diet, although they normally get 5 or 6 different veggies each day. It all depends on what is good in the stores or what I might be growing for them.  And they get unlimited hay–Timothy, botanical, orchard grass and sometimes some other hays.

Our crisper drawers are too small and they are crammed full–95% or more of the contents are just for the bunnies.

Bunnies NEED pellets for nutrition now? Whaaa? 0_o

I cut out pellets a long time ago for mine even though Mimz loved them, because I was certain they were causing his nasal symptoms and ileus. Now I wonder if I’ve been starving him? (Pip & Fiver actually do better without them.)

Brittany, does this book seem to have any info on forage feeding your bunnies? I’ve been following a thread on the UK rabbit site, Rabbits United, and there’s a woman whose bun has chronic cecal problems like Fiver’s and she feeds things like hawthorn, blackthorn and plantain to keep his gut working, I’d love it if this book has a guide to native plants here in the U.S.

I’m not sure Mimz, I haven’t sat down and started it >.> I just read that one section. I will let you know when I begin reading it.

MimzMum, there is a chapter in the book titled Wild Plants and Toxic plants. There are 15 safe, edible wild plants that Lucile Moore lists, then another 8 wild edible plants are listed that are taken from Christine Carter’s book, ‘The Wonderful World of Pet Rabbits’. Also listed are some toxic plants that should not be fed.

I know that I and some others have already mentioned some things from the book, but I don’t think that we are supposed to actually reproduce the contents without the author’s consent. So, I wouldn’t feel comfortable listing all of those safe wild plants.  I’m sorry, but I don’t want to do anything wrong.

Were you thinking of buying the book?  I don’t  know if it might be available in a library or not.  I see that the price has gone up on Amazon.  It was $13.29 when I bought it a little over a week ago, now it is selling for the full retail price of $15.95.

I was trying to access amazon yesterday while I was getting error messages from the board here. Even their site wasn’t cooperating and kept telling me my cookies weren’t working! grrr…..
Despite the price, I’m going to try again today to order the book, plus another one with bun stories that looked good. IF the site even works today…

I asking it for my birthday ( June 10th) and I was wondering if their are any other books that you guys would recommend that I could ask for. ( Almost every thing I ask for on my birthday is for rabbits :p )