What type of pellet do you use?

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 5sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by MoveDiagonally.

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- 10/29/2014 at 2:43 PM
  its_just_me_guys
  Participant
  18 posts
  We have a stray bun that my MIL found hanging around her house. She gave her to us to take care of, but before she did she bought a bag of Kaytee rabbit pellets. I noticed that she wasn’t ever eating them, but she is eating the alfalfa meal pellets that I use for her litter box. I’m definitely not going to use the Kaytee pellets for her litter box (they’re WAY too expensive, something like $8.99 for a few lbs.), but I feel like the pellets she has in there now aren’t nutritious enough for her to be eating. They’re not even sold as food, but as substrate for reptile cages. The only two ingredients are alfalfa meal and rice bran. So for those of you using food for litter box filler, what type do you use? I was on the Blue Seal website, because I’d like to get a 50 lb. bag, but I’m new to keeping a rabbit and didn’t know what to go for. I guess I should mention that she also gets Timothy hay and greens/veggies/some fruit every day, of course.
- 10/29/2014 at 8:54 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  I wouldn’t use food as litter. Oxbow adult rabbit food is an excellent timothy based pellet to feed your bunny — no seeds or anything bad for bunnies in it. For litter, some BBers use Carefresh, Yesterdays News, or other paper based litters, others use wood stove pellets. You should stay away from pine and cedar shavings.
- 10/29/2014 at 11:06 PM
  litheandgraphic
  Participant
  608 posts
  I concur with JackRabbit, and I might also add that anything with rice in it, like the pellets you’ve got now, are really bad for bunnies to ingest. I’m guessing even moreso because it’s sold as reptile substrate. Using food as a litter substrate at all will, as you might guess, be far too expensive. Also, how old is your rabbit? If she’s older than 6-7 weeks, then she really shouldn’t be eating alfalfa at all, because it has too much protein in it and will cause harmful excessive weight gain. So I’d definitely remove that from her area. Ultimately, her pellet diet will depend on her age. If she’s older than 6-7 weeks, she should be getting only 1/4-1/8 cup of Timothy hay pellets (not alfalfa) per day.
  
  Continuing to agree with JackRabbit, paper-based litters are your best bet because they are safest if ingested – though no litter should be consumed in large quantities. I’d go for CareFresh, Yesterday’s News, or Kaytee Fresh & Clean, or something along similar lines.
  
  Good luck and welcome!
- 10/30/2014 at 8:47 AM
  its_just_me_guys
  Participant
  18 posts
  Thanks, folks! I just came from Walmart, where EVERY SINGLE rabbit food formulation they had listed alfalfa as the main ingredient (one of them also had rice in it). So obviously I didn’t pick any of those up. I had gotten the idea to use food as litter box substrate from another site, but I really think it’s going to be cost prohibitive. The reptile bedding I just used because I had it (my husband is a property manager and someone left huge bags of it behind when they moved out of an apartment) and I didn’t know rice was so bad for Briar. I picked up some Feline Pine litter, which I did a quick bit of research on my phone while at the store, and someone else here on BB said that it’s ok to use because all the badness has been processed out (as opposed to pine/fir shavings). So all I need now is to get some of those timothy pellets I suppose. Thanks for all the input!
- 10/30/2014 at 9:28 AM
  Sindri
  Participant
  1515 posts
  I use Kaytee Alfalfa free pellets. I have used most of the OXbow pellets when it comes to food. I use carefresh with hay on top as bedding in the litter boxes.
- 11/02/2014 at 2:47 AM
  MoveDiagonally
  Participant
  2361 posts
  If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to FelinePine try untreated woodstove pellets. That’s what I use for my bunnies and it’s something like $2-4 dollars for 40-50lbs. It’s also pretty much identical to FelinePine.
  
  There are quite a few good options for pellets. Some food brands that fall within the recommended guidelines are:
  Oxbow Essentials Adult (what I use), Oxbow BeneTera, Kaytee Timothy Complete Adult, Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Adult (this exact type, there are similarly named lines that aren’t as good), Sweet Meadow Timothy Pellets, Zupreem Timothy Naturals, and Zupreem Nature’s Promise.
  
  These fall a little outside of the recommendations but are still good and used by many people successfully:
  Oxbow Natural Science, American Pet Diner Timmy Rabbit, Purina Fiber3 Rabbit Chow, and Sherwood Maintenance.
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