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› FORUM › DIET & CARE › What food do you use?
Currently I buy my ferrets the best possible food, but to be honest, I’ve been just grabbing whatever for my rabbits. I decided that I’m going to start getting them the best possible food that we have in our stores. Right now I feed them Premium L’avian Plus. On the back the guaranteed analysis says it has:
Crude Protein (Min) 16.00%
Crude Fat (Min) 3.00%
Crude Fiber (Min) 15.00%
Crude Fiber (Max) 20.00%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 0.50%
Calcium (Ca) (Max) 1.00%
What food brand do you guys feed your rabbits, or what brands do you suggest? Or is this current food good?
I use Russel Rabbit. It’s made by a brand called Supreme Pet Food, and my rabbit loves it! You can find it at Petco and Petsmart. It has a large variety of pellets so there is a lot to choose from and it also has natural ingredients that are high in fiber. (I sound like a commercial! lol) Anyways its a really good option although its a little pricer, I think its worth it. I used to buy a brand called Dumor i think, its good also and you can find it at Tractor Supply Co.
I use Oxbow because members here are always recommending it. I use the Adult Rabbit Essentials. Here’s the guaranteed analysis on that:
Crude Protein min 14.00%
Crude Fat min 2.00%
Crude Fiber min 25.00%
Crude Fiber max 29.00%
Moisture max 10.00%
Calcium min 0.35%
Calcium max 0.75%
Phosphorus min 0.25%
Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D (min) 900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg
Monte likes it. And I’m impressed with the fiber content, low amount of calcium, and added vitamins. She was eating the Small Pet Select rabbit pellets at one point. The nutrition was similar, but the Oxbow was cheaper.
I use Science Selective Mature by Supreme now because it’s the only senior rabbit food I’ve been able to find. It’s for rabbits 4 years and older and Bam is at least 5. Yohio gets CuniComplete and Cuni Nature Re-Balance.
I’ll have a look for all of these when I go to Petco later. I’m leaning more towards Oxbow, though. It seems like a lot of people use it and it has the right fiber, fat, ect. Right now I give all of my rabbits food all day and refill the bowls when I notice they’re empty. Should I be doing this, or only giving them a certain amount a day?
You should take it easy on the pellets. Only 1/4 of a cup a day for most rabbits. Larger rabbits can get a little more.
An ideal rabbit diet is 80% hay (timothy, meadow grass, etc. NOT alfalfa) 10% leafy green veggies, 5% pellets, and 5% fruits and treats. Rabbits need the fiber thats why they should have access to plenty of hay 100% of the time.
If your rabbits are babies,ie under the age of 5 months, you can give them unlimited pellets – unless they are perfect little piggies. Rabbits over 5-6 months should get a limited amount of pellets, preferably divided up into two servings per day.
Oxbow is a very good brand.
For a medium sized bun 1/8 cup Oxbow pellets/day is a good amount unless the bun needs to gain or loose weight, of course.
May I ask why not to use alfalfa? I’m feeding them timothy right now, and sometimes I give them these timothy cubes. I’m just curious as to why you shouldn’t give rabbits alfalfa.
Oliver is a pretty big boy, Domino is a little smaller than Oliver, though fully grown, and Pip is small. I’m unsure on any of their ages, though Pip is probably under five months. Domino is quite a bit bigger than him. Pip is quite the little piggy, too. Pip is just recently starting to get more fluff on his head and he’s a lionhead. About all I could offer would be a picture of him to show you his size.
I use Oxbow Adult Essentials pellets and mix in a tiny bit of Oxbow Organic pellets.
Adult rabbits can have an occasional bit of alfalfa hay as a treat, but alfalfa is higher in protein, calories and calcium, so it’s better suited for very young rabbits.
I’ll keep the hay in mind for special occasions only. But they’ll stick to timothy full time.
Also I searched on the Petco site and apparently my Petco doesn’t carry Oxbow brand at all. Not one thing from them. But the Petsmart here does, so I’ll go and have a look at the bags tomorrow. Also I noticed a timothy hay from the Oxbow brand as well. Is there really a difference in the hay? The brand we have now is Pestell Pet Products.
There is definitely a difference in brands of hay. Some are better than others and some rabbits can be very picky and only prefer certain brands. Oxbow is usually considered one of the better brands. Some other very good ones are Small Pet Select and American Pet Diner. Hay can be so variable, even within brands. It depends on the growing conditions, the time of harvest, how long since it has been harvested, etc. Besides some varieties of Oxbow hay, my bunnies like American Pet Diner Timothy Gold, it is a second cutting of hay that is softer and a nice green. That is sold at Petco, and here in the BB store, as well as other online places.
You are correct, Petco does not sell Oxbow products, but PetSmart does. I find the Oxbow products to be very pricey at PetSmart. I usually get mine online, at Drs. Foster and Smith. Even if I don’t reach the minimum for free shipping ($49) I usually come out better paying the $5.99 shipping charge since their prices are lower than PetSmart and they usually have items on sale to boot. If you do buy from them, you will get on their email list. They do send quite a few emails – one every few days, usually announcing a sale or discount. For the last year, about every other month, they have a day or two where the shipping is free no matter how little you spend. I’ve enjoyed taking advantage of those offers.
If you do a search here in the forums for brands of hay, you will find other brands listed that member’s rabbits like. I know that there is one online site where you can get a hay sampler, but I don’t remember the name.
I found Oxbow products at my local Earl May. You might look there if you have one nearby. Our Petco also doesn’t carry Oxbow. I don’t have a Petsmart nearby.
Alright we went to Petsmart and picked up a 10 lb bag of Oxbow. Thanks everyone! Hopefully they’ll like it.
i use Small world Adult rabbit food
I use Oxbow Adult pellets.
We feed Manna-Pro Premium Rabbit Food – I like it as it doesn’t have an corn in it, and the 50 lb bag is rather cheap, so obviously lasts a long time. Next to this I use 1-2 cups of green veggies and unlimited Kaytee timothy hay.
Oxbow put a bit of a strain on my budget, so I used Kaytee Timothy Complete pellets from Petco. A good cheaper option
I used Burgess Excel, although prior to that I was using Oxbow as well.
› FORUM › DIET & CARE › What food do you use?
