There doesn’t seem to be any set age for transitioning from alfalfa based to timothy based pellets. Some articles may state that you can start adult pellets at 6 to 7 months of age. Other articles say that you can wait until a rabbit is closer to a year in age before transitioning.

There is no distinction for adult to senior, in terms of pellet changes. Do you mean young rabbit to adult? That would be what tobyluv is referring to.

An elder rabbit will still follow the standard, limited pellets diet. Any changes will be based on veterinary recommendation, in accordance to your elder rabbit’s specific needs.

Posted By Wick on 5/14/2018 1:53 PM

There is no distinction for adult to senior, in terms of pellet changes. Do you mean young rabbit to adult? That would be what tobyluv is referring to.

An elder rabbit will still follow the standard, limited pellets diet. Any changes will be based on veterinary recommendation, in accordance to your elder rabbit’s specific needs.

Actually, some brands sell pellets made for senior buns. Science selective is one of them; it carries pellets for buns of age 4+. I’d give you a link but I’m not sure if that’s against the rules or not, so here are the contents:

Crude protein 12.0%, Crude fibre 22.0%, Crude oils and fats 4.0%, Crude ash 8.0%, Calcium 0.6%, Sodium 0.3%, Phosphorus 0.4%.

Vitamin A 22000 IU, Vitamin C 300mg, Vitamin D³ 2000 IU, Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152mg, Calcium iodate anhydrous 1.5 mg, Copper sulphate pentahydrate 20 mg, Manganese oxide 71 mg, Zinc oxide 62 mg, Sodium selenite 0.2 mg.

Lucerne meal, soybean hulls, Timothy hay (20%), wheat, wheatfeed, thyme, linseed, flaked peas, soy oil, monocalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, salt, yeast extract.

And these are the contents of the normal Science Selective:

Crude protein 14.0%, Crude fibre 25.0%, Crude oils and fats 4.0%, Crude ash 8.0%, Calcium 0.6%, Sodium 0.3%, Phosphorus 0.4%.

Vitamin A 15000 IU, Vitamin D3 1500 IU, Ferrous sulphate monohydrate 152mg, Calcium iodate anhydrous 1.5 mg, Copper sulphate pentahydrate 20 mg, Manganese oxide 38 mg, Zinc oxide 62 mg, Sodium selenite 0.2 mg.

Alfalfa meal, soybean hulls, wheat, wheat feed, flaked peas, linseed, beet pulp, soybean meal, soya oil, monocalcium phosphate, salt, calcium carbonate.

As you can see the senior version has less protein, because the theory is that elderly buns are less active and thus need less of it. It also has Vitamin C added because even though rabbits don’t depend on it like guinea pigs do, it was shown to help the immune system in case of ilness. Now there is still debates on whether senior pellets are a must or not and many rabbit owners don’t feed them because they don’t feel the need to if that have a healthy senior bun. Same can be said for junior pellets, many people don’t feed those either because babies do fine on normal pellets in general. Just know that the option is there should your baby or grandma bunny ever need a little extra help.

@Daisy – That’s really helpful information to know! Wick’s particular brand doesn’t seem to have senior pellets, but it’s good knowledge to have!

I guess that I didn’t read the original post very carefully, since I answered regarding when one can change from pellets for young rabbits to pellets for adult rabbits. I never gave any of my rabbits different pellets when they became seniors.

Rhh for NZW seniors at that age , is that based off of age classes for showing or health based on another site? 4 is quite young and I wouldn’t consider most rabbits seniors until age 8 (maybe I’m just optimistic).

I’ve never known anyone to change to a senior pellet for their bun however if you wish to then I probably wouldn’t do it any earlier than age 6.

They become officially senior at 4 because in the wild bunnies don’t make it to 8+. But I agree, I wouldn’t feed senior pellets to a healthy 4 year old small breed (I wouldn’t feed junior pellets to a healthy baby either). If you have a giant breed, they usually don’t grow much older than 5 so then senior pellets may come in handy at 4.

@Wick ah yes I’ve only learned junior and senior pellets were a thing when I got my 2 current bunnies after years of bunnylessness, haha! It’s good that these options exist for the weaker buns among us.

They become officially senior at 4 because in the wild bunnies don’t make it to 8+. But I agree, I wouldn’t feed senior pellets to a healthy 4 year old small breed (I wouldn’t feed junior pellets to a healthy baby either). If you have a giant breed, they usually don’t grow much older than 5 so then senior pellets may come in handy at 4.

Anything that’s 5 kg or more, such as the Flemish giant, Lotharinger or French lop.