Are these lettuces safe? 🥬

[Moonlightbunny66]

We have these lettuces growing in our backyard. They are called black seeded Simpson, and red riding hood. My mom said they are leaf lettuces. Are they safe for my bunnies? The animal rescue I’m getting the bunnies from didn’t specify what kind of lettuce they feed them. They just said lettuce. So I’ll introduce them slowly if they are safe. It’s okay if they only have a little bit of lettuce a day while they get used to it? I read that the darker the lettuce, the better. The green one looks a little too light to me. What do you guys think? We also have kale, which I heard you should only give a little bit since it’s high in oxalic acid. Thank you.

[Moonlightbunny66]

The wild bunnies eat the kale but I’m not in an infected area. I’m in Ontario, Canada.

[Moonlightbunny66]

I just found out they mostly eat romaine and green leaf lettuce. So I’ll get romaine but introduce some other lettuces.

[Wick & Fable]

Unfortunately I’m not familiar with the lettuce you have pictured, but romaine and green leaf are the usual staples and are generally the “safest” vegetables (i.e. when a rabbit may have a sensitive stomach, romaine and green leaf are usually vegetables that virtually never upset a rabbit tummy!).

There is a link to HRS’ list of safe vegetables through the diet section in the RABBIT INFO section of this website. I don’t think it has your lettuce specifically, but it gives you a long list of rabbit-safe veggies and which ones to not feed as frequently.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[DanaNM]

Those looks fine to me (look to be varietals of romaine and green leaf). Whenever I’ve given my buns home grown lettuce they gobble them up with gusto. 🙂  Really the only lettuce to avoid is iceberg.

Kale is not technically a lettuce, it’s in the Brassica group, along with cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard, collards, etc.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Moonlightbunny66]

@Wick Thank you!

@DanaNM Thanks! Oh I know kale is not a lettuce it’s just that these are the only things we have in the garden that buns can eat. I did not know that it’s in the Brassica group tho. Thanks for the info. 🙂 We actually also have parsley, I just remembered. Maybe I’ll give them a little bit to try.

[prince dorian the bun]

From my vet, generally greens that are safe for humans and horses are safe for buns. Same with herbs. There are a few like spinach and parsley that should be eaten in moderation. Kale and other brassicas are controversial, Dorian loves it and has no issues… so best bet there is start simple and then slowly add one by one and monitor. Rabbit digestion isn’t like human digestion, so just cause they give humans gas doesn’t mean your rabbit will get gas. That’s said some buns don’t do well with them, which is why introduce one at a time. Romaine is great starter. House Rabbit society has a great list of green.  I did find the allowed not allowed gets pretty damn confusing (different site would wildly contradict each other, even ones that were both reputable) so I seriously quizzed my vet when I first got Dorian. I also read any study I could find, and tried to go through some of the veterinary literature. It’s been a bit, but if you want I can go dig and see if I can find some links. Good diet is important after all!

Side notes: the oxalic acid in kale varies between varieties, some are actually pretty low. Moderation is however a good idea, especially since figuring out which variety has what amount is challenging.

domestic and wild buns (especially if you are referring to contain tails commonly found in N. America) have different digestions, what can be eaten by one can seriously upset the tum of the other… so just because a wild rabbits chomping down and seems unharmed, doesn’t mean it’s a good food for your bun. I hadn’t realized that until I read up on it, so thought I’d mention 🙂

[Moonlightbunny66]

@princedorianthebun Thank you!! Yeah I do see things contradicting each other from different websites on how much you should feed the bun. That’s actually interesting on the wild bunnies. I was just saying it because of the disease going around, that the kale in the garden shouldn’t be infected because the disease isn’t in my area. I am going to start off with romaine lettuce because I know they’ve had it before, and then introduce some other lettuce from the garden. And then a little kale to see how they tolerate it! Some links would be great for more info. 🙂

[prince dorian the bun]

it may take a bit to track them down again as looks like I didn’t bookmark anything, there are honestly not that many papers looking at pet rabbits diets (especially free articles), but here is one: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsap.12660

[Moonlightbunny66]

@prince Dorian the bun Thank you!! 🙂

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