bunny diet experts?

[amandaaa]

first off, hi! this is my first post on here, greetings from me and my bunny sailor(:

 

second, i’ve had sailor for a couple years now, i never thought i’d own a bunny but here i am. my mom and i have done research when we first got her and shes been on a steady diet ever since, but id like to know what your thoughts about it was.

well her cage gets cleaned every pm, and she gets fresh kaytee brand rainbow rabbit food, and small world brand complete bunny nutrition pellets, as well as a carrot, and a treat a couple times a week, in the a.m. she gets her ‘greens’  romaine,endive,parsley,cilantro,and kale(only every couple days on the kale), she doesnt get alot of all of these, just a little bit of each, and she does real well on this diet, is not obese,has a good energy level and is nice and social, but her urine has been really dark yellowish(not quite sure what its supposed to be) and rather stinky lately, i was wondering if this wasrelative to her diet or not, no she is not fixed.

thanks in advance!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Changes in diet, and chemicals from plants cause urine to change color-unless it’s white or has crystals/sand in it-should be fine-easy to get alarmed with red pee or the like, but it’s natural and fine.

The pellets your using could be switched out though. You want to feed a plain pellet, that’s timothy hay based. Their should be no colored peices, seeds or nuts in it. They are too high in calories, and can cause impaction

Oh and Welcome to Binkybunny!!

[amandaaa]

thanks!
its good to know i shouldnt be worried
i think the pellets im feeding are timothy based but its hard to see, its a big bag so whats not being kept on top of her cage in a coffee can is in the bag, in a trash bag in a box to keep it fresh, ill check tomorrow, i could be wrong.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Unfortunately a lot of pellets are alfalafa based -I have no idea why! But timothy is the way to go, they have less calories and calcium

[amandaaa]

ill be sure to check!

[jerseygirl]

Definately go for a plain pellet. Rainbow food make me think artificial colours and nobody needs that stuff. I’m not familiar with the brand. The veggies all sound great. Maybe give her some timothy hay or other grass hay as well. Welcome here, by the way!

[Sarita]

Actually these rainbow pellets are perfectly fine and many rabbit savvy people feed them to their rabbits – it’s good for older rabbits who are ailing – apparently they pick out the yellow pellets. These pellets are extruded differently than the pellets that most of us are familiar with. They don’t have any seeds or such in them. I’ve fed them in the past to my rabbits – they are just very pricey. They are alfalfa based so you will want to switch to timothy based recommended by most vets – Kaytee does have a timothy based pellet called Kaytee Timothy Complete – these are the more traditional pellets.

As for the pee, that sounds pretty normal to me. Once she is altered the odor should decrease.

What type of litter are you using as well? A good litter will make a world of difference in the odor.

[amandaaa]

well shes actually in a large dog crate, like this one http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/shop_image/product/999eb914a6315fd7f01cb815d504ade8.jpg because shes a big girl(ill get pics soon) and we line the bottom with newspaper, then shred some, and in the back she has a litter pan that has softsorbent pet litter in it, and another just box that gets switched out when her cage gets cleaned, thats filled with bermuda hay.

[Sarita]

I’ve heard of that litter but never tried it – maybe you should try some different litters to see which work best for odor control. I find that hay and urine produce a strong odor too – I put hay in my litter boxes for the rabbits to eat and it seems like the wet hay is very strong.

I use a wood pelleted litter called Lone Star Bedding that is about $6 for 40 pounds and it has very good odor control. I don’t find that the paper based litters give very good odor control and they seem to be more pricey. If you can find a wood pelleted litter that would be worth trying – I’ve used Feline Pine (not the clumping kind) which you can get at the pet stores and it worked pretty good for odors. If you can find woodstove pellets (without accelerant) those are very good alternatives too.

[MooBunnay]

Hi Mysailor – welcome to BinkyBunny!

I’m sorry if I missed this while reading – but are you feeding unlimited grass hay? In my opinion the pellets and veg sound good as long as they are just supplements to some kind of grass hay like timothy hay – is she getting an unlimited supply of this? I think the general % I heard is that a bunny’s diet should be around 90-95% hay, and just a little bit of pellets and veg in addition.

[amandaaa]

yeah, her bermuda is unlimited but she mainly beds in it.

“I use a wood pelleted litter called Lone Star Bedding that is about $6 for 40 pounds” i realize this product obviusly might not be avaliable to me, but what store provides it in your hometown?

[jerseygirl]

Actually these rainbow pellets are perfectly fine and many rabbit savvy people feed them to their rabbits

Thanks for the correction Sarita! Guess it pays not to jump to conclusions as I did – lol.

mysailor, if you can source Wood Stove Pellets, Equine Fresh or another type of wood pellet horse bedding, these are similar to product Sarita mentioned. Though lonestar looks to be an extruded pellet (round as opposed to cylindrical). If you are keen to try that one, here’s a link http://www.lonestarbedding.com/distribute.htm. Also do a search on this site for past topics on Wood Stove Pellets – there’s sure to be plenty of alternatives suggested.

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