Crab Apple

[LeaLou]

I am visiting my Mom for thanksgiving and she is wanting to give Rollo a branch from a crab apple tree. I know they can apple tree branches; is crab apple okay too? 

Also, I was told that bunnies should not be giving any fruits or veggies until around 4 months. Mom has been giving him small bites of apple and carrot. Should I be concerned or upset? 

Thanks 

Lea 

[Mocha]

Crab apple is fine.

How old is your rabbit? It’s true, you shouldn’t feed him any veggies until he’s at least 4 months old. Just don’t give him any more. When he’s four months old, you can slowly introduce one vegetable at a time. When my rabbits were about 6-7 months (when I got them), that’s when I started giving them salads.

[Megabunny]

Noooooo! All this time I complained about not having enough apple branches and I could’ve been using the crabapple tree! As AndHenry would say…Doh! Now I don’t live there anymore! Well, hopefully the neighbors didn’t notice a few less branches here and there on their Apple trees LOL. Well, I did ask some of them!

[Mocha]

lol

[LeaLou]

What about the bunny treats that you can buy? Are those okay now? I want him to learn that coming to me means yummy things! And, using his plain old food isn’t much of a treat!
He’ll be two months on the 16th. So three days.

[Mocha]

I would just feed alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets until he reaches 6 months old (introduce veg at 4 mo. as earlier posted).

You can buy storebought treats, but no yogurt drops or anything with seeds. Storebought treats are like junk food for rabbits, they aren’t good for them but I am still addicted to buying them… My bunnies usually get bits of fruit or carrot (a much healthier treat option) in the morning, and one storbought treat in the evening before bedtime. I usually buy treats from Petsmart (my rabbits love the tart biscuits, veggies biscuits, veggie sticks, and they go bannanas for the dried fruit medley. ha ha get it, nevermind…) , or Supreme Crunchies.

If you live in the U.S or Canada, there’s a U.K brand called Boredom Breakers that you can buy off Amazon or Bobbys Bunny Boutique. They make really healthy rabbit treats and forages that my bunnies love, and can eat a little more of because they are so healthy.

I also like making my own treats sometimes by baking a mix of old fashioned oats, pellets, water, and fruit (apple+rasberry, or bannanna, or rasberry). I usually store them in the fridge or else they get moldy.

[LeaLou]

Okay. I feel so bad making him wait two months since he’s already tasted apple! Poor lil dude!

I live near a petsmart so thats where I would be going too, but I will look up the Boredom Breakers too!!

No yogurt drops until he’s older, or ever?

[Mocha]

Yogurt Drops contain too much sugar and may cause tooth decay. Adult rabbits don’t have the right kind of bacteria to digest any type of dairy products in their cecum and intestines. The very high amounts of sugar in these treats can be converted into fat and will pass down into the cecum where the bacteria will use it as a source of energy and will then overgrow resulting in either a bacterial inbalance or GI Stasis. Rabbits are STRICTLY VEGANS. They shouldn’t eat dairy products of any kinds.

[LeaLou]

I wonder why they make yogurt drops then. Silly pet stores!!!

Thank you so much! I am really glad I found this forum!

[Megabunny]

A silly thing you could get that they NUTS for is papaya pills. I used to give them when it was thought to help dissolve fur. Turns out the human papaya isn’t nearly strong enough to do any good.
HOWEVER I still give mine one human chewable papaya every day or so because he thinks they are the most exciting thing out there, and as far as I know, they don’t have sugar, calories or anything harmful. THey are a pill that they will just chew. Though at this young age, you may want to break it in half or pieces (not sure how big your bun is) but by the time he’s an adult I ‘m sure he could have one a day unless he’s a tiny breed. Even then, I’m told the acid in the papaya is nowhere near that of a rabbit’s gut, so still likely not a problem

[tobyluv]

Since you will be shopping at PetSmart, you can get Oxbow products. They are one of the few brands that I trust for treats. The Oxbow Simple Rewards Veggie Treats and the Organic Barley Biscuits are good ones to get. I also buy SMAKS cookies. They are available in the BB store, as well as other online pet supply stores.

[Megabunny]

Barley biscuits rock! Gus fits a while one in his mouth all at one time!

[Mocha]

My rabbits really enjoyed the Oxbow Veggie Biscuits. They don’t look very exciding to me, but I guess they looked like a vegetable party to my rabbits

[LeaLou]

I found the Oxbow today, I didn’t buy any yet because he is still so young, but good to know!
I’ll keep my eyes open for the barley biscuits too!
Thanks so much

[Author]

Messages