Flax?

[ScooterandAnnette]

While in the pet store the other day we picked up some fresh hay and it came with a bonus bag of “whole flax seed plant” (dried, obviously).  It’s basically the seeds and the stalk.  The only animal pictured on the label is a bunny.  I haven’t been able to find any information online about whether or not it’s actually okay to feed to them!  Any thoughts?

– Annette

[2lops]

I tried to dig up some info but all I could find is that they’re fatty and should be given 1 tsp. each week.
But on the BB list it says to avoid whole seeds so I’m not sure..

[Scarlet_Rose]

Annette, I took a look at a few of my herbal references, most pointedly - Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs and I think it is worth noting that the immature seed pods of the flax plant are poisonous, but all parts of the flax plant itself contains cyanogenetic nitrates and glucosides (linamarin).  Overdose symptoms include increased respiratory rate, excitement, gasping, staggering, weakness, paralysis and convulsion. Sorry I got a little super-nerdy on you, but I know your better half undoubtedly has more information on these compounds (if memory serves me correcty – if not I think your search engine can help).

After all of that being said, I would advise you to avoid it all together and possibly write to these people who are marketing it in this way.  Dried or not, it still contains poisonous compounds.

[LittlePuffyTail]

That’s terrible that someone is marketing something like that for bunnies, which is not only unhealthy (which we see a lot of) but contains toxic stuff! I would definitely try to contact the company about that product.

Ground Flax seeds are becoming standard food additions for a lot of horse owners (including me). And flax is popping up in so many human health foods. Maybe someone wanted to jump on the flax seed band wagon with the small animals? Maybe they should have done some research first.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Speaking of bandwagons, has anyone seen the bunny food with ‘Omega 3’ in it?? Like when did we find out rabbits need Omega 3?

I’m not saying it’s bad, I’ve NO idea actually, but I did laugh when I saw it! Oh and of course it has antioxidents too!

http://www.petsolutions.com/Images.aspx?ItemID=71842656

[pryzmkess]

Not to gross anyone out, but some things I’ve read advocate feeding Omega-3’s to meat animals so that they have higher levels of Omega-3’s in the meat. That was my second thought upon reading Kokaneeandkahlua’s post.

[jerseygirl]

Oh no! So that’s plant based omega 3 right or are they putting fish oil in rabbit food now?!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

That’s what I was wondering-why the heck would herbivores NEED or be able to PROCESS fish oils?!?!

[pryzmkess]

You can get Omega-3’s from a lot of places; fish is one of the easier ways for humans.

Foods concentrated in Omega-3 fatty acids:
Food – Quality
Flax seeds – Excellent
Walnuts – Very good
Chinook salmon, baked/broiled – Very good
Scallops, baked/broiled – Good
Soybeans, cooked – Good
Halibut, baked/broiled – Good
Shrimp, steamed, boiled – Good
Snapper, baked – Good
Tofu, raw – Good
Winter squash – Good
Tuna, yellowfin – (none listed)
Cod, baked – (none listed)
Kidney beans – (none listed)

Save the Winter Squash, none of those foods seem appropriate for bunnies, so I guess they don’t need a lot of O-3’s.

Source: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=75 (note, I grabbed this info quickly, didn’t verify but it jives with what I’ve heard before)

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