High Calcium Vegetables

[Bacuzoro]

I took my bunnies to the vet last week and was told that Zoey was a little overweight and to decrease her pellets.  He also said to feed a larger variety of vegetables.  He reccommended feeding vegetables with the highest amounts of calcium – he gave me a list of vegetables with their calcium levels and told me to start with the ones that had the highest levels.  When I looked over the list at home, it seemed like all the vegetables with high amounts of calcium were ones that rabbit sites say to feed in very small amounts due to their high calcium levels so I’m a little concerned about feeding these to my buns (so I have not yet).  I go to this vet specifically for my bunnies because he is the one who works with all the rabbit shelters and was reccomended by the rabbit sites – I drove an extra 30 minutes to see him instead of the vet I take my cats to so I want to believe him.  It is just weird because all the rabbit sites say to feed these vegetables sparingly.  Any suggestions?

[Sarita]

Here is a good article that talks about the calcium levels – really they don’t know what causes this and the new belief is that it is metabolic disease and that cutting back on veggies high in calcium is more detrimental:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/urinary.html

I would say though, that it is perfectly okay to ask him why he suggests this diet.  Pellets do have more concentrated calcium levels than veggies do.

 

[Dee]

It does seem odd that your vet would advise feeding the highest calcium veggies first, but I can understand him not advising against them. Like Sarita mentioned above, recently it was believed that high calcium intake contributed to bladder sludge, but newer studies have found that it doesn’t- she gave a link to a good article that addresses this. If calcium doesn’t cause sludge, there really is no reason to limit food with lots of it. Still, there are people (like me) that have found that their sludgy bunnies seem to do better on no/limited amounts of pellets and lower calcium greens. 

 I would go by the veggie list on here til you talk to your vet again. You should only be introducing one veggie a week anyway- that way you can see if any tummy troubles arise- so your bunnies won’t be eating huge seIection of greens for a while yet.  I would feed kale and spinach in very small amounts- too much can be harmful to your bunny (there’s something in it that builds up and can become toxic). Some greens that are usually well tolerated are parsley, dandelion greens & red/green leaf lettuce. Parsley and dandelion greens are high in calcium though, so I would make them no more than 1/3 of your rabbits greens. My bunnies also love cilantro, Swiss Chard, arugula, escarole, chicory and watercress.
So start with one green at a time and see how it goes. Basically, assuming Zoey and company tolerate all greens well, you should eventually be feeding at least 3 different veggies a day and switching them around often too. In other words, not the same 3 greens week after week. And I would feed maybe 1 higher calcium green to every 2-3 lower calcium greens to be on the safe side. I used to LOVE feeding my rabbits greens and buy all kinds of great stuff, but my poor BunBun has gotten really sensitive to greens and just about everything gives him poopy butt, so I can’t feed them much anymore .
Oh yeah- sorry to write you a novel here but I have a tip for keeping greens fresh. I would wash a whole bunch when I got home from the grocery store, put them in a salad spinner so they’re not soaking wet (damp is fine), then line a plastic kitchen strainer (ie colainder) with white paper towels- no colors cuz of dyes. Then put the greens in, dampen a few more paper towels with water and cover the greens with them, and refrigerate. Wrap the unwashed greens in dry paper towels and store them in your vegetable bin. I found that they stay fresher this way, and you also have a nice supply of prewashed greens for whenever your bunnies ask for them . Good luck- hopefully

[jerseygirl]

Rabbits have the ability to pee out excess calcium. Like 60% of the intake I think I read. I’ve also come across info that high calcium veggies are fine when they have the right calcium to phosphorous ratio. (Cal 1.5-2 : P 1) . But this is just all more info that can confuse us I guess. It might be a case of there’s a lot of old information out there. I’d just clarify with your vet as to why he’s suggesting high calcium veggies for her.

Typically the dark leafy greens are high calcium but high in the other nutrients as well. So it may be just the best way to get the essential nutrients naturally rather then via pellets that can be fattening.

[Tate]

Minerals are TOUGH. I hated studying them in nutrition. :\
While many of the lists that have the “do not feed too much of this” and “feed more of this” are good guidelines, our understanding of nutrition is getting better and better. For example, I’ve heard spinach is not good for small animals in too large of a quantity due to the amount of oxalates in it. However, further studies showed that while oxalates alone may cause damage (usually kidney stones), when it’s coupled with, say.. calcium, it’s harmless. The oxalates and calcium act on each other and essentially neutralize each other.
Like Jersey pointed out, high calcium veggies are generally fine when the ratio of Ca is right. More over, there are other minerals/vitamins/whatevers that act with calcium, again leaving it neutralized.
Just for more rabbit trivia: humans, along with most mammals, only excrete about 2% of dietary calcium through urine. We save our calcium in our bones (hence why milk is fortified with calcium and thus has been advertised as being “good” for bone health). Rabbits on the other hand, don’t save nearly as much calcium. They typically excrete about 45% of dietary calcium. The calcium that they ingest is either immediately utilized or completely discarded.
Again, you could definitely call the vet to clarify. Chances are that he didn’t really want to get into the science-y part of it and didn’t want to confuse you.
If you’re still worried about it, try to encourage more water intake. Excess calcium usually becomes a problem when calcium is upped, but the amount of fluid has stayed that same/decreased. You can wash the veggies before you put them out so that they have that little bit of extra water. I’m hesitant towards giving too much sugar, but I know some people will put a drop or two or apple juice or pineapple juice in with the water to encourage more water intake.
Hope that helps and wasn’t too rambling/confusing/not what you were looking for.

[Sarita]

Very very interesting Tate! Loved hearing the science side and it really helped me understand.

[Bacuzoro]

Wow – all this information is great! I knew posting the question on here would help. The reason the vet originally gave for the high calcium vegetables was to make up for decreasing the amount of pellets I would be feeding them (from splitting 1/3 cup a day to splitting maybe 1/6 cup a day). I’ll definitely take a look at the list of vegetables on here and compare it to the list he gave me to see if I can find any common ones on the two lists and start with those. I’ve tried a few different vegetables before and only one seemed to cause any issues – most seem to be well tolerated. Water intake should not be an issue with them since they go through at least 1 big bowl of water a day. Thank you for all the detailed responses, it was very helpful in understanding the different nutritional information for the bunnies. Also – Thanks for the tips on keeping the variety of veggies fresh!

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