How bad is it for rabbits to eat things they shouldnt?

[Mikey]

Once or twice a month, Blue is able to scout out something Ive dropped while cooking/eating, or digs up something from under the couch and tries to eat it. Like money, candy wrappers, a day old tomato from salad, a bit of a used tissue, an old leaf, ect. Whenever the buns are out, I am always with them so if he finds something he claims as food, I can usually grab it from it pretty quickly. Never once has his trash eating ever caused him any problems, and I make sure not to bring anything toxic to rabbits into the bunny room, just in case since I know he will find it and eat it if anything happened. But my question is, how bad is it for him that he does this? Does anyone elses bun act as an adorable fluffy rumba? Today he decided to run off with an orange peel and only “dropped” it because it broke off while he was on the run 

[Q8bunny]

Umm… I recommend wearing a bib while eating?

In all seriousness, though… he’ll be fine until he gobbles up something that makes him not fine. The only surefire solution is to make sure he simply doesn’t have access to things he might eat that are not strictly speaking bunny food.

[Luna]

I don’t think it’s bad per se, I mean I don’t think getting into stuff in the past will affect him in the future, except like Q8 says until he eats something that makes him feel ill. Luna has an obsession with plastic bags, so I usually end up incidentally playing tug of war with her every once in a while.

[Azerane]

How bad it is really depends on what it is they’ve eaten and how much of it they’ve eaten. For example while a small piece of tissue is likely easily digested, if he was eating whole tissues I would be concerned about potential blockages, or the toxic effect of higher amount of inappropriate foods eaten. If they’re not directly poisonous, the most likely result is probably a bit of gas and gut slowdown. But for actual toxic plants etc sometimes it only takes a very little bit to make them ill, indoor/house plants are a good example. Things like candy wrappers would be more concerning to me, especially if they’re plastic, I can imagine risk of blockage or stasis episode would be considerably higher than with a day old piece of tomato.

[Mikey]

LOL @Luna. Blue has tried that before too. He didnt chew on it, but hes grabbed a bag through his cage bars while I was cleaning the cage and ran off with it. Thats usually all he does when he finds something he shouldnt, he just runs off with it. But things he claims as food, like the orange peel, he will try to chow down on while running off lol

@Azerane, if he chooses to actually eat and swallow something, its usually a very tiny about. He likes to get in trouble, so when he finds something he shouldnt find/eat he wont touch it until I look directly at him, then once I look at him, its game on and he runs/eats/chews. We havent allowed any candy into their area since the time he ate the wrapper since we had the same worries. For plants, we dont keep any toxic plants around the apartment, inside or outside, just in case

@Q8, That is always the goal, but doesnt always work. Our apartment doesnt have a dining area (very small apartment), so we have to eat in the living room, which is where the bunnies are at. While we eat, buns are in their cage, and we try to pick up everything when we are done eating before letting them out. And I try to vacuum every day, just in case I missed anything. Still, he finds things he shouldnt :p I am thankful he has an iron gut, lol

[Q8bunny]

LOL I have a dining room that Chewie uses for exercise. I eat mostly on the couch just because it’s comfier. Chewie doesn’t have any kind of enclosure, so when I’m eating, he usually sits on my shoulder or on my feet or just under my arm to see what’s for *insert meal name here*. I’ve just gotten very OCD (more OCD) about things he could potentially gobble up not ending up in his maw as a result of his daily siege tactics So I feel your pain.

[Mikey]

Weve tried something similar, but Blue learned that if he lunges fast enough, he can steal [read: make a mess out of] what we are eating LOL. After he tried to take a sandwhich from me, the buns were no longer allowed out during eating times

[Q8bunny]

Oh, Chewie has totally stolen tacos, pasta, curry, grilled fish, etc.

[Mikey]

LOL! I bet he thought those were amazing treats

[Q8bunny]

He likes human food more than rabbit food. Even his vet noticed he’s an omnivore because a couple of times during checkups he snuck out of the exam room and went straight for the wet cat food (our hospital feeds the ever present street cats in the ACed outer foyer).

[Author]

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