How is my bun’s diet?

[Standard_Procedure]

Each meal is 3 handfuls of Excel junior rabbit pellets. Breeder told me to give 4 handfuls because this British Giant rabbit has a lot of growing to do. Rabbit is currently 9 weeks 4 days old. I give some timothy&rye and meadow hay which she eats but doesn’t eat much. I either feed fresh greens each meal or just once a day if her poops get soft. I swap between kale, spinach, brocoli, celery and romaine lettuce.

Vet just said long as she’s eating and teeth is fine then it’s all good.

[BlueMoods]

First you need to measure the pellets by the cup. Second I can’t find the ingredients for that feed online so, is it alfalfa based?

For a rabbit that size, and that young, you will want to give 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup pellets, unlimited hay and work up to 2 cups of fresh greens a day. I prefer parsley, basil, spinach and leaf lettuce for the bulk of the greens, with all of them mixed for every feeding. Kale is good and some broccoli too. celery is largely water and fiber, it’s good for that but it doesn’t have the nutrition of other greens so, maybe not so much of that.

Of course she needs fresh, clean water available all of the time. If she eats, pees and poops normally, she is doing well. If you are seeing a lot of soft poops, cut back on the greens and, add them to her diet more slowly.

[Standard_Procedure]

The full name of the pellets is “Excel Rabbit Junior and Dwarf Tasty Nuggets” and I’ve measured a handful to fill a 70ml cup. So it’s 3x 70ml cup worth of pellets I’ve been giving. I tried parsley but my rabbit seems to hate it, probably because of the strong smell.

[Katie779]

If the bunny is only 9 weeks old you can give unlimited pellets (and unlimited hay, of course). I agree with BlueMoods though, that if she’s having some soft poos you might want to reduce veggies some and introduce them more slowly. I’m not positive (maybe someone more knowledgable will chime in), but I’ve heard that broccoli can sometimes make them gassy, so I’d be careful how much you feed of that.

Edit- I found the ingredients to the the food you’re feeding. I’ll post them for others to see since I’m not really knowledgable enough to give an opinion.

Grass, Oat Bran, Wheat, Soya Bean Hulls, Peas, Soya, Molasses, Yeast, Soya Oil, Mint, Ligno-Cellulose, Calcium Carbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, 0.25%, Salt, Methionine, Vitamins and Minerals, Probiotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC SC47 E1702 1 x 10^9 CFU/kg). Contains Natural Antioxidants. No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

I’m not sure which “grass” hay is in the food.

[Beka27]

I think the Excel brand is a common brand used in the UK. I don’t have more info on that since it is not available in the US. We do have other UK members who may be able to weigh in on that.

BlueMoods makes an important point about measuring the pellets you give each day! If you know how much you feed each day, if you’re rabbit spots eating, you can “reverse measure” so you know exactly how much he did eat that day. This will also help when it comes time to reduce his pellets at about 6-7 months.

Everything else sounds pretty good too… Try little bits of veggies as time goes on and you’ll figure out what he likes and what he can handle.

I know he already went to the vet. Did the vet do a fecal exam?

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