New Bunny – Tons of Questions

[Poppy]

I recently got a two year old, female lion head bunny from kijiji. She is not fixed, and I don’t think we could feasibly get her fixed (it would cost upwards of $220) 

She is adjusting well to her new home, she has a big cage with a litter box and a hiding place and a HUGE exercise pen. Currently she is getting about 4 hours of free time outside of her cage, and she seems to be healthy and happy. Once it warms up a bit more (I live in Canada so it’s STILL chilly in April) we are going to move the exercise pen to the backyard so she can get a few hours of supervised outdoor playtime per day. 

I am a little concerned about her diet and whether or not I am feeding her the right amount of food. Currently she gets an unlimited amount of Timothy Hay and mixed grasses. It ends up being about 2 large handfuls of hay per day. Her previous owners didn’t feed her hay. 

She has two different types of pellets that I’m mixing together right now, I forget what they are though although I think one is pretty much timothy hay in pellet form and the other is more all-around nutritional. I only feed her about a handful of pellets per day. 

As for veggies, today we fed her some broccoli which she seemed to like. Yesterday we fed her some spinach. I’m really not sure which veggies are best for bunnies.

For treats we’ve been feeding 2 pieces of banana or 1 piece of apple per day plus one or two packaged treats.

Any advice on bunny care would be greatly appreciated. 

[Sarita]

I highly recommend this article and list to help you with your veggies – make sure you read the article too in it’s entirety – it is written by a very rabbit experienced vet:

http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/

[Hazel]

Welcome to BB!

I know spaying is unfortunately expensive but for females, it’s more or less a necessity. Unspayed females have a 85% chance of developing reproductive cancer by the time they are 3-4 years old. Your bunny being 2 years old, she is already in the danger zone. So, if you can, you should make working towards a spay a priority. Your vet might be willing to work out a payment plan with you if you can’t afford to pay it all at once.

As an adult, she is fine on just timothy pellets, she shouldn’t need the other kind. How much does she weigh? The rule of thumb is 1/8 – 1/4 of a cup of pellets per 6lbs of body weight per day. My bunny weighs just under 3lbs and gets 1/8 of a cup.

What are the store bought treats she gets? Unfortunately, most treats sold in pet stores are very fattening and some aren’t even digestible for them (like yoghurt treats). Dried fruit is a popular treat, craisins seem to be loved by most bunnies. Apples and bananas are good as treats as well but fruit contains a lot of sugar and should only be fed sparingly, maybe a very small piece a day. I feed craisins as a treat, he gets one a day, maybe 2 if he’s lucky .

Sarita posted a great article for you to read, there’s lots of good info in there.

Do you have any pictures of your little girl? We would love to see some!

[Mocha]

Welcome to the world of bunnies.
I understand that spaying is very costly, but it is sort of necassary if you want your bunny to live a long healthy life and be less aggressive.

As for the pellets, if your rabbit is eating both kinds of pellets than it should be fine. But NEVER feed your bunny any kind of mueseli mix with nuts ,dried fruits etc. your rabbit will eat all the sugary bits and live the healthy bits. I highly reccomend Oxbow T adult rabbit food.

Your rabbit should eat her body size in hay each day (at least).

For vegetables, go to the house rabbit society and they have a bunch of information on the correct diet for your rabbit. They also have a bunch of other stuff that you should know. My rabbits (2 rabbits) get 3 cups of veggies in the morning and the evening with a mix of romaine lettuce, parsley, cilantro, kale, collard greens, and sometimes a baby carrot.

You don’t need to feed your rabbit treats every day though. Once a week usually on saturday my rabbits get a few pieces of apple, bannana and strawberry.

Also, make sure your bunny has really soft bedding as to prevent sore hocks.

Agility is also fun to do with your rabbit but never force her to do it.

Sorry this is so long Have fun with your bun!!!!!!!!

[Author]

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