no pellet diet

[Amys Animals]

So I was thinking about switching the bunnies to a non pelleted diet, which means I would only feed them hay and veggies.  Can anyone give me any pointers on how to do this and how much veggies I would actually need to feed daily?  Oh and how much variety?  I feed 4 different kinds of veggies now, but usually switch out one a week.  

Is it healthier to have a bunny on a non pelleted diet?  Less expensive/more expensive/about the same?  

I have two bunnies so I would need to buy a whole lot of veggies I bet!

[Beka27]

What quantity of pellets are you feeding now? What quantity of veggies do they share currently?

I don’t feed a pellet free diet but some people do. You would need a great variety of veggies to make sure that all the nutrients are accounted for.

Before trying a pellet-free diet, I would discuss this with your rabbit vet. And if you have not already, you may want to begin to greatly reduce the pellets. Some people feed a very, very limited amount of pellets (like a teaspoon a day) so the rabbits get those nutrients and are not completely pellet-free.

[tobyluv]

In Lucile Moore’s book, Rabbit Nutrition and Nutritional Healing, she states that some experts say it would take a precise combination of 14-17 different vegetables to provide a nutritionally complete diet if only hay and vegetables are given. She says it is extremely difficult to feed a rabbit a nutritionally complete diet without giving them any commercial pellets.

[mocha200]

Tobyluv: I heard that too! I have the book but haven’t gotten that far in it yet. My rabbits are on a pellet free diet and my vet told me that since i have such good quality hay (Farm hay and not the stuff that’s been sitting in bags forever) that my bunnies would be fine! I only feed 3-4 different types of veggies a day. I would feed pellets if I could probably just because my bunnies love them so much, but Lulu can’t have them because of health reasons.

[Sarita]

I’ve heard that too, the 14 – 17 veggies a day but that is probably over the top (at least in my opinion). My rabbits are all pellet free except Bobby and he eats hardly any pellets. I find that only Bogie gobbles down the pellets if I give him any. My other three just don’t eat it and they are perfectly healthy. My vet is fine with this – of course she would be fine with my seniors if they ate only pellets and no veggies too – not that she would love that, but if the circumstances were such that they would only eat pellets, she says give them (the seniors) what they want.

As always discuss this with your vet.

I think you will find as far as veggies go, they can only eat so much anyway as it is basically a high fiber diet and well, they are going to get full pretty quickly. I give a very nice variety but waste quite a bit.

[Amys Animals]

Yeah next time I go see the vet (which is likely soon because of our old kitty) I will talk to her about it, but I am thinking I should just reduce the amount of pellets I am feeding instead of going all pellet free. Right now I feed them 1/3 cup each a day. It was what I was told to feed Rascal when I adopted him. They wolf down pellets though!

If I don’t do the non pelleted diet, how much pellets should I give? They are both 5 lbs each. 1/4 cup? Or less? Pellets confuse me lol I was going to buy a 50lb bag of rabbit pellets but I am afraid they will go stale if I do that. I used to buy 40lb bags of rat food when I had 5 rats but I had FIVE rats. lol The pellets seem to go fast with feeding 1/3 cup each.

[Sarita]

I would do 1/4 cup and don’t buy a big bag, it will take you forever to go through that if you are feeding them the right amount of pellets. I think 1/4 cup each is more than plenty – you want to encourage them eating hay after all.

[Amys Animals]

Posted By Sarita on 09/15/2012 04:39 PM

I would do 1/4 cup and don’t buy a big bag, it will take you forever to go through that if you are feeding them the right amount of pellets. I think 1/4 cup each is more than plenty – you want to encourage them eating hay after all.

Yeah I don’t think I need the big bag but I am inquiring about it anyways just in case.  After I reduce to 1/4 cup could I reduce even lower to something so they will eat more hay?  

[mocha200]

If you wanted a big bag you can freeze the pellets to keep them fresh

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