Of Pellets, Grass, and Veggies

[TinySarabia]

 Hi guys! It’s me again! How ya’ll been doing? Snuggles has been doing great nowadays. No more labored breathing. Right hind leg back to normal, and I think I just witnessed his first binky last night. Anyway, I’m here to tell you that Snuggles ain’t finishin up his pellets anymore. Although he likes eating veggies like carrots, cabbage and water spinach. And hay is out of the question because I can’t find any(Davao, Philippines). Anyone here have a pet shop in the philippines that can provide me with hay? And is Carabao grass a good, stable food for my rabbit? Are pellets really necessary for rabbits(I read they are just a combination of grass, veggies)?

[MoveDiagonally]

I’m not sure if this will help you but I found this list of possible hay sources in the Philippines on a guinea pig blog:
http://pandaloki.blogspot.com/p/where-to-buy-guinea-pig-stuff.html

It also might be worth calling and asking around places that deal with horses if they know where to get hay. Hay is 80-90% of a rabbit’s diet so it’s pretty important.

I don’t know about a baby rabbit being pellet free so hopefully someone else here can comment on that. I do know that adult rabbits on pellet free diets require a very wide variety of raw greens (12-15 different raw veggies a day) in large quantities to make sure they’re rabbits get all the necessary vitamins and minerals that pellets provide.

Looking over your previous post is says you feed cooked carrots and kang kong. I would avoid feeding cooked carrots, if you’re feeding carrots they should be raw (and fed sparingly as they’re high in sugar). Another thing to consider is the amount of Kang Kong you feed. According to the House Rabbit Society in Singapore “Kang Kong should be fed sparingly due to being high in either oxalates or goitrogens and may be toxic in accumulated quantities over a period of time.”
http://www.hrss.net/aar/care/care_diet_faq.html

Here is another safe veggies list with more stuff:
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html

The second one mentions cabbage and that it should be fed in smaller quantities (Only 15% of daily greens). 

I think Carabao grass is safe for a bunny.

I’m not sure what is readily available in the Philippines but hopefully some of this helped a little. 

[Roberta]

There is an Oxbox range of boxed or bagged hay that can be purchased online and several similar brands also. Maybe have a look and purchase some over the internet, it may be too expensive to make it a main staple but atleast it will be providing some of the requirement and supplementing what is already available. You could also look at drying some of the local grasses that are bunny safe.

[Stickerbunny]

Hay is good for their teeth (natural chewing motion grinds them down) and is good to keep their gut moving. They are grazers, so they need something to keep chewing on throughout the day. You could make your own though out of local grass, if nothing is available commercially.

[Roberta]

Just typed Oxbow, Philippines into Google and got a hit http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/12089326/NOW+AVAILABLE+OXBOW+PRODUCTS?referralKeywords=oxbow&event=Search+Ranking,Position,1-2,2#advertisementDetails

Looks like someone has finally twigged that there is a market and is doing something about providing for it…

[Author]

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