Possible resource for food???

[Deleted User]

Ok a friend recommended Dr’s Foster and Smith… I went to their site and they have 2 food possibilities…One was a straight timothy pellet, but then there was this other one which had various green stuff no alfalfa…What are the thoughts on the nutrition of this food??? Otherwise i will just start ordering 10 lb bags of the timothy based pellets…Thanks again.

 

Marshall Peter’s Premium Rabbit Diet Growth Formula

 

Switching Diets? Rabbits have very delicate digestive systems, so changing diets can sometimes be challenging. Mix Peter’s Premium Rabbit Diet with current food in equal amounts. Slowly increase the amount of Peter’s Premium Rabbit Diet with every feeding until it’s the only food offered.

Feeding Instructions: Rabbits should be free fed. Feed as much Peter’s Premium Rabbit Diet Formulas as your rabbit will eat in one day.

Maintenance Formula

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein	12.60% min
Crude Fat	2.52% min
Crude Fiber	16.08% min
Crude Fiber	19.87% max
Moisture	13.13% (max)
Calcium	0.85% (min)
Calcium	1.45% (max)
Phosphorus	0.50% (min)
Copper	10.50 mg/kg (min)
Vitamin A	10,000 IU/kg (min)
Vitamin D3	1,000 IU/kg (min)
Vitamin E	33.50 IU/kg (min)

Ingredients: Lucerne green meal, dandelion, lettuce, clover, tall oatgrass, golden oatgrass, meadow fescue, meadow foxtail, rye grass, red fescue, smooth-stalk meadow grass, timothy, bent grass, white clover, birds-foot trefoil, yarrow, French sorrel, oat bran, wheat bran, soybean peel, dried beet molasses, soybean meal, barley bran, beet molasses, salt.

[MooBunnay]

Hmm – I would go with the Timothy pellets, mainly because this is what has always been recommended to me, and since rabbits base their diets around hay, I think it makes the most sense to go with a hay based pellet. I would also be wary of this brand because the instructions say to “free feed” this pellet to the rabbit, which doesn’t sound right to me. Pellets should not be free fed, so it kind of ruins the credibility of this feed to me. Also, rabbit pellets should never be the only food offered, and since they say in the instructions “feed until its the only food offered” – that also doesn’t have much credibility. I have always stuck with the Oxbow Timothy Pellets, and my buns have been doing well on that.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hmm, I have to say that I am a little torn here.  With your little guys, they really need the extra in their growing years with the lucerne (alfalfa) hay. The free feeding part I am drawing from this as a "growth formula" for young rabbits which is how they should be fed pellets. Overall it sounds OK but, it seems to me I read somewhere it is not.  Are you feeding the lucerne hay? Forgive me, my memory sometimes isn’t so great.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I am a little scared about those instructions!!!!!
Obviously they just call themselves doctors and aren’t!! Are these the same guys who recommended giving raw hides to bunnies?

* To answer your question, go with timothy unless you have a young rabbit, then you can choose alfalfa…Never only off pellets, they should just be a supplement to hay.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Kokanee, her rabbits are young ones still at only 4 months old.

[Sarita]

I think if your rabbits are 4 months old I would really consider the timothy pellets and you can still give them alfalfa hay too.   Nowhere does it ever say to specifically feed a baby or young bunny alfalfa pellets only alfalfa hay which is better for them than the alfalfa pellets in my opinion.  

Here’s a good article on pellets:

http://www.wisconsinhrs.org/Articles/Pellet%20Types.htm

[Scarlet_Rose]

Awesome Sarita! Thank you for coming to the rescue!  Everywhere I read it said alfalfa pellets but I kept thinking, is it really a must?

[Deleted User]

Thanks so much for all the info, the website also sells oxbow so I think I will go with them, I am also feeding alfalfa and timothy hay, If i give them just alfalfa they dont eat it, but mixing with timothy hay they eat it…spoiled bunnies.

[Gravehearted]

I’d recommend the oxbow pellets too. 🙂

[Author]

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