Sherwood Pet Health recommends no greens – thoughts?

[uneliste]

I recently have come across Sherwood Pet Health, and their pellets seem very healthy! I am thinking of purchasing them in the future when my current Oxbow pellets run out. However, their recommendation to reduce greens or eliminate them altogether shocked me. Currently, I am feeding each of my 6-pound bunnies about 3 cups of leafy greens a day. Their poops seem okay, although depending on the day, the colour may slightly vary from light brown to a darker brown.

Has anyone tried reducing their leafy greens as per Sherwood’s recommendations? Did you see any improvements in your bunny’s health? Does anyone have thoughts on this approach?

Thanks!

[LBJ10]

Sherwood pellets contain both timothy hay and alfalfa. The company’s logic behind their diet recommendations can be found on their website: http://sherwoodpethealth.com/the-science/

Their approach is simply a different way of achieving the same goal all bunny-owners (should) have – increase hay consumption. There is certainly nothing wrong with the “old” way of feeding your bunny, particularly if he tolerates it well. But if your bunny is having problems with his diet, then it wouldn’t hurt to try something else. Many people on the forum have reduced or removed veggies for their bunnies’ diets, mostly because the veggies were causing digestive problems. You don’t necessarily need to switch pellet brands to do this.

[DanaNM]

Agree with LBJ10, there is a range of green-feeding that works for different bunnies. I like to feed greens for variety, enrichment, and hydration. Plus the bunnies just love them so much. 🙂 I don’t really trust any pet food company (even the good ones) to be able to 100% address every single nutrition requirement animals have (like, what is the antioxidant content of pellets? prob not much).

I’ve been hearing some chatter in the bunny world that the guideline of 1 cup per 2lbs body weight might be overdoing it, but I would just gauge how well your bun’s hay consumption is. I realized I was prob overfeeding greens for my gremlins recently (my large bunny Bertha passed away a few months ago and I hadn’t really adjusted amounts for current smaller buns), so reduced to prob about 2 cups per day. The shelter I volunteer at feeds 1 generous cup per day. So I think there is a big range of acceptable.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

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