too much calcium

[Eva_M]

Hi,

I noticed white layers on top of wooden pellets I use for litter. Not all the time, but  once a week for sure. I change her litter daily. Others have told me that this is a sign of too much calcium in diet? She’s under a year of age. I feed her twice daily with pellets (Versele Laga Cuni Complete) – a table spoon in the morning and evening.

I found it’s composition on web:

Analytical constituents

Crude protein	15	%
Crude fat	3	%
Crude ash	8	%
Crude fibre	20	%
Calcium	0,9	%
Phosphorus	0,6	%
Vitamin A	10.000	IU/kg
Vitamin D3	1.500	IU/kg
Vitamin E	30	mg/kg
Vitamin C	100	mg/kg
Copper-cupric(II)sulfat	10	mg/kg

Apart from pellets she has unlimited hay and from vegetables I usually feed her with rucola, fennel, celery, carrots (greens more often, root rarely), parsley (not so often) and chicory. Fruits are not daily in her diet but she gets apple slices, banana slices and pear slices. One or two dried cranberries are also in her diet once a week. 

I give her other fruits and veggies too but not on regular bases and mentioned above is usually available in our fridge.

She manages to take a peanut or two from my daughter from time to time.

When outside (we go to our weekend house when not working) she grazes on the grass and small twigs.

 

Is the white stuff on her litter really excess calcium? And should I be changing her diet?

[Monkeybun]

I looked them up and I can’t tell… are those timothy or alfalfa pellets. I can’t find that info anywhere on their page.

Bunnies don’t digest calcium like they do. As long as it isn’t a thick toothpaste like sludge you don’t have to worry. they just pee out excess calcium

And keep bun away from the peanuts, nuts are not good for them

[Eva_M]

I looked them up and I can’t tell… are those timothy or alfalfa pellets. I can’t find that info anywhere on their page.

I really don’t know. There is no info on the product declaration and I also can’t find it on the web.

It’s not sludge. Everything she pees absorbs into the pellets but when they dry out I see white surface.

As for the peanuts, I know they’re not good for her… Problem is that my daughter loves them and she’s a three year old who leaves food everywhere. If my bun sniffs the peanuts she comes running and of course if I’m not looking she hops in her lap and off goes the peanut! This does not happen often (I think four or five times she managed to snatch a peanut) but I was concerned it could be the cause for this “white pee” reaction.

[Beka27]

The white surface is just oxidation. Nothing to worry about.

[Monkeybun]

I don’t think I would trust a pellet that doesn’t say what it is made out of :/

[tobyluv]

I’ve never heard of that brand. I found several sites in a search that mentioned it, but none of them listed the ingredients, which I thought was strange.

I found one site that has the ingredients for Versele-Laga Cuni Nature Complete, but that must be different from what you are feeding, because the nutritional breakdown is different than what you listed.

Versele-Laga Cuni Nature Complete

Ingredients:

Derivatives of vegetable origin, Cereals, Vegetables, Vegetable protein extracts, Seeds, Fruit, Minerals, Yeast, Fructo-oligosaccharides, Calendula extract, Herbs, Algae, Yucca extract, Mannan-oligosaccharides, Grape seed extract.

Nutritional values:

Crude protein 15,5 %
Crude fat 4 %
Crude ash 6 %
Crude fibre 15 %
Calcium 0,80 %
Phosphorus 0,50 %
Methionine 0,23 %
Vitamin A 12.000 IU/kg
Vitamin D3 1.500 IU/kg
Vitamin E 40 mg/kg
Copper-cupric(II)sulfat 10 mg/kg

http://www.millbryhill.co.uk/pet-products-529/for-small-animals-540/small-animals-food-569/versele-nature-complete-29516.htm

[Eva_M]

The brand I’m using is (at least as other owners say on our forum) one of the best quality brands available here.

I just went to the pet shop which is a part of the largest chain of pet shops in the country and went through all foods available. Not that is took much time
None of them have specified is it timothy or alfalfa.

The pellets I’m giving here are http://www.versele-laga.com/Nutri/Nutrition/Pages/Products/index.jsp?fam=224&ani=5335&ran=12347&pro=12348

Tobyluv you are wright. It’s not the same food. Nature Complete series has seeds, fruit, grass and pellets all mixed together. I bought that food couple of times but gave up since I would end op throwing half of it away. Also, I read that this is not the best combination to be giving to a rabbit so I definitely decided not to buy it anymore.

Cuni Complete has the highest percentage of fibres of all foods in the store.

My second best chioice would be Vitakraft food, but I heard some pretty harsh comments about that brand …

The white surface is just oxidation. Nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the info

[tobyluv]

I have never seen a package of rabbit pellets that didn’t have the ingredients listed, and that information should also be available on the brand’s website and other websites that sell it. Maybe it’s only in the United States that this is required, but it seems like that should be a failrly standard practice. Even the example that I found, that is a different formula from what you are using, doesn’t specify which hay it contains (assuming it contains hay) but just says derivatives of vegetable origin, which really doesn’t tell you much at all.

I see that there is a contact link on the Versele-Laga website. Hopefully, they would list the ingredients for the food you are giving your rabbit if you asked them for the information.

[Sarita]

I’m not familiar with Cuni, but it looks just fine and you are limited by the choices that you have and it seems like a good choice. I agree about Vitakraft – it’s not a good product.

[Eva_M]

I believe it’s due to law regulations that are different and do not require same specifics. I’ll try asking them directly to see if they’ll answer but I doubt it.

Hope the standards will change soon. And to add to my misery, majority of the products (not just pet food) imported to Croatian market are made for countries in which law regulations do not require such strict controls and as I saw many times the quality is not the same as for example in western Europe. Sad but true.

[Beka27]

Even if you have to feed alfalfa-based pellets, they are going to be a very limited part of the diet. You have access to grass hays (I believe you said that in another thread), and she gets veggies daily. Pellets only make up about 5% of the total diet. Timothy pellets are ideal, but if not available, I would just look for whichever provides the best composition of fiber and low fat, protein, etc…

I know in Australia, timothy hay is not readily available so members end up having to feed alfalfa/legume hay. They could order it online to be shipped, but the cost would be too high.

[Eva_M]

I sent an email to the producer just to see whether they will respond. I did not found in any of our pet shops neither for pellets nor hay that it has timothy hay specifically.
And yes, she’s delighted with the home made hay I gave her. She’s eating so much of it that I even reduced the pellets as opposed to how much I was feeding her before.

[rachalex]

 I live in Chennai, India and I am desperately trying to find good pellets for my rabbit. There seems to be only one brand available in all the stores I have visited, and it has only a maximum of 14% crude fiber. One of the storekeepers told me she could order Versele Laga products for me if I wanted. I am considering buying Cuni Complete since it seems to have a high fiber content, but I am a little worried since its composition is not mentioned.

Some of the other products, Cuni Junior and Cuni nature have calendula and calendula extract listed. This worries me since, calendula is considered toxic for rabbits! (http://adoptarabbit.org/articles/toxic.html).

Should I order this product anyway or can someone suggest a good alternative please?

Thanks

[Sarita]

Hi, I’m not familiar with those brands but 14% fiber is good. I think as long as you get a pelleted food without the extra added veggies, flakes, seeds, etc…you will be fine. Sometimes people are limited by what they have available and I think the Cuni Complete should be fine as long as it’s only pellets.

The pellet should be the smallest part of your rabbit’s diet.

[Mr.Buck]

she’s delighted with the home made hay I gave her

How do you make your own hay?

[rachalex]

Thanks Sarita.

What I am worried about is if the pellets contain calendula which is toxic for rabbits, will my rabbit become sick?

 

[Sarita]

Does the other option contain the calendula? If not, then I would use those.

[Author]

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