Veggies/pellets

[Insertfamouspersonsname]

I have a 7 month old Flemish Giant and I’ve only recently started feeding her veggies daily because when I first got her I was told they should only be given as a treat occasionally, clearly misinformed. I know that you’re supposed to ease into it to make sure you don’t upset their digestive system so I’ve just been giving her a leaf of romaine lettuce a day for a bed time treat. The only problem is, I don’t do well with vague instructions and everything I find online just says to go slowly and then do something like half a cup of fresh veggies per pound of rabbit’s weight or something daily. 

Is there any sort of guidelines for how quickly I should increase the amount given or something? I’ve been doing the one leaf a day for a little under a week now and she doesn’t seem to be having any issues, but I don’t want to move forward too quickly and cause problems. 

Also, as long as I’m here, if anyone has tips for pellets that’d be cool too. I was originally told 2 cups of high protein pellets for the first year then cut back to a lower protein and lesser amount once she’s full grown. Recently I read that you should be careful with how much pellets they eat, which I think is counter intuitive of the 2 cups thing. She never really eats the full 2 cups, typically about 1 cup a day recently, and she eats more hay than pellets anyway, but I’m just not sure anymore if I should actually have 2 cups in there every day and just let her dictate her pellet to hay ratio pretty much.

Sorry that this is a lot and probably all dumb. I have been told before that I worry too much.

[Sirius&Luna]

So I would add one new vegetable a week, so now you’ve done romaine for a week, continue giving her the leaf of romaine every day, and add a little coriander each day for another week. After that, you can add say, kale, for another week. You don’t always have to give all of the veggies that she’s used to of course. Once she’s used to a variety, you should be aiming to give her at least three different types of veg a day. There’s a list in the bunny food section of bunny safe veg

https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/2/PID/940/Default.aspx

I’m not sure about pellet portions for Flemish giants, as I have teeny buns. But that does sound like a lot. The Bunny Info sections says 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per 6lb of bunny, so work it out based on that, but I would lean towards the 1/4 cup per 6lb rather than the half. My bunnies are under 3lb and I give them just a tablespoon a day each. 90% of her diet should be hay, so if the pellets are stopping her from eating hay, then you need to decrease them

No questions are dumb! Researching how to best care for your bunny is responsible

[Insertfamouspersonsname]

Thank you so much! This is super helpful! 

[Author]

Messages