Wednesday 10 April 2013

The bunny challenge step 1 diet post 3



 In this post I will be looking at commercial rabbit nuggets, treats and snacks, water bottles and water bowls.



Commercial rabbit nuggets.

Muesli
Do not feed your rabbit Muesli rabbit food. This type of rabbit mix looks like muesli i.e. made up of different kinds of dry food. This is not recommended as it can lead to selective feeding, your bunny will pick out the bits it likes and leave the rest, thereby missing out on some of the nutrients.
 If a bunny has unlimited access to dry food, it will often choose to eat this instead of hay. Hay is essential to wear the rabbit's teeth down and provide the fibre it needs. So a rabbit which eats too much dry food is likely to be overweight, prone to teeth problems and producing "sticky poo" instead of the normal hard, round pellets.

Nuggets
I feed my bunnies" Burgess Excel adults" pellets, approx. half an eggcup each, twice a day. A another brand of good quality rabbit food is" supreme science selective rabbit food".There are different versions of nuggets available for overweight rabbits, baby rabbits or elderly rabbits.
Nuggets have been developed specifically to prevent selective feeding and is also higher in fibre than muesli type mixes. This is recommended by vets and can be fed to your rabbit in small amounts, approximately an eggcup full per day for a small/medium sized rabbit.

 Snacks and treats
Treats aren't really important to your rabbits diet so you really don't need to buy commercial rabbit treats and snacks, because   commercial rabbit treats aren't very healthy (which are usually the rabbit equivalent of donuts and candy bars). You could have a go at making your own, here are some quick recipes for making home-made rabbit snacks and treats.


Water bowls and water bottles
Your rabbit should always have a fresh supply of clean water at all times. Personally I prefer to have a Bolt on Stainless Steel Bowl because it allows my bunnies to drink more naturally, I have tried all sorts of different water bottles ranging from £3 to £15 and all of them were rubbish, they either did not let my bunnies drink or they leaked all over the hutch. However there are some pros and cons to both.


Pros
A Bolt on Stainless Steel Bowl is easier to clean and refill, it lets your bunny drink more naturally. It won't leak all over your hutch.

cons
A Bolt on Stainless Steel Bowl will get dirty more quickly and can hold less water than a water bottle.


I hope you enjoyed this post and the next  bunny challenge post will be on exercise. As always feedback and comments are always appreciated.

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