Feeding Rabbits just about everything we eat

Did you know dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., can eat just about everything we eat. Rabbits will eat - oats, rice with other cooked stuff, bread, things made from bread, pizza, pasta, bread and butter, different kinds of fruits, raw vegetables, cooked vegies and stuff, oatmeal, vegetable sandwiches, other sandwiches, whatever you make try giving them. There are some things they just won't eat, so don't force anything. Bring all various types of food in front of them and see if they will nibble, whatever they like they like. Raw potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas, broccoli, endive lettuce, lettuce, dandelion leaves, oatmeal, bread, cakes, pita breads, parsley, puddings, pastries, etc., they will eat all. Give them cookies and biscuits as snack sometimes. Pellets are hard and must be soaked in water to give to rabbits, but eating pellets everyday is not okay, they don't like, so try variety of food items. They will eat whatever we eat, but they have preferences too like us, and there are some food items they just don't like, therefore be discreet. Rabbits love pears, bananas, carrots, potatoes(raw), bread and bread sandwiches, and just about all that we love. And they love variety in food too.

...cake....puddings, pastries, etc., they will eat all.............Pellets are hard and must be soaked in water to give to rabbits

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:shock:

They also love to chew electrical wires and painted and varnished furniture, wollminized wood, etc... I even had a rabbit that liked raw meat

Human ankles and fingers were her favorite :mrgreen:

Remember

they have preferences too like us,

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opcorn:

Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps [Alan Thompson] is a great source of information on keeping rabbits and how to manage "non-pellet" feeding of rabbits, -- it is said in this book, that there is nothing humans eat, or left-overs / scraps, from things humans eat that is not good food for rabbits, [this was written in 1940 or so] and-- it is a fact,-- that rabbits are not strictly herbivore , unless we force it upon them. You should see the rabbits gobble up left over roast beef, or bologna, [too much raw potato in the diet is not good]

michaels4gardens":21zbdg5o said:

Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps [Alan Thompson] is a great source of information on keeping rabbits and how to manage "non-pellet" feeding of rabbits, -- it is said in this book, that there is nothing humans eat, or left-overs / scraps, from things humans eat that is not good food for rabbits, [this was written in 1940 or so] and-- it is a fact,-- that rabbits are not strictly herbivore , unless we force it upon them. You should see the rabbits gobble up left over roast beef, or bologna, [too much raw potato in the diet is not good]

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It's important to consider that human diets in the US are VERY different today than they were in 1940.

Almost all of the food, including the produce, as been altered to have more water, more fat, more sugar or more starch, and tends to have less vitamin and mineral content.

Dogs used to thrive on scraps too, but now....not so much. It can be argued that HUMANS aren't exactly thriving on the standard US diet either.

Hmmm, another problem is that many lines of rabbit have been selectively bred to survive on pellets alone for many rabbit generations.

They often do not handle feed switches easily, and we spend a lot of time on here talking very upset pet owners through supportive care for diahrea and other GI problems.

Unicorn, I really hate to dampen the enthusiasm of a new member, but I cannot in any way agree with your recommendations for feeding rabbits.

Many of the foods you mentioned are very high in sugar and refined starches, which can play havoc with rabbit digestive systems.

Others, like meat products, are simply not species appropriate. It may be true that in the wild a rabbit will occasionally eat some animal protein, but this does not make it a good idea to feed these things routinely.

Raw potatoes can be downright dangerous (we don't eat them raw and neither should the rabbits) especially if they have green under the skin or are sprouting.

If you are going to post advice of this type, it would be a good idea to post your sources of such information.

Just because an animal will eat something doesn't mean it is good for it.

I know quite a few horses that will drink beer, and even knew an Andalusian stallion that enjoyed single malt whisky... but you wont find me filling up the water trough with kegs of beer.

Unicorn":2wrx9sik said:

And they love variety in food too.

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The natural feeding forum has a list of more appropriate choices if you want to give your rabbit a healthy variety of foods.

safe-plants-for-rabbits-list-t55.html

Unicorn":2wrx9sik said:

Pellets are hard and must be soaked in water to give to rabbits

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Must be soaked in water? I do everything in my power to keep my pellets dry. When they get wet they get compacted in the feed hopper as the rabbits eat until they are unable to get any at all.

Unicorn":2wrx9sik said:

eating pellets everyday is not okay

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I would guess that about 90% of rabbits are fed a diet of nothing but pellets and thrive.

Unicorn":2wrx9sik said:

Raw potatoes

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I had a house rabbit whose favorite treat was a baked potato. Feeding raw potatoes occasionally may not be problematic, but I wouldn't do it regularly.

The raw potato also contains antinutrients that act as enzyme (protease) inhibitors. This might be a consideration if you don't eat well and crunching on raw spuds is a regular part of your diet.

The August 2006 issue of the Journal of Food Science looked at three of the enzyme inhibitors found in raw potatoes and how they decreased during cooking. These substances tend to be in the peel, so you might consider removing the peel. You'll also lose some of the nutrients, but it's a reasonable trade.

Unlike cooked potatoes, some of the starch in raw potatoes is digested poorly. Called “resistant starch,” it passes through the small intestine into the large intestine, where it ends up being fermented by the flora that live there.

Similar to what happens when we eat legumes, this can result in increased fecal bulk, bloating and possibly some undesirable gastrointestinal effects. All this has a positive side in that the fermentation of resistant starches increases the production of butyrate, a fatty acid that is associated with favorable effects on diseases in the colon.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2009/aug ... w-potatoe/

You have tested this through the lifespan and breeding of rabbits from regular breeder sources, right? Otherwise where is your source of info for people who have done it and/or people who have researched the average resulting nutrient content of mixing such foods and their impact on rabbit health?

Unicorn":8f8nvemd said:

Raw potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas, broccoli, endive lettuce, lettuce, dandelion leaves, oatmeal, bread, cakes, pita breads, parsley, puddings, pastries, etc., they will eat all. Give them cookies and biscuits as snack sometimes.

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In my almost two years here, this is the first time I have said this, but...I vote troll. (I am sorry if I am wrong, but a post full of such bad information on a site dedicated to helping those with questions cannot be left unchallenged)

I find it hard to believe that someone feeding so much sugar and refined products has a healthy rabbit.

Please, please, anyone reading this who is thinking of getting rabbits and feeding them naturally, disregard this thread and go to the Natural Feeding section here and get some terrific and healthy ideas.

Go to the natural feeding section and learn what an appropriate diet is please... The original OP, while may be well intentioned would kill every single one of my rabbits/dogs/gps/birds/horse/cats with that kind of logic. They are not made to eat our food, technically as already mentioned our normal US "diet" doesn't really do us good either. While giving nibbles may not kill if done in small bits, it is not good and will not end well in the grander scheme over a pet's or breeder's life. There are more studies than not that show a higher fat/sugar/carb diet like the average US person eats is harmful than good. I smell anti-pellet rational, especially with the can't be fed unless wet. There has been more than one occasion of rotted moldy feed because it had gotten wet, not to mention flies/parasites that love mushy gunk like that to breed/live in. I have never heard of such a diet suggested before o.o

Unicorn":24z0hmfi said:

Did you know dogs, cats, rabbits, etc., can eat just about everything we eat. Rabbits will eat - oats, rice with other cooked stuff, bread, things made from bread, pizza, pasta, bread and butter, different kinds of fruits, raw vegetables, cooked vegies and stuff, oatmeal, vegetable sandwiches, other sandwiches, whatever you make try giving them. There are some things they just won't eat, so don't force anything. Bring all various types of food in front of them and see if they will nibble, whatever they like they like. Raw potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas, broccoli, endive lettuce, lettuce, dandelion leaves, oatmeal, bread, cakes, pita breads, parsley, puddings, pastries, etc., they will eat all. Give them cookies and biscuits as snack sometimes. Pellets are hard and must be soaked in water to give to rabbits, but eating pellets everyday is not okay, they don't like, so try variety of food items. They will eat whatever we eat, but they have preferences too like us, and there are some food items they just don't like, therefore be discreet. Rabbits love pears, bananas, carrots, potatoes(raw), bread and bread sandwiches, and just about all that we love. And they love variety in food too.

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Marinea":24z0hmfi said:

...I vote troll.

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:yeahthat: Their other post saying the same rhetoric can be found http://rabbittalk.com/post240755.html#p240755

opcorn:

Marinea":1mr2jbxu said:

Unicorn":1mr2jbxu said:

Raw potatoes, carrots, pears, bananas, broccoli, endive lettuce, lettuce, dandelion leaves, oatmeal, bread, cakes, pita breads, parsley, puddings, pastries, etc., they will eat all. Give them cookies and biscuits as snack sometimes.

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In my almost two years here, this is the first time I have said this, but...I vote troll. (I am sorry if I am wrong, but a post full of such bad information on a site dedicated to helping those with questions cannot be left unchallenged)

I find it hard to believe that someone feeding so much sugar and refined products has a healthy rabbit.

Please, please, anyone reading this who is thinking of getting rabbits and feeding them naturally, disregard this thread and go to the Natural Feeding section here and get some terrific and healthy ideas.

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I second the motion...

BTW, pellets are just hard enough to keep rabbits' teeth from growing too long. In fact, sometimes they're not hard enough... which is another reason to feed long-stem hay.

When a new user's first two posts are pertaining to the same erroneous topic... that's a red flag.

Zass":32jcwyp4 said:

michaels4gardens wrote:
Keeping Poultry And Rabbits On Scraps [Alan Thompson] is a great source of information on keeping rabbits and how to manage "non-pellet" feeding of rabbits, -- it is said in this book, that there is nothing humans eat, or left-overs / scraps, from things humans eat that is not good food for rabbits, [this was written in 1940 or so] and-- it is a fact,-- that rabbits are not strictly herbivore , unless we force it upon them. You should see the rabbits gobble up left over roast beef, or bologna, [too much raw potato in the diet is not good]

It's important to consider that human diets in the US are VERY different today than they were in 1940.

Almost all of the food, including the produce, as been altered to have more water, more fat, more sugar or more starch, and tends to have less vitamin and mineral content.

Dogs used to thrive on scraps too, but now....not so much. It can be argued that HUMANS aren't exactly thriving on the standard US diet either.

Hmmm, another problem is that many lines of rabbit have been selectively bred to survive on pellets alone for many rabbit generations.

They often do not handle feed switches easily, and we spend a lot of time on here talking very upset pet owners through supportive care for diahrea and other GI problems.

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Vegetables / fruits, have been engineered to have less sugar, acid, and enzymes, as these things cause spoilage in long term shipping and storage. --and of course, this means that they also have very little nutrition compared to their organically grown, open pollinated , counterparts.
If one wants to feed a non pellet diet to rabbits, they should do some research, and study methods used by those who were/ are successful doing this. -- they should never just start doing this , and then try to develop a plan.
you will have sick or dead rabbits. - and as mentioned above, feed change,- is a leading cause of sick rabbits.
But in all fairness, it is hard to beat raising rabbits on a good pellet ration, except for the addition of grass hay , esp for older rabbits.

There was a time when all believed earth to be flat, but then it was proven to be round by one. Have a heart, we love cooked food, other animals also do. We are also animal life don't forget.
By the way after all the cooked and raw food, so that rabbits and other animals can have clean teeth and a good digestion, please, when you take them out for a stroll ensure that they get to nibble on grass for some time. Grass helps all animals inside and outside in the wild, keep their teeth and gums strong and clean, their gut clean, and their digestive system working perfectly. Grass is not food for anyone by the way. Rabbits can be taken out for a stroll on a four way leash that goes around their body too, you can find it in stores. Take them out for a stroll in your arms if you like. They must be protected from dogs and cats and other animals like some big birds, for these animals usually prey upon rabbits, so always be on the lookout and perhaps carry a stick with you always when taking rabbits out for a stroll. I know this for sure that the fertilizer put in the grass makes the grass dangerous to be nibbled right after for animals can feel a suffocation or other problems may develop, so please make sure your pets nibble at grass that has no fertilizer absolutely.

Rabbits are strict herbivores with basic single stomach digestion. You cannot compare them to humans and you can even less compare them to opportunistic scavengers like poultry, swine, or dogs. While an all raw strictly carnivorous diet is best for dogs they can survive on a variety of scraps like the other animals. Raw food that is species appropriate is best for all animals but sometimes not possible so we made kibble and pellets. Humans are the only exception in that we've lost the ability to safely digest raw meat and tougher vegetables. We would all die on our current diets if they weren't fortified. Our processed diets are so horrible we have to pack them full of powdered vitamins and minerals to attempt to get necessary nutrition and then suffer health problems anyway from the stuff added as flavor or more appealing texture. Is that what you want to stick in your animals?

Then we get back to rabbits are simple herbivores. They can't digest all the sugars and some other things found in even vegetarian human food. As pointed out modern vegetables are not the same. Aside from treats they shouldn't even have any. They need high fiber, low sugar forages with a further fiber source like hay or a pellet can be substituted which is designed to meet their needs similar to our boxed foods but with less unhealthy flavoring crap. Their long digestive tract makes them more sensitive to bacterial growth from high sugar and fast food switches. They need a predictable diet and not what you decide to cook yourself a few times a month. Some of the high sugar foods others highlighted in your list could quite easily kill them. Humans only eat such unhealthy junk as an indulgence and none of it is good for us either. Animals don't understand these things are bad. We have to be responsible for deciding what is healthy for animals and young children. Do we want them to be fat with poor muscle tone and diabetes from feeding them our leftover desserts and high fat foods without healthy protein and balanced calcium ratios for proper growth?

When the rabbits speak, no other voice can be upheld.

Unicorn":2d81t22n said:

When the rabbits speak, no other voice can be upheld.

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sounds like your cup is already full [no point in trying to add very much to it]

But let me say this, there are people on this forum with a lot of practical experience, and some who have also done a lot of reading and research. Some, who most likely have a lot more knowledge to share then I.

I have raised rabbits for over 50 years, have had the freedom, and funding to do a lot of research and testing, and have raised tens of thousands of rabbits.
you can learn a lot here if you are teachable. [I still learn a lot from some of these folks]

Unicorn":22oqysrm said:

When the rabbits speak, no other voice can be upheld.

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I have to asked ,, how old are you?

We need to stop feeding the Troll.

9 posts so far from this mythical beast and not a single word of common sense.

Trololololo Unicorn

Rabbits are hind gut fermenters... They have a completely different GI tract then people and should not be on the same diet. Did you know rabbits absorb 60% of all calcium they eat and all that CA has to be filtered through their liver? People only absorb about 2%. This makes rabbits much more likely to develope urinary crystals, kidney stone, and kidney failure then humans on an unbalanced diet. Did you know that, just like when you boil noodles in warm water, noodles expand in the warm wet GI tract causing bloat and GI twists? I have had many animals come into the clinic I work at because of this. Many do not make it. Did you know chacolate kills rabbits even in very small doses? Did you know rabbits can't throw up because they have an extremely strong and well developed cardiac sphincter. Thus, unlike people, anything toxic they eat has to go all the way through them. Did you know rabbits have to eat their cecal pellets (a type of their "poop") so they can digestiest (in the small intestines) the bacteria in thier lower GI? These bacteria are high in vitimans and minerals. Some foods can kill these bacteria witch will leave the rabbit lacking in essential vitimans and nutrients. Last I remember people do not have to eat their poop for a complete diet.. Did you know that GI statis will cause bloat in a rabbit and they will often die because of it. This is because rabbits are grazing animals. People on the other hand can go without food for quite a bit of time and be okay. It is ideas like the one stated in your post that often kill rabbits that come into the clinic I work at. Caring owners who love to see their buns nibble away at all kinds of yummy feed end up making their rabbits live on an unhealthy and unbalanced diet. All the things I listed are just a very small portion of everything there is to know about the rabbit's GI tract and special nutritional needs. I have taken animal nutrition, exotic animal anatomy and physiology, pathology, and many other animal science classes in college focusing on this subject and many others like it. Feeding tabled scraps is risky and uneducated. It is okay to feed some, after researching if they are safe. Rabbits love dietary verity and it is a great life enrichment. But it must be watched carefully and they must stay on a balanced diet of hay and pellets (or some primary feed stuff in particular pre-calculated amounts that make a complete diet). If you add extra to your rabbit's diet you need to make sure the are eating the minimum nessacary amount of their primary feeds to maintain a balanced diet.

Mary Ann's Rabbitry":19ijuhig said:

Unicorn":19ijuhig said:

When the rabbits speak, no other voice can be upheld.

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I have to asked ,, how old are you?

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I turned 54 this year.