Thoughts on Vitamin A

As some of you know I've been doing research on rabbit nutrition. I'm convinced that part of the slower growth experienced by natural feeding is from an imbalance of certain amino acids and nutrients but that isn't really the point of this post.

I've seen several people post, some here some on facebook, that feeding certain "greens" to their rabbits will cure snuffles. I have "something" in my herd. I'm not sure exactly what it is but I'm assuming it's a pasteurella that isn't terribly virulent but bad enough to cause illness in some animals. Occasionally I see a bit of chunky white snot. Feeding greens for a couple of days seems to clear it up in most animals. Since everything in my herd has currently shown symptoms at one time or another, I'm not so concerned with minor symptoms. If they show anything more than I bit of snot I cull. I don't sell animals and won't until I'm sure I have a healthy herd. What I'm wondering if this isn't related to vitamin A deficiency.



According to this chart from "Feeding strategy for small and medium scale rabbit units" by François LEBAS, rabbits require 10,000 (IU/kg) The feed I'm currently feeding is a name brand high quality feed. It is the "go to" feed for show breeders in my area. However, when looking at the feeding tag I found they it may not have the recommended vitamin A. It lists vitamin A as a min of 2300 (IU IU/kg). Also, according to this chart

OMgosh Chrome is awesome! I had to restart my computer and it saved my post!!!

Anyway according to this web page http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabb ... eMin#chart (not found by me it was formerly posted on Rabbittalk but I don't remember who found it). Many name brand feeds do not have sufficient vitamin A. According to the wikipedia page on vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in humans

VAD also diminishes the ability to fight infections. In countries where children are not immunized, infectious diseases like measles have higher fatality rates. As elucidated by Alfred Sommer, even mild, subclinical deficiency can also be a problem, as it may increase children's risk of developing respiratory and diarrheal infections, decrease growth rate, slow bone development, and decrease likelihood of survival from serious illness.

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I'm thinking maybe a mild vitamin A deficiency maybe involved. This would explain why feeding a variety of different greens (Kale, Okra leaves, Pumpkin leaves, Comfrey, Sassafras Leaves) seems to clear things up not just for me but for others.

I know many of you have more experience with rabbit nutrition than I do and I know there is a lot of variation in individual rabbits.

I'd love to have everyone thoughts on this.

I have found that the purina complete pellets I feed are a little bit deficient in fat, and I suspect (but have no proof since it's unlisted) that they are higher in carbs than necessary. Which I suspect is the reason rabbits my rabbits sometimes pack on too much body fat, despite the pellets being low in dietary fat.

The entire rabbit nutrition world turns a blind eye to carbohydrate calories for some reason that is beyond my understanding. :? Rabbits definitely digest carbohydrates, and they do influence their health and digestive well being in various ways...



I'm trying to say, that I suspect a lot of different brands of pellets are minorly deficient in several area, and yes, I do believe that can most certainly cripple their immune systems over time. :yes:

This chart has a lot of pet bunny data, and see how many of those brands didn't match up in certain areas? Breeding rabbits require even more nutrition, so if it isn't even enough for a pet..
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabb ... arison.asp

I have no way to know how accurate that chart is, but, it does get one wondering.

I know, I haven't gotten optimal growth from just pellets, or just forage and grains.

It's only been when I feed a combination of everything that sometimes I'll see some seriously good numbers.

I have found that the purina complete pellets I feed are a little bit deficient in fat, and I suspect (but have no proof since it's unlisted) that they are higher in carbs than necessary. Which I suspect is the reason rabbits my rabbits sometimes pack on too much body fat, despite the pellets being low in dietary fat.

The entire rabbit nutrition world turns a blind eye to carbohydrate calories for some reason that is beyond my understanding. :? Rabbits definitely digest carbohydrates, and they do influence their health and digestive well being in various ways...



I'm trying to say, that I suspect a lot of different brands of pellets are minorly deficient in several area, and yes, I do believe that can most certainly cripple their immune systems over time. :yes:

This chart has a lot of pet bunny data, and see how many of those brands didn't match up in certain areas? Breeding rabbits require even more nutrition, so if it isn't even enough for a pet..
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabb ... arison.asp

I have no way to know how accurate that chart is, but, it does get one wondering.

I know, I haven't gotten optimal growth from just pellets, or just forage and grains.

It's only been when I feed a combination of everything that sometimes I'll see some seriously good numbers.

Click to expand...

You make some good points Zass. What if their diets aren't just deficient in vitamin A but other nutrients as well. I wonder how nutritionally stable the pelleted feed actually is? I bet that is why you see better results with a combination of feeds. During those high growth periods you are hitting on a perfect or nearer perfect combination of nutrients. Have you ever taken notes?

I think I may try adding a bit of sweet potato my rabbits diets. That is really high in Vitamin A and would be cheap to add. I wouldn't have to feed them much. I think it's michael4gardens that has had good luck feeding sweet potatoes?

I really wish I could find the amino acid and vitamin content for more forage items and plants. Feedipedia is great but if it's something obscure their information will be incomplete or absent. The one I'm really interested at the moment is giant ragweed. I have a feeling it could be more widely utilized. I can't find the information anywhere. I even contacted a place that sells the seed for forage plots.

Has anyone ever had forage tested? Wonder if they would do weeds if I sent them? :lol: