Can rabbits eat guinea pig pellets?

[Frecs]

I have a friend who grooms a dogs for a no-kill shelter. The folks at the shelter often give her excess feed they have. She told me that she has been given a bag of guinea pig pellets. She has offered them to me along with some cat food for my new squatter kits. I know the guinea pig pellets have Vitamin C which rabbits don't need. But, is there any reason I should not mix those pellets in with the rabbit pellets?

 

[AmysMacdog]

I used to have both rabbits and GPs and back then the way I understand it (if things haven't changed) Rabbits can have GP pellets but GPs cannot live on rabbit pellet because of the lack of vitamin C.
I miss my GPs!

 

[ottersatin]

is there any reason I should not mix those pellets in with the rabbit pellets?
YES!
Because the Rabbit do not require nor need the extra Vitamin C!
I realize that with the cost of feed it is rather tempting
to put the GP feed to good use, but is it really worth
the risk of problems that may or may not be caused?
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Frecs]

Would the extra vitamin C harm the rabbits? I guess that is why I was asking. I can always toss the guinea pig pellets to the birds if they aren't good for the rabbits.

 

[akane]

The vit c is harmless. It's a water soluble vitamin and very hard to over dose on. The problem is that it's a very bad idea to switch back and forth on feeds. If you feed the guinea pig food you should keep buying and feeding the same guinea pig food. Also make sure it's a plain pellet feed. Those mixes with colored bits and things like dried fruit can cause severe stomach problems as well as having too much sugar. We are feeding a guinea pig pellet to our chinchillas and rabbits now because it's a high quality corn free pellet someone just started carrying in our area for a lower cost. They also give a discount if you buy hay with it so we've been getting 10lbs or so of bluegrass just to feed as a treat with the stuff we bought by the bale.

 

[Frecs]

Yeah, I don't feed those multi-colored "mixes"...if that turns out to be what she has, it will go to the chickens. If it is pure pellets, I'll have a look-see at the ingredients and depending, I'll either mix it in with the rabbit pellets or some such -- this is just a "hey I got these, can you use them...they are free" kinda thing, not something to be counted on long term.

 

[dayna]

If it was me, and it's not, I would mix a small amount of gp pellets in with a large amount of rabbit pellets.

In this day and age every little bit can help. Even if you were not counting on it.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

:hijacked:

I keep reading about people needing to be very careful about switching their food around. I was just curious if it's really as bit a problem as everyone seems to think it is? I know with my guys, I've done both the slow introduction and the 'fast' (over a couple of days) intro to new foods and even done the whole just toss it in the cage and see what happens thing. So far, I haven't had any issues. I did lose two kits to enteritis... one around 8 weeks old and the other was the runt. Even then, the 8 week old passed when there had been no new food added. Other than that, I haven't had any issues. Everyone just goes to town on whatever is put in there.

So, I guess I'm just wondering if I'm lucky and have rabbits with guts of steel. I've also wondered about this in regards to domesticated vs. wild buns. Wild buns eat what they can get, when they can get it, and I would assume that they don't slowly introduce themselves to new foods. They find something they like, they eat it. You know? Is this sensitivity something that we've caused as we've domesticated them?

 

[ottersatin]

wild buns. Wild buns eat what they can get, when they can get it, and I would assume that they don't slowly introduce themselves to new foods. They find something they like, they eat it.

They certainly do, but they do not all survive a long healthy life.
Many die before their time. The reason you see so many is:
There are soo many born in an effort to offset the balance of so many losses.
Wild Rabbits most certainly are NOT as lucky as the captive Domesticated Rabbit.
As always, JMPO!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[akane]

Wild buns aren't getting rich concentrated feed. They eat a lot of roughage especially over winter. They go for bushes, branches, high fiber weeds and other browse more so than rich foods and they are used to the various plants. They have the bacteria built up for a variety of high fiber foods. Once you adjust a domestic rabbit to forages you can introduce a new forage usually without worry especially if you are feeding lots of hay. You can also change hays with rarely a problem because it's a high fiber, low energy, low sugar food. Pellets are high energy, lower fiber, often containing molasses or other sweeteners to make them appealing. It puts an entirely different strain on the digestive tract and they may not have enough of the correct bacteria to digest a different pellet ingredient.

 

[luvabunny]

It has been my experience that a small bag of guinea pig food mixed with a good amount of rabbit food will not hurt the rabbits at all.

I, personally, received a small bag of opened guinea pig food with a cage I purchased off CL. There was about 4 lbs left of a 5 lb bag. I just dumped it into my garbage can I used to store 50 lb bags of rabbit food and mixed it thru with my hands. No harm done.

Just my own personal experience.