Oatmeal

[luvmybunnys]

Can rabbits eat just plain dry oatmeal that we use in our kitchens? Also how many boss seeds should I feed during the summer. I have a under weight rabbit.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Yes. The old fashioned type that takes longer to cook is better than the "quick oats" which have less fiber. It is very digestible and easy on their stomachs.

The amount of BOSS would vary with the rabbit's size. I feed a grain mix with 9 parts oats/barley, and one part BOSS. My Rex get 2/3 cup per day. There are 16 TBSPs in a cup, so that works out to about 1 TBSP of BOSS by volume- I mix by weight, however, so that figure may be slightly off.

In any case, I would start with a teaspoon or two and work your way up to one or two TBSPs.

 

[Ivory]

Give him some dry wholemeal bread, and a marshmallow every day.

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't recommend marshmallows. Too much sugar and no healthy nutrients! A bit of BOSS, some pumpkin seeds and a few drops of blackstrap molasses on the oatmeal should work well. Don't use fancy molasses... again, too much sugar.

 

[Ivory]

I don't recommend marshmallows. Too much sugar and no healthy nutrients! A bit of BOSS, some pumpkin seeds and a few drops of blackstrap molasses on the oatmeal should work well. Don't use fancy molasses... again, too much sugar.

Marshmallows were recommended to me by an ARBA judge. Not more than one a day though.

 

[MaggieJ]

I don't recommend marshmallows. Too much sugar and no healthy nutrients! A bit of BOSS, some pumpkin seeds and a few drops of blackstrap molasses on the oatmeal should work well. Don't use fancy molasses... again, too much sugar.

Marshmallows were recommended to me by an ARBA judge. Not more than one a day though.

Sorry, but that does not impress me in the slightest. They're full of sugar and empty calories. There are better alternatives.

Edited to add nutritional information:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5425/2

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid ... =foodspice
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... ce&dbid=82
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... ce&dbid=57

 

[luvmybunnys]

Ok thank you!

 

[Flemishstar]

about those seeds pumpkin and boss, do they eat em shelled or what?? lol

 

[MaggieJ]

You can feed them in the shell or out. The shell just provides extra roughage. Some rabbits may not recognize in the shell as food, at first, and you may need to shell a few so they get the taste. Remember to feed only small quantities of all these supplements... Start with a teaspoon of pumpkin seeds and BOSS and work up to about a tablespoon. With the blackstrap, dilute a few drops with a touch of hot water and maybe sunflower seed oil and drizzle over grain or oatmeal. I find these supplements especially helpful during the coldest parts of the winter and when a doe is a bit nursed down. Should be excellent for an underweight bunny. Pumpkin seeds are a natural de-wormer, which is always a bonus with an underweight bun.

 

[CWD]

I feed my rabbits about 1 tablespoon of boss once a week, as an added treat I give them each
a teaspoon of homemade peanut butter on a slice of apple every two to three weeks.
if I see them starting to gain weight I cut back on the peanut butter. to just a small smear on the apple.

 

[Lastfling]

I've made a mixture of BOSS, Flax seed, oatmeal - about 1/2 oatmeat, 1/4 each of others and feed about 1/2 teaspoon or so each evening along during there regular feedings. I top dress their pellets with this, but some I have to put in a separate little bowl, as they dig the pellets if I top dress. All I can say is they love it and it keeps their coats in great condition. I've been expecting a major molt ever since the heat moved in this year, but as yet (fingers crossed) all are holding their coats. I keep an eye on their weights, and all are maintaining well.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

When you guys are talking about oats, are we talking about something like Steel Cut?

 

[Marinea]

I feed mine regular kitchen oatmeal oats, just not the instant ones, and of course, not the flavored ones.

 

[Ivory]

I don't recommend marshmallows. Too much sugar and no healthy nutrients! A bit of BOSS, some pumpkin seeds and a few drops of blackstrap molasses on the oatmeal should work well. Don't use fancy molasses... again, too much sugar.

Marshmallows were recommended to me by an ARBA judge. Not more than one a day though.

Sorry, but that does not impress me in the slightest. They're full of sugar and empty calories. There are better alternatives.

I wasn't trying to impress you. I was just making a statement of fact.

Wasn't the OP about underweight rabbits needing to gain weight? What better than carbohydrates?

 

[Frecs]

I wasn't trying to impress you. I was just making a statement of fact.

Wasn't the OP about underweight rabbits needing to gain weight? What better than carbohydrates?

I think it was meant as "What an ARBA judge says doesn't carry much weight." not as a suggestion you were trying to name drop or something.

Yes, the point is about an underweight rabbit. But, just as I would not suggest a child needing to gain weight should be fed marshmallows or Cocoa Puffs cereal neither would I want to fatten up a rabbit with something that is all sugar (bad for a rabbit) and that would then teach the rabbit to only want to eat sugar (just as the child would tend to begin rejecting healthy foods for sugar laden ones...as we see all to often in our country).

I'm very interested in the question of beefing up an underweight rabbit as I realize my two nursing does have lost tone recently . But, I'd rather do so in a way that doesn't destroy their digestive bacteria balance and ruin their good eating habits.

 

[MaggieJ]

:yeahthat:

Anyone who would suggest sugary foods instead of nutrient-rich alternatives is not someone whose opinion I would respect on matters of nutrition. The fact that it was an ARBA judge is irrelevant.

 

[Andrei]

I second that.
Can a rabbit find marshmallows on the field?