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Feeding your rabbit a Superior Nutrition diet is essential for their health.
The Rabbit Food Pyramid
The Animates Vetcare team have compiled a list of tips and tricks, designed to help you understand how best to nourish your rabbit.
Rabbits are herbivores and so a diet containing mostly hay, leafy greens and pellets is recommended for optimum nutritional benefits.
Safe Vegetables for Rabbits
Alfalfa or Brocco sprouts
Basil
Carrot tops
Coriander
Fennel
Mesculin Mix
Mint
Parsley
Radish tops
Romaine (Cos) lettuce
Rocket lettuce
Rosemary
Watercress
Willow
Vegetables that are high in oxalates should be used sparingly, such as Kale and Spinach. They can cause or exacerbate bladder sludging and stones, as well as other calcium/kidney problems. We also recommend avoiding iceburg lettuce.
Some rabbits may find the below vegetables rather "gassy". If diarrhoea occurs, remove from their diet and remember that rabbits can't get rid of gas like we can.
Bok Choy
Broccoli (and leaves)
Brussel Sprouts
Silverbeet
Treats should only be fed occasionally, 1-2 times per week in small amounts. To reward your rabbit you might like to consider:
Capsicum
Carrot
Banana
Apple (no seeds)
Grapes (no seeds)
Blackberries
Blueberries
Pineapple
Melon
Papaya
Strawberries
Pellets
Pellets only need to be a small portion of your rabbits diet, around 1/5 cup twice a day based on a 1.5kg - 2kg rabbit.
No seeds, corn or colourful bits. Supreme Science Selective or Oxbow are Superior brands.
Appropriate pellet diets should contain around 12-14% protein; minimum 18% fibre; 1-3% fat; 0.5-1% calcium; 0.4-0.8% phosphorus (equally important is the ratio between calcium and phosphorus, which should be 1.5-2:1 calcium to phosphorus).
There are two common strains of Calicivirus in New Zealand including RHDV2 which was released mid 2018.
If you have a pet rabbit, please contact your nearest Animates Vetcare clinic for advice around what you can do to help protect them from this new strain and if there are any additional vaccination requirements for your pet.
At Animates Vetcare we recommend that all pets are de-sexed, even our smaller ones. Not only does this procedure decrease the risk of illness and disease, but also enables rabbits to live a longer happier life. The team at Animates Vetcare have outlined the benefits of de-sexing for you.
