Better Bunny Health

Non-Pelleted Diets in the Rabbit - The Key To Better Bunny Health

by Dr. Sue A. Whitman, D.V.M.

In years past, the rabbit industry has focused on the breeding animal and rabbitry environment, emphasizing economics and efficiency. Unfortunately, the published information on rabbits often still touts the breeder and business industry's view point, which we now know is not aimed toward the longevity and good health we strive for in our pet bunnies. We spay and neuter our pet bunnies to save them from the very common problems of reproductive system cancer and aggressive "bad bunny" behavior, but we seem to have a long way to go in the rabbit world to educate owners about how a rabbit's gastrointestinal tract functions! Even without any physiology background though, most Americans know more than they think they know about rabbits. Try focusing for a moment on the wild rabbit, which has evolved to live in harmony with its environment and its intestinal tract: The rabbit forages all day and night, nearly 24 hours a day! A mother rabbit returns to the nest to feed the babies at about 5 a.m., but in order to stay healthy herself, she must get back out and eat more greenery as soon as those kids are fed! Think about what she is eating: fibrous green plants, some vegetables stolen from a garden, clover, dandelions. If she lives near a farm with crops, her diet may include some grains; but if she is in a grain environment, her gut is used to that on a regular basis, and the grains don't come and go abruptly. Her greenery is consistent too- she doesn't have a gas-former like Bok Choy in a large amount one day, and a stack of clover the next. Instead, she gets a pretty consistent mix of the foliage in her specific area; there is variety, but it is regular variety.

We can simply take this wild bunny model, view it as a pet, and build a healthy diet for our own rabbits. Only a few new rules apply, because our buns are spayed and neutered, which alters their calcium needs (no lactation) and their calorie needs (no mating energy or pregnancy drain on nutrition). If we saturate our rabbit's diet with spinach and alfalfa, and they are not young, growing bunnies or lactating bunnies, then that excess calcium is going to be excreted through the urinary tract and can cause "sludgy bladder disease". If we overload the calories by using grains or alfalfa pellets in our pampered, low-calorie-burning bunnies, then the extra fat is going to be deposited in the liver and cause a serious illness known as "fatty liver disease" or hepatic lipidosis. Remember those two issues, calcium and calories, and you will be forced to eliminate alfalfa-based pellets from your rabbit's diet, and will have to resist the urge to feed spinach, kale, and dandelion greens (also high in calcium).

Now think about the consistency of the wild rabbit's diet, and put that knowledge into the pet rabbit's diet regimen: The wild rabbit forages a set territory; if clover predominates in one rabbit's territory, dandelions may predominate in another rabbit's area. (This is of particular importance in wildlife rehabilitation! Notice the foliage where the injured rabbit was found, and try to duplicate that specific diet in rehab.). Also, for the wild bunny, season changes are gradual. In the fall, the greenery gradually becomes drier and dry greens are supplemented with now-harvested field corn, wheat, and grains. Early in the fall, the greenery/grain mix is still more greenery; later, there will be more grain and less greenery in the blend. BUT THE CHANGE WAS GRADUAL! It occurred over several weeks!

Gradual change is an important and critical issue for rabbits, because their digestion is completely unlike that of humans. Their intestinal tract is filled with bacteria that are the essential element of their food processing. Unlike humans, dogs, and cats, rabbits do not depend on their pancreas to break down the food they eat into its simpler components for absorption into the bloodstream. Instead, rabbits depend on their "bacterial flora", a group of bacteria individually tailored to each rabbit's diet, to break down their intestinal contents. The bacteria are a mix of many different types- some are specific for breaking down one sort of carbohydrate, and others are specific for another sort. Some only digest proteins. The bacterial flora of each rabbit develops and changes to accommodate its needs, based on what the bunny eats. However, bacteria cannot multiply and reproduce themselves instantly; the contents of the gut must change slightly, and then the bacterial multiplication can adjust slightly. A change that is too sudden, as we often see occur in pet bunnies when an owner discovers that his pet loves bananas and can't resist giving 1/3 of the fruit, becomes life threatening, causing a condition we call endotoxemia. This emergency occurs because an intestine full of bacteria aimed at digesting romaine lettuce and parsley, just got blasted with fructose (a sugar) from banana. The romaine/parsley bacteria just got murdered (death by drowning in sugar), and there are no bacteria present yet in this bunny to handle fructose, since this is his first banana encounter. Therefore, the intestine shuts down, toxins from intestinal waste products enter the bloodstream, and the rabbit (within a few hours) is in shock and dying. I am not saying here that bananas kill rabbits; the point is that the banana bacteria can be harvested by introducing a small piece of banana DAILY over several weeks. The same is true for any diet change involving a pellet change or a new veggie or treat.

Now that we have the principles down, let's do an "Ideal Bunny Diet Plan" based on this knowledge that the wild rabbit has imparted:

First, minimize calcium-containing products such as spinach, kale, alfalfa, dandelions, and alfalfa-based pellets. If you can afford the vegetables to provide a veggie pile the size of your rabbit, every single day, then your rabbit has no need for pellets at all. REMEMBER to increase from a single piece of a veggie to a big pile of veggies gradually, and to add new veggies to the mix a little piece at a time. As you are making these changes, gradually taper the amount of pellets provided, and be sure you have a healthy supply of timothy hay available so that your bun never runs out of something to eat. (An empty intestine "starves" bacteria, and kills them). I have never seen a rabbit not like Oxbow timothy hay (you can find it by going to www.oxbowhay.com), but many bunnies won't eat the brown, chopped timothy that is carried in the pet stores.

When you select your vegetables, remember that some veggies are rich in vitamin A, some are rich in vitamin D, etc., so select a variety. Include at least one Vitamin A veggie in the mix daily; these include: green leaf lettuce, parsley, romaine lettuce, broccoli, carrot tops, and endive.

If your finances do not allow the purchase of so many veggies (my bunnies cost me $25 / week in veggies alone!), then you can provide timothy hay, the new timothy-based pellets (which I have only seen produced by Oxbow Pet Products), and a smaller amount of veggies daily. Again, when you serve these veggies, try to make it be a consistent mix with no sudden jolts to a new vegetable, and try to include a vitamin A veggie every day.

Some of the benefits of following this high fiber, low/no pellet diet for the rabbit are:

1) Fewer hairball-related illnesses because the increased fiber carries the hair from the stomach as it moves through the intestinal tract. 2) Fewer problems with obesity due to high carbohydrate/high calorie diets, which then leads to liver disease. 3) Fewer bladder/urinary tract infections and obstruction due to an overload of calcium in the diet.

Whereas the average life expectancy of a rabbit in a breeding facility is 3 years, the pet rabbit often lives to be 8-12 years old due to spaying/neutering, and a proper diet high in fiber and vitamins!

Sue A Whitman D.V.M.
8262 Switchboard Road
Spencer, Indiana 47460
812-876-0711
Emergencies call above number.