What Should I Feed My Rabbit?

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Get into the habit of feeding your rabbit the right food for a couple of reasons:

• They have delicate gastrointestinal tracts and tend to experience digestive issues if their diet is not right

• Their teeth don’t stop growing, so gnawing on fibrous food helps to keep their teeth trimmed

And of course, making sure your rabbit has a good diet is not just great for his well-being, but also for your wallet. One of the most common diseases we see in rabbits is gastrointestinal stasis or ileus. This is a condition where the intestines have trouble or stops pushing food through the colon and out of the rectum. Ileus can happen when your rabbit’s diet is not balanced.

So what should you feed your rabbit? A balanced diet for a bunny can be broken down as follows:

• 90% hay

• 5% fresh vegetables

• 5% pellets + treats

• Fresh clean water

Hay and Water Aplenty Everyday

Provide fresh grass hays such as timothy hay, oat hay or orchard grass which are high in fibre for your rabbit. By fresh hay, we mean clearing out the remaining hay which has been sitting in their cage, and adding new ones from the pack so your rabbit always has access. If your rabbit is not too picky, you can try to feed a mix of grass varieties. This allows him to enjoy a range of flavours and evens out the nutritional differences between each type of hay.

Alfalfa hay is also available in pet stores, but do note that these are high in calcium and protein but lower in fibre compared to other hay. Rabbits can be prone to urinary stones if they consume too much calcium, so it is better to stick to grass hays that are high in fibre.

Water works hand in hand with roughage to ensure good gut health by moving things along the gastrointestinal tract. Be sure to provide more than one water point, discard leftover water and top up with fresh water every day.

Vegetables? Sure, But Not Too Much

Comic credit: Liz Climo

Hay should form the bulk of your rabbit’s diet as it provides the roughage he needs compared to fresh vegetables. You should vary the type of vegetables fed for a more balanced diet. Here’s a good list of safe veggies to feed your rabbit:

• Carrots and carrot leaves

• Broccoli

• Romaine Lettuce

• Parsley

• Celery leaves

Vegetables which are high in oxalates pose the same problem of kidney and bladder stones if rabbits consume too much of it, e.g. spinach, kale and mustard greens.

If your rabbit is not used to eating fresh vegetables should introduce one type of vegetable each time so you can tell how his gut may respond to it. Some rabbits do get diarrhoea even from veggies listed here as safe.

Some vegetables to avoid include starchy ones like potatoes and yams, beans and lentils, and definitely no onions, leeks and garlic as they are toxic to rabbits.

What about fruits? They should be used as treats because of their high sugar level. Some safe fruits you can feed your rabbit include bananas, mangoes, papaya, pears, apples (not the seeds as they contain trace amounts of cyanide), strawberries, blueberries etc.

Keep Pellets To A Minimum

These tend to be high in calories as they are formulated and manufactured to be rich in nutrients. Rabbits will prefer this over hay so you should restrict the amount of pellets fed to avoid your rabbit becoming obese. So how much should you feed? The general rule is to keep it as 5% of your rabbit’s overall diet. It is best to check in with your vet according to your rabbit’s state of health, medical history, age and level of activity.

The Trick with Treats

We recommend using fresh fruits as healthy treats. One to two tablespoons of fresh fruits can be given daily without jeopardising your rabbit’s health. You can feed commercially-produced treats too, but feed sparingly and not every day. Be sure to check the package's back label for sugar content and a complete ingredient list so you are aware of what goes into these treats.

On Caecal Pellets

Lastly, part of a healthy, normal diet for any rabbit is the consumption of caecal pellets (soft, sticky, shiny and stinky pellets that resemble a bunch of grapes). These get passed out naturally and gobbled back up again so your rabbit can fully absorb the nutrients. If your rabbit does not eat his caecal pellets, it is a sign that he might be unwell.

The best thing you can do is to bring your rabbit in to see a vet first to be aware of his state of health and what you should be feeding him. Book a consult with our experienced vets at Gaia today!

Article updated 25 Aug 2020.