We currently have six feral rabbits that came to CockadoodleMoo after their human died. Their names are Monet, Matisse, Rivera, Kahlo, Rembrandt and Chagall.
Rabbits
No alfalfa (even pellets) for rabbits - big problems
Most commercial rabbit food is alfalfa-based. Just look at the ingredient list — it's almost always first. But, as we learned recently, it really is no good for rabbits. It doesn't just make them fat, as we thought. (Being fat is bad for rabbits, aside from the usual health problems with being overweight, because they can no longer bend far enough to clean their nether regions.)
Alfalfa also increases the calcium content in their urine, making them susceptible to bladder and kidney stones. It can also cause white gunk to build up near their genitals. This causes the urine to soak into the fur, causing urine burn. We've had one rabbit, named Kahlo, recovering for about 4 weeks now. She's almost healed but the regular baths and ointment were hard on her and us. We would hold her hind end under a faucet to rinse out the urine from her fur and put Desitin on the sore skin areas. Our vet told us you don't merely want lotion or aloe vera because those don't repeal liquid. Diaper rash ointments such as Desitin repel urine, helping the skin to heal.
Our vet said alfalfa-based feed is OK for young rabbits, until about a year and a half, because they're growing so fast but that it should be discontinued for adult rabbits.
So you might be asking why the rabbit food companies make alfalfa-based food. So I asked the vet. She said she had no idea but that perhaps it's because alfalfa tastes good so rabbits gobble it down and if a rabbit gobbles down every bit of your competitor's food and not yours, you're going to do what's selling better for the competitor rather than what's better for the rabbits. My own theory is that it's cheaper. Alfalfa is a fair bit cheaper than other grasses. For us to buy a bale of alfalfa rather than a bale of grass hay, it's about 25 to 30 percent cheaper. So if your food is 25% more expensive than your competitor's, you'll lose sales because most people are shopping by price since their rabbit is "just a pet."
We get lots of free rabbit food donated to us but it's all alfalfa based so we'll switch to the non-alfalfa stuff even though it means more out of pocket expenses. The problem is that timothy-based rabbit feed is $63 for a 50-pound bag. That's just crazy. A neighbor told us that, for rabbits, you can feed them grass pellets that are meant for horses, which cost only $11 for a 50-pound bag. Real grass hay is supposed to be the main diet of rabbits, and all of our rabbits get it. But these rabbits were raised on pellets so they prefer them. We give them both grass hay, pellets and lots of fresh veggies. We haven't tried the grass pellets yet but we will — ooh, or maybe we'll mix them with the timothy pellets...
Getting reluctant bunnies to take pills — and cleaning their butts and carriers
By Mark:
Two bunnies named Matisse and Kahlo recently had to go to the vet for what we think was a urinary tract infection. Still don't know for sure. During our every-six-weeks health check of the rabbits, we noticed they had white stuff in the little ducts where their urine comes out. (The rabbits often have urine crystals that we clean out with cotton swabs, but this was creamy and white.) Their fur down there was also a little urine-soaked, which made the skin raw. The vet wasn't positive what was wrong but said she thought antibiotics would clear it up. The plan was to give them a half-pill each of Baytril a day for 21 days and keep them isolated from the other rabbits and each other during that time. This led to three things we had to figure out: how to get the two rabbits to take their pills, how to better clean their bums while they healed and how to clean their carriers while they stayed inside during their recovery (bunnies poop and pee a lot!).
Pills
Regarding the pills, the vet said that we could grind them up and disguise them in some strawberry jam. It didn't quite work that simply, in part because Matisse literally attacks his food dish when you put it in. He bites it, kicks it and throws it around and then eats whatever food manages not to get buried in the straw in his carrier. And Kahlo just didn't care for it that much. So here's what we figured out:
We grind up the pills in a mortar and pestle. Then we put in a couple of dollops of jam (cherry is what we had on hand) and stir it up so the pill powder is mixed in really good. You can still taste the pill flavor, so then I put in a couple slices of banana (a bunny's favorite food) and mashed it in too. Finally, I used a spatula to get every last drop out of the mortar and put it atop their fresh greens and carrots in their food dishes. (For Matisse, we switched to a ceramic dish he couldn't knock over.) They liked this and ate it all gone.
Carrier and butt cleaning
Dianne figured out good solutions for the butt and carrier cleanings. The main concern with cleaning their carriers is what to do with the bunnies. They are feral and don't like to be handled and, in the case of Matisse, will mess you up by scratching your arms up and down with the nails on their back feet. So we got a third carrier to use as a temporary holding pen. We'd pull one rabbit out and into the other carrier, then we'd take the first carrier outside to dump out all the straw and muck into a box and clean it out and put in fresh straw.
Then we'd fill up a bathroom sink half full of warm water and hold the rabbit's butt in the water and wipe it clean. Aloe vera was put on any raw skin from urine burn (but this went away fairly quickly). Unless their bums are soaked and matted, you don't need to use the sink. If they've got a couple of turds in their fur, you can just (gently) pull them out. Or comb them out. Or you can spray them with a water bottle and then gently blot the area clean.
Finally, with a clean carrier and a clean bunny, we put the rabbit back in the fresh carrier. Then we repeat with the other rabbit.
Matisse and Kahlo seem to be recovering well.
What to feed rabbits - and what not to feed rabbits
After much research, we have come up with a list of foods to feed and to not feed the rabbits. We are not vets or vet technicians — this is just the list we have come up with for feeding the rabbits in our care.
Hay - hay should be their main source of food. It can be given in unlimited amounts. Just be careful it's not moldy. (If you must give them hay pellets, make sure it's not alfalfa-based as it'll make them fat.)
timothy hay
grass hay
brome
oat
Bermuda
mixed orchard grass
Avoid: alfalfa hay (it's too high in calories and protein and will make your bunny fat)
Vegetables - A good selection of vegetables that can be offered in small to moderate amounts:
Basil
Beet greens (tops)
Bok choy
Broccoli (leaves/stems)
Brussels sprouts
Carrots and carrot tops
Cauliflower
Celery
Cilantro
Collard greens
Dandelion greens and flowers
Endive
Escarole
Green peppers
Leaf lettuces: red, green, romaine (but iceberg has little nutrition)
Parsley
Pea pods (flat, edible kind)
Peppermint leaves
Radish tops
Radicchio
Raspberry leaves
Sprouts (alfalfa, radish and clover)
Watercress
Wheat grass
Avoid: spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, rape, kale, and mustard greens as regular treats, since they can be toxic over a period of time. (We've seen contradictory recommendations on mustard greens, some places saying it's great and others saying it's not good over a long period of time so we're opting on the side of caution and avoiding it.)
Fruits - Rabbits can also be fed a variety of fruits. However, fruit should be limited to one to two tablespoons per 5 pounds of body weight. Sugary fruits such as bananas and grapes should be given only as occasional treats, as rabbits have a sweet tooth and will devour sugary foods to the exclusion of healthful ones.
The following fruits are high in fiber and good for rabbits:
Apples (remove seeds, they are toxic).
Blueberries
Cranberries
Grapes
Melons
Oranges
Papaya
Peaches
Pears
Pineapple
Plums
Raisins
Raspberries
Strawberries
Be sure that all fruits and vegetables are washed thoroughly to remove all traces of pesticides and herbicides.
Things to avoid:
Absolutely no corn, cookies, cabbage, crackers, beans, breakfast cereals, bread, nuts, pasta, peas, popcorn, or other "human treats." There is research that suggests these items may contribute to fatal cases of enterotoxaemia, a toxic overgrowth of "bad" bacteria in the intestinal tract.
While bunnies like chewing on weeds and fruit tree limbs, here are some more things to keep them away from: ;
Arrow grass
Broken Fern
Broom weed
Burdock
Buckeye
Castor Beans
Chinaberry
Fireweed
Foxglove
Golden Rod
Horehound
Jimsom weed
Johnson grass
Larkspur
Laurel
Lupine
Mesquite
Milkweed
Miners lettuce
Oleander
Poison Hemlock
Poppy
Sweet clover
Tarweed
Water hemlock
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