Rabbit Bedding & Diet

Firblog

Hi Folks,

We have a little dwarf Lionhead for just over a year now; she's kept indoors in her cage but let wander about the kitchen for a few hours every day. We've recently encountered a problem whereby we have to check her rear as her dropping are constantly sticking to her fur, and we have to 'intervene' to clean her up - twice this weekend.

Her bedding is sawdust over newspaper & she is fed Johnstons? rabbit food. We are going to change the bedding to shredded paper to see if there is an improvement, or should we use something else?

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

zeusnero

Hi Firblog

I'm not familiar with Johnstons - is it a pellet based rabbit food? If so you might want to consider switching your rabbits diet to a green veg and hay diet, which is their ideal high fibre diet. I have two pet rabbits and very rarely feed them anything other than this (pellet food / cereal as a treat occasionally).

If possible I would also recommend switching from sawdust as a bedding type as particles get in the air easily and can affect bunny's respiratory system. Shredded paper / straw would be a great combination for both the bunny's health and hygiene.

Firblog

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

It is a pellet food ok, and we rarely give her anything else (the odd bit of carrot of course)

Will change both the bedding & diet asap to see how that works for her.

Lawrence1895

I'm just wondering, why is the bunny kept inside?

Anyway, I would go for hay bedding, it gives the bunny additional fibre and they like nibbling on the hay as well.

Cherry Blossom

Changes to a rabbits diet should be done very, very slowly especially when adding fresh foods as a sudden change can cause diarrhoea which in turn can cause dehydration and the bunny will go downhill very rapidly.

Firblog

Lars1916 wrote: »

I'm just wondering, why is the bunny kept inside?

Anyway, I would go for hay bedding, it gives the bunny additional fibre and they like nibbling on the hay as well.

House is in very rural area, foxes & hawks etc about, only have wired cage for her; plus weather has been bloody crap since we got her...

What veggies should we feed her? Anything to avoid? Is fruit ok?

stereo_steve

Hi Firhouse,

They need a never ending supply of Hay complimented with vegatables. Not root vegatables though. Carrot is actually bad for rabbits. It's very sugary. Fine as a treat occasionally.

Here is a list of safe foods...

http://www.saveafluff.co.uk/rabbit-info/safe-foods-for-rabbits

I find the "going off" section of tescos is great for rabbit food. Mine dont care if some broccoli/basil etc looks gone off!

Lawrence1895

Firblog wrote: »

House is in very rural area, foxes & hawks etc about, only have wired cage for her; plus weather has been bloody crap since we got her...

What veggies should we feed her? Anything to avoid? Is fruit ok?

I understand what you say, you can't be careful enough...and those sheltered outdoor runs can be very pricey indeed.

And about the veggies, mine love celery quite much

Firblog

Have done some research and seemingly it has been all our own fault... we were over feeding quite dramatically with the dry feed :eek:

Diets start on Mondays even for bunnies...