Rabbits currently have a well deserved reputation for being great domestic pets. They can be friendly, curious, happy to play with their keepers and can contentedly be petted and held. With the right diet plan, proper care and handling both you and your rabbit should have a lengthy and wonderful lifetime with each other. This is often for as many as 12 yrs or even more.
There are several considerations you might want to learn about your animal’s diet so that you can enjoy the experience of being a rabbit owner.
What is generally not really understood is that rabbits need high levels of a combination of 2 types of fibre inside their digestive system, categorised as digestible and indigestible fibre. You need to ensure you give the required proportions of the 2 types of fibre so the rabbit receives the most nutritional benefits.
Indigestible fibre is normally moved throughout the digestive tract and excreted as separate, rounded, hard droppings. This acts to keep the digestive system moving and also stimulates appetite. The digestible fibre is moved up in to an organ called the caecum. The beneficial bacterias in this organ ferment the fibre which in turn come out as tacky droppings. The rabbit subsequently eats these types of droppings and their system extracts the important vitamins and minerals from them while the fibre travels through them for the second time.
If you don’t give the right ratio of fibre the rabbit can easily become ill, or maybe even pass away. That is why muesli type feeds are such a major issue. Bunnies can be fussy eaters and will consume sweet tasting food as an easy way to get a sugar hit. Consequently, they choose all the harmful bits of the muesli and then leave the rest. This is known as selective feeding and will eventually unavoidably result in an unbalanced diet, with a lack of calcium mineral, phosphorous and Vitamin D. Above all this kind of behavior can result in deficiencies in fibre with potentially fatal implications.
These kinds of problems are usually prevented by just sticking with a fibre rich diet regime and you may purchase specialist rabbit food designed to satisfy your bunnies dietary requirements. Moreover, you may also feed your rabbit an occasional reward. Be aware that not all vegetables and fruit are actually beneficial for your rabbit. Apples, banana, green grapes and turnips can be ok in moderation, but refrain from feeding potato, rhubarb and avocado.
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