Rabbits

Feeding your Rabbit

Rabbits have very special dentition that keeps growing throughout their life.

Wild rabbits eat grass. They will graze on herbs and other plants, but the bulk of their calories come from grass. Our pet rabbits are often fed the wrong diet, as we want to give them variety and feel that they might get bored with the standard bunny diet – but do not be tempted!  Rabbits’ teeth are designed to eat grass and the correct diet reduces the likelihood of dental problems and becoming overweight.

Baby rabbits (kits) feed solely on milk for 3 weeks. From 3 to 7 weeks they should have access to alfalfa hay and food pellets and they will wean themselves by about 8 weeks of age.

Between weaning and 6 months, your young rabbit can have unlimited alfalfa hay and you can use a “junior rabbit” pellet food. At 3 months, you can start introducing vegetables, but only ever introduce one at a time. With this approach, if a digestive upset occurs we can determine which vegetable created the problem. Never feed large amounts of vegetables, as rabbits are not really designed to have foods other than grass!

From 6 months to 1 year, you should feed less alfalfa hay and junior pellets and introduce grass hays and/or oat hay (all day access). Alfalfa is very rich in calories and calcium and at this stage we need to add more fibre and reduce the calcium levels. This helps avoid obesity and kidney problems. Pellets are also very high in calories but still an important dietary requirement and you should change to an adult rabbit formula and measure out the daily allowance, rather than feeding it ad lib.

Mature rabbits should have unlimited access to hay or grass and the measured amount of pelleted food and some vegetables. Senior rabbits may need an increase in pellets if they are having problems in maintaining their weight.

Vegetables which are usually fine to feed rabbits include: alfalfa, basil, beet greens, broccoli stems, Brussels sprouts, carrots with tops attached (or just the tops), celery, dandelion, peppers, kale, mint, parsley, radish tops, spinach, watercress and wheat grass. Fruit is not a good idea as it is high in sugars and can cause tooth problems and digestive upsets.

Chewing toys can provide entertainment for rabbits! You can give plain cardboard or untreated wood (prunings from the garden from apple trees are useful, but avoid cherry tree wood!) or specially designed toys for rabbits. Try hiding the food inside toys and around the run to provide mental stimulation through reward-based problem solving, and to encourage exercise.

Dental

We see teeth problems in rabbits very frequently. Read on for advice on dental care for your rabbit.

Unlike ourselves, rabbits’ teeth grow continuously throughout life. The incisors grow at 2-2.5mm per week and the premolars and molars at 2.5-3.5mm per month. The correct alignment of the teeth combined with a high-fibre, abrasive diet of grass and vegetation wears the teeth down.

When a rabbit has a soft jaw bone from a poorly balanced diet, its teeth will move position so that they are inclined, rather than straight up and down. When they grow, teeth will tend to wear so that there are sharp spurs going in towards the tongue at the bottom and out to the cheek at the top. It is often found that the front teeth, the incisors, do not align correctly so will become overgrown. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if your rabbit has dental problems as the early signs can be subtle. Rabbits somehow can manage to eat in spite of teeth that are causing a lot of damage to their tongue, cheek and other soft tissues. However, they often get even more selective with their food, preferring sometimes fresh food over the dry. They may stop grooming themselves properly, leading to a dirty bottom as they stop eating the “soft poo” or caecotrophs they produce. Lack of grooming and general poor condition from eating less than normal, can lead to fur mites which look like very bad dandruff. Sometimes one of the first signs can be wet front paws by the dewclaws from wiping their mouths where they are salivating excessively from the pain of the spurs on the teeth rubbing the inside of the mouth.

Incisors that don’t meet can even grow up into the rabbit’s nose or down into its chin, preventing drinking. Runny eyes can also be a sign of tooth problems as the roots pass close to the tear ducts. In the worst case, if your rabbit has stopped eating completely, it may stop passing droppings and this is a very serious sign, as it means the gut has stopped working (gut stasis) and the rabbit would need to be seen as an emergency.

If you think your rabbit has dental problems, please call the practice for an appointment to see the veterinary surgeon. Your rabbit will be checked over thoroughly including your rabbit’s back teeth.  It can be difficult to get a good view in a conscious rabbit, especially if there is food in the mouth, or if the mouth is very sore.

If your rabbit is found to need dental treatment, then they will be admitted for the day for the procedure. Rabbits usually require a general anaesthetic to perform the dental. Unlike cats and dogs, rabbits do not need starving before an anaesthetic as rabbits cannot vomit. The procedure itself is quite straightforward; once your rabbit has been anaesthetised, the vet will use specialised dental equipment to rasp down the molars to make them as smooth as possible.  We sometimes recommend taking dental x-rays to assess the tooth roots, especially if extractions may be necessary. We give several medications to help your rabbit through the anaesthetic and procedure, such as pain relief and a drug that helps the motility of the rabbit’s gut to reduce the risk of gut stasis.

Once your rabbit has had their dental and recovered, a change in diet to ensure you are feeding a high quality diet of lots of hay, leafy greens and pellet food will help reoccurrence of dental problems.

Rabbit Vaccinations

Are your vaccinations up to date?

There are three diseases which we strongly recommend you vaccinate against; Myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD1 & 2 – also known as VHD).   All of these are very serious and invariably fatal.  You can protect your rabbit against these diseases by keeping up to date with vaccinations. There is a combined Myxomatosis, RHD1 and RHD2 vaccine available which should be boosted annually. If your rabbit is not vaccinated, then we suggest he/she is inoculated as soon as possible as Myxomatosis is carried by mosquitoes and fleas who pass the disease between rabbits.  Myxomatosis does not require direct contact with a wild rabbit and fencing alone cannot protect rabbits from infection. VHD is spread via direct and indirect contact.