What are the best foods for your pet rabbit?

Rabbits are herbivores so they needs lots of fresh green vegetables and leaves in their diet high in cellulose and fiber which keep their digestive system balanced and provide all the essential nutrients and minerals a rabbit needs to stay fit. Here are some basic guidelines to help you plan your pet rabbit’s daily diet.

Nutritious hay

Good quality hay should be provided clean and fresh daily in a weight close to the rabbit’s own body mass. It has great fiber content and is necessary to allow healthy peristalsis in the digestive system.

Green leaves and stems

Green leafy vegetables like broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, parsley, water cress, rocket, spinach, etc are excellent choices for your pet rabbit. They contain very useful antioxidant compounds and essential minerals which help improve the overall health and immunity of a rabbit’s body. Deficiency of minerals can cause serious illnesses so such green vegetables must be included in the daily diet.    

Fruits

Fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, water content and antioxidants but many of them also possess higher levels of sugar which may be detrimental to your rabbit’s health. It is a great idea to feed your rabbit fruits but be very cautious in your selection to ensure that the sugar content is low enough to be acceptable. Good options include apples, grapes, pears, plums and strawberries.

Treats

There are a number of great treats available at pet supermarkets made from natural ingredients are and full of nutrition for your pet rabbit. However, these should also be given occasionally and not on a daily basis to avoid obesity and malnutrition. High quality natural rabbit treats are readily available among rabbit supplies at online US pet stores like www.lovemypets.com where you also have the convenience of comparison shopping.

Sugary foods

Rabbit and human diet differ significantly so you must make sure no one accidentally or intentionally offers your rabbit any kind of human food. The relative size and difference between our digestive systems should give you a hint. Not only is human food too high in protein, fat and sugar, it is mostly processed and may contain chemicals such as preservatives that can seriously make your rabbit ill. So human food like cookies, chocolate, cheese, chips, etc should never be fed to your pet rabbit.

Rabbit muesli

There is sadly ignorance on the part of rabbit owners regarding rabbit muesli and many rabbit owners design a diet that consists largely of rabbit muesli. This is a terrible idea because rabbit muesli consists of harmful substances that are detrimental to your rabbit’s oral health.