Personally, I don't consider grocery store bread to be a "natural" food. I do feed occasional bits of air-dried whole grain bread to my buns as a treat.

A rabbit that is not producing the typical "bunny berry" excrement may be constipated. If there is one thing a healthy rabbit does regularly, it is poop! Gut stasis can be very serious, so if you have a rabbit that needs treating for it, please do not delay. Post a request for information as a new thread to get help with treatment.

I Think he is alright now, he does this once in a while, and what I do I feed him only hay, or green stuff, this time I gave him lettuce, was no cheap, but lettuce always give him diarrhea, so in cases like this really help.
But I always wanted to know how to treat constipation in a rabbit???

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"Simplify, simplify, simplify". Henry David Thoreau

Ive read that iceberg type lettuce is a definite no-no, a little romaine type may be OK. its very high water and very low fiber, so it goes right through!

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Practice makes... well, better.
Gardening, seed saving, sewing, cooking, raising Cal x NZW rabbits, RIR chickens, thrift store shopping

What kind of dog food you feed them? This is the first time I heard this.

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"Simplify, simplify, simplify". Henry David Thoreau

I really can't recommend feeding dog food to rabbits. Rabbits are herbivores and their digestive systems are not designed to handle it.

I agree. Dogs need meat & even dry dog foods contain meat by-products. Rabbit pellets are mostly alfalfa & have no animal by-products.

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God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Northeast Washington

"While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all." Galatians 6:10

but I belong to a very poor church, and I am trying for theim to raise rabbits as food so everything could help, sometimes, we have a "beent and brfoken" store and dog could get really cheap in that store. I am not talking about to feed them to feed them only dog food but in emergencies or as a supplement I think is a good Idea.


[QUOt TE=MaggieJ;3506376]I really can't recommend feeding dog food to rabbits. Rabbits are rbivores and their digestive systems are not designed to handle it.[/QUOTE]

moken

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"Simplify, simplify, simplify". Henry David Thoreau

Wow.... I wouldn't even feed my DOGS commercial dry dog food... I can't imagine feeding it to my rabbits.

Nor can I. And since it is both processed and species inappropriate, it is definitely off topic in a thread on natural feeding. Greenboy, if you want to discuss this further, would you please be an and start a new thread?

Missy, you're coming in here as an acknowledged rabbit newbie (yes, 6 months is a newbie), and telling longtime (10-30+ YEARS) rabbit raisers that they're being condescending and close-minded. Not a good way to start.

You might get a better response by saying things like, "this is what I'm doing and why, what do y'all think?" and "isn't it true that. . ." and "here's what I'm trying to achieve, what's a good way to get there?" rather than "it's worked for me for six months, and those of you who tell me it's a bad idea are just ignorant and arrogant."

It's always a good policy when joining a new-to-you forum to read for a while before posting, to get the "flavor" of the forum, to see what's already been discussed (and perhaps beaten to death), and to become somewhat familiar with the other participants and their experience level.

As stated, this thread is about feeding NATURAL food to rabbits. Commercial dog food is not natural. It is also inappropriate food for rabbits who God made herbivores. Read the ingredients list on a bag of dog food. It is NOT meant for bunnies.

A sure sign of arrogance is not listening to people who have years of experience raising rabbits. I'm a 2nd generation rabbit breeder & I would never feed species inappropriate food to my rabbits, nor to any of my other animals.

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God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Northeast Washington

"While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all." Galatians 6:10

Missy,

Yes, there is research to suggest that rabbit pellets are not the best option. However there is research from the rabbit food companies (and others) to the contrary. Bottom line: all of the research conducted on either side of this issue was done by people knowledgable in the field of rabbit nutrition who used scientific methods to show that their opinon is correct.

I'm sure I'm not the only person on this forum who would happily review any documented, scientific research from a reliable source that you can provide that lists dry dog food as a tried-and-true method of raising numerous generations of healthy rabbits.

Missy, you are missing the whole point of this thread, which is to explore ways to feed rabbits naturally without processed feeds. Neither rabbit pellets nor dog food fit into this category.

Breaker Breaker I planted some sunflower seeds in my aquaponics system for rabbit food. Anyone here that grows plants in a greenhouse know if you can just scatter BOSS and it grow? Germination time? If it does come up, would you let it grow up and pick leaves... pull the whole seedlings or wait and hope for flowers?

I've never grown them so don't know how they grow, but I think the plants would be nice to substitute for some of that pellet money I'm turning into fertilizer.

Hi, I’m new on here, and I have been reading your thread with interest. I raised rabbits in the past, and though I would supplement their pellets with hay, and give them fresh greens on occasion, I was always curious if one could raise them without pellets… on hay and grain. For many, fully feeding them on fresh forage and browse, would be too labor and time intensive to be practical. However, if one could come up with a recipe for various mixtures of whole grains to meet their nutritional needs, along with hay and supplemental minerals it would be a viable alternative. I was brought up on a farm, and except for sheep, and goats, I have raised most farm animals. We are planning now for the purchase of our own farm after 17 years in the city, and we wish to be prepared to be able to raise animals without the use of much commercial feed. In our case, that not so much for the sake of “organic” (though we would certainly be happy about that) as a case of being able to use products we could raise ourselves or purchase/ barter from our neighbors. We can see how they raise it, would know the micronutrient deficiencies of the local soil, and would be spared the necessity of frequent trips to town, or storing pellets for long periods.

With the help of this thread, and the progression of knowledge on the subject that is developing here, it will be a great benefit.

I have a few comments that I hope might be helpful. The hardest thing to obtain in grain is adequate protein. One of the best (dried) protein grains is peas ( almost any kind will do… maple, canadian/austrian, yellow, green) They have a protein content comparable to soybeans, and are very palatable. For those of you that live in Canada, Colorado, the Dakotas, etc… they are quite likely grown by a local farmer. (regrettably elsewhere with shipping etc. they are quite expensive). A note might be here: some animals have acquired an aversion to eating things that look like soybeans...whether from experience or heredity, I do not know. These animals may take a while before they are willing to eat white or yellow colored peas. Peas, for instance are one of the 4 main ingredients of commercial whole grain pigeon feeds…. but wild doves and birds will not usually touch them in a bird feeder (they will usually eat the darker brown maple and the green peas)

Soybeans both taste bad to most animals, and have some toxins which limit the uptake of tryptophan and other essential amino acids. Heating the beans negates most of these properties (the great pressure exerted on the beans when the oil is pressed out causes heat, which effectively “repairs” soybean meal.

Soybeans can be baked in the oven for ½ hour at 275-300 degrees, the half hour time period is important. This will accomplish the necessary elimination of the objectionable substances, (something that could be done on those cold winter days if one has a wood cook stove)

I have some 55 gallon steel drums with have a full lids held on by clamps around the rims. Each drum holds approximately 6 bushels. They are great for buying grains from local farmers and keeping it during the winter. (next best thing, to my knowledge is galvanized trash cans) They can be kept outside in a shed, the cold winter air will keep the grain from being harmed by weevils etc, if by some chance eggs or adults are present in the grains (btw diatomaceous earth works too, but one has to find a source for it and try to mix it evenly) usually the insects are only a problem in the summer months or if the grain is stored inside a warm building during the winter. If the grain is in a warm place and gets infested, it will be totally destroyed in a couple of months.

I hope my comments have been helpful…

Thanks again for such a great thread Maggie

Sunflower greens are a favourite with my rabbits. I usually let the plants get at least a foot high before harvesting the top leaves. The plants then put up two branches instead of one and there is soon much more to harvest. Most of the sunflowers here are volunteers or are "planted" by chipmunks. Just scattering them seems to work just fine.

And had he posted in THIS thread, he would have been criticized. Perhaps he was. Meat is not a natural food for rabbits, tho on occasion some does will eat their kits.

[QUOTE]Some of us, like to experiment and try different things in life. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed...as long as we always LEARN./QUOTE]

I hope YOU can learn from people who have been raising rabbits longer than you, who have also learned from others in person & from books. Also, I hope you learn to pay attention to thread titles. Commercial dog food is NOT natural food. Unless you have found a way to grow it in your garden?

Do you know the story about the man who, to save money, experimented feeding his horse sawdust? He never found out if the horse could survive on 100% sawdust diet, because it died before he got it to that point.

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God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Northeast Washington

"While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all." Galatians 6:10

BOSS is short form for ?

Hello O&itw and welcome to the Forum!

You're right that gathering greens can be labour-intensive and it is best geared to the small backyard rabbitry. Sure is great from April to November though!

I've been looking for more information about peas as a source of protein for rabbits. They should be ideal and I am hoping that with sunflower seeds and perhaps some flax seed as well that we will be able to come up with a formula that can be fed with hay to provide a complete ration for rabbits. I started a thread specifically for that aspect of feeding rabbits naturally the other day... you may want to take a look at it if you have not already.

Looking forward to further contributions from you in the future!

Black Oil Sunflower Seeds

Took me a while to figure that one out too!

In general will the rabbits eat the seeds with the husk, cover, on or do you have to take it off?

Hey Skip... those black things in the supplement mix I gave you are BOSS. I bought a bag of black oil sunflower seeds at the bird food store and mixed it with large flake rolled oats.

Black oil sunflower seeds are small, hard and solid black, not the sunflower seeds with the white stripe that people shell and eat.

So you are already feeding BOSS

Tree and bushes clippings I do a lot of pruning from the grapevines, and the apple trees, are those ok? I fed them hibiscus to my father rabbits when I was younger and they did alright.
But I don't know if those are good for them.

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"Simplify, simplify, simplify". Henry David Thoreau

Apple and grapevines, as long as they have not been sprayed, are okay. My rabbits will only eat the leaves in the spring but will nibble the bark from apple twigs anytime. Willow leaves and twigs are also safe.

Okay, and my Heidi likes them, cleans them clear out of her dish. I was reading online about these black oil sunflower seeds but haven't been able to find how they grow in zone 4; though, I know other sunflower plants grow here. I did read that they will start under people's bird feeders so perhaps I can just buy them as a form of bird feed and plant them.

We never eat all the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins we use. This one site lists the protein from these seeds at about 24% too. I do not understand if I would need to weigh all food to get the protein percentage or is it by cubic measurement, area?

(The site that listed pumpkin seed protein and other foods is for human consumption. I do presume that it wouldn't make much diff who was eating it.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/n...roducts/3141/2 )

Missy, it's not your "experiences" (very SHORT ones) that are the problem; it's your attitude that's not wanted here. That's all I'm going to say about that; anything else will just be reported to the board moderators/owners.

Skip, you can certainly grow sunflowers where you are, since they are an annual. I'm not certain how big a harvest you will get, I think they should have time to ripen. But it is worth doing for the leaves and stems if nothing else. They are excellent for rabbits and they love them.

Thanks for posting that nutrition site. I think we will need to rely on such data a fair bit. Must remember though that the percentage of daily requirements figures are useless for rabbit nutrition. The grams and mg. are useful.

Missy, it has always been the policy on this board to treat others with respect, even when we disagree. I'm very sorry to see a post that sinks to this level.

I was going to quote your other comment, but it got deleted. But in response to both, we should always remember what Bobby Burns said:

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

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God bless,
Bonnie
Opportunity Farm
Northeast Washington

"While we have the opportunity, let us do good to all." Galatians 6:10

If the econmy colopses why would you think commercial dog food would be readily available? You are feeding a herbivore a food that has animal proteins in it. Have you ever heard of Mad Cow? This was from feeding a herbivore a meat protein.
Natural feeding is feeding an animal foods that they would eat and thrive on based on the specific species. Dog food is not such an item. It is not appropriate for dogs [grains and by products and dogs are carnivores] and not approppriate for a herbivore feeding meat based protein.