Have you decided to adopt a rabbit? Excellent choice, but first you need to find out about his habits and needs, especially his diet, so that you can guarantee your new arrival a healthy and happy life. If you are unsure about which foods to feed your fluffy friend, you will make no mistakes if you use our mini guide!
Rabbits are herbivores and eat grass, leaves, hay, shoots, flowers, bark and various plant foods. It is fundamental to ensure that your rabbit’s diet is healthy, balanced and full of fibre, so that he will not have any problems with his teeth, obesity or digestion.
A rabbit’s favourite food, representing to some extent the basic ingredient of his diet, is hay: this must always be available to your pet, every day of the week, and must obviously be clean, fresh and crunchy and should be put both into the hay trough and on the litter (rabbits love munching while doing their business!). The vegetables that they can eat every day include: asparagus, celery, radicchio, fennel, Belgian endive, cos lettuce, butterhead lettuce, escarole, pumpkin, courgettes, and grasses like clover.
Things your fluffy friend absolutely must not eat include: cooked, frozen or mouldy vegetables; garlic and onion; potatoes, aubergines; seeds and grains like corn and sunflower seeds; iceberg lettuce because they are very watery and would give your rabbit dysentery; all carbohydrates like bread, pasta, breadsticks, pastries, biscuits, sweet foods and chocolate and lastly products of animal origin, whether these are eggs or meat.
Fruit is a chapter on its own. It can almost all be fed to your rabbit, but being sweet, it can increase the risk of obesity and, therefore, should be given in moderation (once or twice a week in small amounts) and, above all, always removing the stone or pip if there is one.
A proper diet is also important for your rabbit’s teeth, which would otherwise continue to grow. Hay is undoubtedly a valuable friend, but little toys to gnaw are also necessary, like those in Ferplast’s Tiny & Natural range, which are absolutely safe because they are made from natural, non-toxic and biodegradable ingredients, they do not create any problems if ingested and above all they do not alter your rabbit’s diet.
Rabbits have a delicate digestive system – with continuous digestion – so they cannot be without eating and drinking for long. This is why it is wise to provide them with a drip-function water bottle, always filled with cool clean water.
Bon appetit to every bunny!