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Forum DIET & CARE Salt Licks – What’s the consensus? Beneficial?

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    • bunnnnnnie!
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        Just curious!  What is the general consensus about offering a salt lick to our buns?  Is it beneficial?  Harmful?  Neither?  I’d think it would encourage them to drink more, which is always a good thing.  But then there’s the chance of them biting off chunks and getting too much salt as well.

        What do you guys think?  Anyone offer their buns salt licks?  


      • Elrohwen
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          I don’t know anyone who offers them and have never been told to offer one by a vet, so I would say not beneficial. I don’t know if they’re harmful, except that bunnies generally don’t need extra calcium and a lot of those salt+mineral blocks offer extra calcium. I think that the need for any salt or minerals is supplied by a high quality pellet and a wide variety of dark green veggies.


        • bunnnnnnie!
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            Posted By Elrohwen on 10/25/2011 06:57 AM

            I don’t know anyone who offers them and have never been told to offer one by a vet, so I would say not beneficial. I don’t know if they’re harmful, except that bunnies generally don’t need extra calcium and a lot of those salt+mineral blocks offer extra calcium. I think that the need for any salt or minerals is supplied by a high quality pellet and a wide variety of dark green veggies.

            I’m not so sure about that though, a lot of folks feed well under the “suggested serving” of pellets, so does that mean the bun’s daily requirement of salt is not being met?  What is the daily recommended serving size of salt for buns, I wonder? 

            Oh and I’m talking about the white, pure salt licks.  Not the mineral licks.

            Just something to think about!  Zeus gets under what the pellets bag says he should be getting, I know most bags suggest a fairly large portion!

             


          • Sarita
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              Here is a link from the last discussion on the salt licks:

              https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…spx#222544


            • bunnnnnnie!
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                Posted By Sarita on 10/25/2011 07:18 AM

                Here is a link from the last discussion on the salt licks:

                https://www.binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/a…spx#222544

                Ha!  I made that post and don’t even remember doing it. .  Ah well, always fun to start a new discussion, and that thread wasn’t very long, so new input please! 

                 


              • bunnytowne
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                  My Cotton had one once he ignored it.   I threw it out.   Then I found out rabbits don’t really need salt licks. 

                  I used to give them to my outside bunnies when I was little     Some used it some didn’t. 

                  Overall I would say they are unneccesary and can be harmful.  They get what they need from their pellets.

                  I think it was house rabbit society that states it isn’t good for them.


                • Sarita
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                    Okay, how about this…excess intake of salt can cause high blood pressure.

                    They should be able to get the sodium they need in their vegetables like lettuce, carrots, broccoli, etc…


                  • Sam and Lady's Human
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                      Posted By bunnnnnnie! on 10/25/2011 07:05 AM

                      I’m not so sure about that though, a lot of folks feed well under the “suggested serving” of pellets, so does that mean the bun’s daily requirement of salt is not being met?  What is the daily recommended serving size of salt for buns, I wonder? 

                      Oh and I’m talking about the white, pure salt licks.  Not the mineral licks.

                      Just something to think about!  Zeus gets under what the pellets bag says he should be getting, I know most bags suggest a fairly large portion!

                       

                      I don’t go by what the bag suggests, I go by what rabbit.org suggests which is 1/2cup per 6 lbs. The people I know who do feed less than that suppliment with a large variety of greens and veggies daily. And most “pure salt” licks are actually still blended with other minerals, basically its overkill.


                    • zpipes
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                        I have one in my pen. He rarely uses it, but I still leave it there and replace it with a new one every few months. What I have come to understand is rabbits do not make their own sodium, therefore they need it supplemented. Thats usually done in their pellets, but just in case I like to have the lick there for him.

                        In regards to sodium in vegetables, there is an extremely low amount, I wouldnt even count it. I don’t think that rabbits will overendulge in salt licks enough to cause high blood pressure haha, but if you notice your rabbit eating them like candy, then just remove it.


                      • Sarita
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                          I’ve never heard that rabbits don’t produce their own sodium. I don’t think they need much sodium.


                        • Sam and Lady's Human
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                            Posted By zpipes on 10/25/2011 08:53 AM
                            I have one in my pen. He rarely uses it, but I still leave it there and replace it with a new one every few months. What I have come to understand is rabbits do not make their own sodium, therefore they need it supplemented. Thats usually done in their pellets, but just in case I like to have the lick there for him.

                            In regards to sodium in vegetables, there is an extremely low amount, I wouldnt even count it. I don’t think that rabbits will overendulge in salt licks enough to cause high blood pressure haha, but if you notice your rabbit eating them like candy, then just remove it.

                            Do you have any sources on that? It just doesn’t make sense, not to compare wild to domestic but since their digestive systems are the same, wild rabbits aren’t out there salting the grass before they eat it. 


                          • jerseygirl
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                              Water source is another way to get sodium so wild rabbits may get it that way. Bottled water like spring water lists sodium content.

                              In the previous discussion on this it was mentioned that salt is dehydrating… Sure it makes one want to drink more but I’m not certain it is dehydrating. Salt is what helps us retain water in our bodies. Sugar however can cause dehydration.

                              Actually, given that many of the vegetables can be diuretic paired with sugar in the diet, maybe sometimes rabbits do go looking for salt to help retain the water they drink? I don’t know…

                              I’d be interested to know what symptoms in a rabbit would indicate a sodium deficiency.

                              As to salt wheels, I don’t know if a rabbit would be able to self regulate their intake. They can be pretty good at that, knowing what they need etc but a bored rabbit (maybe with nothing much to chew on or limited hay) might endlessly lick one of those things. It does seem too concentrated a source.


                            • TriBun
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                                I had salt licks for both my buns. They never used them so I threw them out. I figured it was just the pet stores trying to sell me extras I didn’t need. :p


                              • Stickerbunny
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                                  From every house rabbit society website I can find, they say that salt licks are not needed as long as the buns are on a good diet. Actually, they said even the “pure salt” salt licks they sell are mostly just for the minerals, so I am guessing not really a needed thing. But they also say they won’t hurt them. *shrug* Neither of mine have them. A human body only needs 2,300 MG (or less) and we weigh a lot more than a rabbit. 1 1/2 cups of spinach has 160mg of sodium, 1 leaf of romaine has 1mg of sodium, 1 small carrot has 25mg of sodium, 1/2 cup of greens (collars, dandelion, etc) has 174mg of sodium. The amounts in veggies aren’t really that small. A human can get their entire sodium requirement just off vegetables, if they wanted to – most of us get way more than we require, I am sure it’s pretty easy to get all a rabbit needs from their diets.


                                • jerseygirl
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                                    Cool Stickerbunny! I’ve never thought about sodium content in veggies before.


                                  • bunnnnnnie!
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                                      Posted By Sarita on 10/25/2011 09:29 AM

                                      I’ve never heard that rabbits don’t produce their own sodium. I don’t think they need much sodium.

                                      No animal can manufacture a mineral in their body.  Minerals are an inorganic substance, therefore aren’t produced by critters. .
                                       

                                      Stickerbunny, neat info!  I had no clue there was a significant amount of sodium in greens.  I love learning about this stuff! 


                                    • Sarita
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                                        At the bottom of this link is a recommended amount of nutrient requirements for rabbits:

                                        http://www.thebrc.org/diet.htm

                                        It says that rabbits only need .2 to .25 mgs per day.


                                      • Stickerbunny
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                                          Actually, it says sodium should be .2% – .25% of their diet. Sodium 0.2-0.25% (2-2.5g/kg). Just like we want fiber to be 20-25% of their diet. If they only needed .25mg, one leaf of romaine would be 4x their requirement, no animal can live on that little!

                                          Now, if someone can convert 2g/kg to mg that would be great, I am not sure what that means.1g = 1,000 kg so when they use g/kg I have no clue what that means. 1g per kg of body weight, or ?

                                          And no problem guys, there is a chart if you google it if anyone wants to see sodium content of each veggie. Also nutrition data is available for each individual item if you put it into google. Being a vegetarian I have to watch charts for veggies nutrition content, given I don’t eat much else. lol

                                          Edit: I did a little searching and it does seem to mean 2g per kg of body weight. Which a 4.2lb rabbit (weight of my mini-rex) is 1.9kg. So that would be 3.8g of sodium per day, or 3800 mg according to that chart.


                                        • Sarita
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                                            Thanks for clarifying that Stickerbunny :~) and for that information.

                                            Sodium is really nothing I guess I myself have ever worried about for my rabbits but this info is good to know.


                                          • Sarita
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                                              You know too, I was thinking about all this earlier and wondering if even pellets actually provide the required amount of vitamins and minerals for rabbits…I just haven’t looked that far into their nutritional value because I’ve never had a vet tell me that pellets were that terribly important as long as I was providing hay and veggies.


                                            • Stickerbunny
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                                                I haven’t ever really thought about it either, to be honest. I was thinking rabbits would need _less_ than a human, not more. But if that chart is accurate (which, I see no reason why it wouldn’t be), you would need 30 cups of spinach, or 10.9 cups of assorted greens (collard, turnip, mustard, dandelion) to get the needed sodium content of a 4.2lb rabbit. Which is A LOT of greens! Now, their hay most likely has some sodium in it, but it isn’t recorded so I can’t really research that (but given even lettuce has sodium would think grass has some too). I was looking at my oxbow bag and they add in 0.50% sodium, which is double what that chart says is needed, hrm. Actually, they go over the chart on every value (like phosphorous is 0.25% instead of 0.4-0.8%). But they don’t give the actual values, so not sure what they provide in grams.

                                                I think with our exotics the diet requirements are still very open for new theories, like I know with birds no two vets are going to agree on what they need and I bet with rabbits it’s pretty similar. Even with dogs they can’t agree on what is best – raw w/bones, raw without bones, good quality dry feed, etc. Can be really confusing to try to figure out what our pets need.

                                                I wonder though, if rabbits are like humans in the regard of they don’t really _need_ the total amount of sodium that is recommended. Like, humans can go on a diet of as little as 500mg a day of sodium and be fine, but the recommended is 2300mg (or 1500mg for certain people who are more sensitive to sodium) though our average consumption is more like 3500mg.


                                              • Sarita
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                                                  I think you are correct about your assumptions Stickerbunny. For instance, there is alot of different theories on calcium for rabbits in regards to sludge and/or stones in rabbits.

                                                  This article was done references the chart from a 1977 edition of “Nutrient Requirements for Rabbits” by the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC so that information is over 30 years old.


                                                • Elrohwen
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                                                    I just got back to this thread and it got interesting! I like hearing all of the scientific stuff.

                                                    My understanding of minerals and things in pellets is that they provide the trace minerals that they may not get from veggies without eating a super varied diet. In the wild rabbits will search around for exactly the plant that they want, but a pet rabbit might only get one or two varieties. Otto won’t eat much more than lettuce, so I will continue to feed pellets so that he gets those trace minerals. I would assume that with a varied diet with attention paid to the minerals and things you could theoretically supply everything the bunny needs, sodium included.

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                                                Forum DIET & CARE Salt Licks – What’s the consensus? Beneficial?