Gravity Feeders Are Not Good For Bunnies

[DaisyBunz]

Lately people have been telling me how “gravity feeders” are great for rabbits because they don’t have to refill it as often. A gravity feeder is a feeder that you can fill up and have your pet rabbit(or whatever animal) eat away until the amount of food begins to lower. Then you fill it up again. Easy, right?

 No!!! I cannot stress how important it is for your bunny to have a balanced diet. FREE-FEEDING ADULT RABBITS WILL CAUSE OBESITY, STOMACH ISSUES, AND ABNORMAL POOPS!!!   According to The House Rabbit Society, mature bunnies over 1 year old) should have “1/4 to 1/2 cup pellets per 6 lbs. body weight (depending on metabolism and/or proportionate to veggies) ” 
I feed my rabbit this amount as she is exactly 6 pounds. 

Just to recap, please do not give rabbit gravity feeders. Tummy issues are one of the 1# common ailments in a rabbit that lead to death if not treated. If you ever see runny poop or abnormal waste in your rabbit litterbox, or notice your bunny is not eating normally, they must visit a rabbit-savvy vet immediately.

[DaisyBunz]

I just noticed that I put this in Behavior. Oops! Still new to this….

[LongEaredLions]

Many people use gravity feeders for water, which is nice, because you don’t need to refill them as often. Pellets are not a main food, they are more like a multivitamin.

[DaisyBunz]

“Many people use gravity feeders for water, which is nice, because you don’t need to refill them as often.”

I agree, but the SuperPet ones I have seen have tiny holes for food dust to fall out of, and so the water will spill out. I use bowls – I have bad luck with the water bottles, though. They always leak…..

[Cochin]

What, like J feeders? I use them. I actually free feed my buns – sorry. I’m a special case in that my buns live outside and the pellets are probably the only reason they’re cozy out there, lol. I’m actually dealing with a underweight bun right now (she’s taking a trip into the wonderful land of indoors… Secretly..).

Obviously if your bun lives in a temprature controlled enviroment free feeding it will cause obesity. But gravity feeders – aka j feeders (I think that’s what your talking about) – are fine to give buns, so long as you don’t free feed them.

[MoveDiagonally]

CBL – Even outdoor pet bunnies, who do have different dietary requirements than indoor rabbits, aren’t usually recommended to be free fed. I’ve only heard of free feeding being recommended for breeding rabbits and babies. Usually outdoor habitats should be fairly weather proofed which does help control climate. Gravity feeders could be used to feed a limited pellet diet, but why would you? It’s a lot of extra unnecessary space for a very small amount of pellets.

As for weight loss I hope you rabbit feels better soon. A trip to the vet is probably in order.

[Sarita]

I’ve never had any of our members ask about gravity feeders…I don’t think it’s a real issue for educated house rabbit owners :~)

[LBJ10]

I guess I just don’t see the point. Most people don’t free feed their rabbits because eating unlimited pellets would make them fat. So like Sarita said, people here typically don’t ask about them. Why would you use one if your buns were being rationed on how much they get?

[Zombie-Sue]

Lol, as the parent of a rabbit who’s always had a weight problem, the very idea of free feeding is preposterous. Just what I need, to clean his butt more than I already do.

[Cochin]

Come summer I won’t be free feeding, but for the winter I felt better doing so. It’s gets kinda cold in Alaska.

Yes, we’re consulting the vet, but cannot currently go ($ issues). So far he’s just recommended we keep her warm (she’s living inside currently) and keep her eating. Don’t want get to go into GI stasis on top of it.

[Zombie-Sue]

LOL KINDA cold huh?

[Cochin]

Lol, have you been here before? It was -40 last week. Everyone was happy happy happy – and because of those days my rabbits get plenty of extra protien to burn. they would’ve been scowling at me if I took their pellets away, lol. Of course now its warmer, but still below freezing.

[Zombie-Sue]

No, lol, but I’ve heard things. Last year we had a particularly warm yearn in Iowa, and there was a blog post on the local news’s blog that said “where did our cold go? It’s in Alaska!” and they had pictures of some students jumping into a pool of water next to a thermometer that said -60*F or something lol. I thought nnnnooooo. Next week the windchill here is supposed to be -40 and some schools are canceled. They can’t get the buses to start LOL.

Do you have other outdoor animals, too?

[Cochin]

LOL. Yah we have a team here that’s dedicated to swimming when its like -20 out, though I never realized they were out when it was as cold as -60.

At the moment, we just have pigeons. We used to have geese, ducks, chickens, goats, some sheep at a point, but we had to sell them because we couldn’t afford to take care of them during winter (during the colder months like January we’ll spend $1,000 on heating our house, alone). Last year we kept chickens and pigeons, but we usually don’t ever have more than 1 coop filled during the winter.

That said, we also have 8 indian ringneck doves, 1 sissy pigeon, 5 chickens, and a parrot who live indoors, and now we have Charlie joining us. Oh, and 2 cats & 2 dogs. It really doesn’t seem Ike that much until you list them all out…..

[Cochin]

Quit the double posting! Dx 

i will add that we have no wind and a very dry cold, which makes winters easier on us. We also get the hottest summer months (gets to high 80s usually, got to high 90s last year.. I nearly died), and we get some of the coldest winter months not including wind chill. So here we have -60 w/o any windchill, but dead horse will have-70, but really be like -50 with windchill. 

[LongEaredLions]

CBL-Woah! -40 is way too cold for bunnies. Could you move your buns into a heated shed?

[Cochin]

Well, they survived and I know others who survived. they had each other to snuggle with, and were sheltered (so most heat was trapped inside). They also have a dog box (like for huskies) that they snuggle underneath (its packed with hay inside, but they still prefer underneath it).

How ya think the hares here manage? Aside from Charlie, all the rabbits have thick fur (if you blow on it you can’t see skin) and, like I said, get free fed, so they can burn fat without worrying about losing to much weight. Pretty sure the hares rely on thick coats and plenty of food

-60 hasn’t hit yet – ill tell you how they do then, and we can revisit -40 lol. I own a Rex, 2 Californians, a thrianta, and a silver fox, all of which were bred to be kept outside, aside from the thrianta – poor genetics or just age, her coat has thinned out (well, maybe not the Rex, but Rex fur is super thick and soft). Like I said, Charlie was the only one who struggled, and she’s hanging out in the house. She may be visiting the vet soon, if she doesn’t get better soon – I’ll add that when it was -40 out she was fine – it’s above 0 now and she is now acting sick. She may have Lost the weight during -40 bout, but she acted fine and felt fine then, too, and up until now has been fine (aside from losing weight, of course, but I didnt really notice it until now).

If a pigeon half the size of a rabbit with exposed skin can survive -40, I think we a thick coated, large rabbit who has plenty of access to food can survive it oh, and they overheat when brought inside – they’ve obviously adjusted to our crazy weather.

[Author]

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