Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE Lettuce: Yay or nay?

Viewing 15 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Lea
      Participant
      25 posts Send Private Message

        Hey, I’m Lea This is day 4 of my bunny enslavement, so bear with me. I’ve read a lot of conflicting information about feeding lettuce online. I know iceberg is pointless because of lack of nutrients, but other lettuces I’m not sure about. I printed out the HRS list which includes some lettuces, but in addition to all the anti-lettuce people online I had a farmer (my mom’s friend) tell me today not to feed any lettuce as my bun will “poop himself to death.” So I thought I’d ask: is there any truth to this? Are all lettuces created equal? My bun loves dark red and green leaf lettuce and hasn’t had any negative effects from it so far.


      • Mocha
        Participant
        509 posts Send Private Message

          I am YAY for lettuce, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with feeding the correct types to your bunny. Never feed iceberg or butterhead lettuce. I feed my buns red leaf and romaine only. Your bunny should eat at least 3 different type of veggies each day, and at least 3 cups (if your bunny can handle that much without gettind diarreah). My bunnies usually get 8 cups a day (I have 2 bunnies), with usually a mix of parsley, cilantro, collard greens, and lettuce (you can’t just have 3 different types of lettuce though, carrots and fruit are treats only).

          iceberg lettuce is way to watery and has no nutrional value whatsoever, so it just makes your bunny have diarreah (I think that’s what the farmer meant).

          Make sure your bun is getting plenty of hay and I hope I helped!


        • litheandgraphic
          Participant
          608 posts Send Private Message

            Firstly, welcome to the forum and to the world of bunnies!

            Huh… I have no idea what your farmer friend is talking about, but bunnies should be getting 2-3 cups of fresh veggies (lettuces, greens) a day. Those greens contain necessary vitamins and minerals that are crucial to a rabbit’s diet. There are, however, some greens that are higher in calcium and oxalic acid, which should be limited to small quantities – these include spinach and kale for example.

            But mild lettuces such as red leaf, green leaf, and romaine are not only not bad for rabbit’s, but they are an essential portion of a rabbit’s diet!

            The rest of the diet should be 85% Timothy hay, 10% veggies (greens), and 5% Timothy hay pellets (depending on the age of the rabbit – any bun older than 7 weeks should be on Timothy. Any bun younger than 12 weeks should not yet be introduced to veggies – perhaps this is what he meant?).

            Check out the BinkyBunny list of recommended veggies (https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/VeggieList/tabid/144/Default.aspx) for more specific info.

            Welcome again!


          • Lea
            Participant
            25 posts Send Private Message

              Mocha: Thanks! That’s all in line with what I’m doing, he’s eating a TON of hay now that I got a bale of fresh Timothy. He wouldn’t touch the bagged Timothy by Living World. He’s quite a small bun so I’m not sure he could eat 3 cups of greens but I’ll try! He’s got a good appetite. I’ve tried a few fruits and he likes apples the best so I use those as positive reinforcement (started his litter training today as he keeps peeing on my bed). I just bought some spinach and chard for myself today, so I can test those on him too. Was going to get some bok choy but it didn’t look very nice. Much to my dismay, the closest grocery store didn’t have any collards! That’s all I went in for too, lol!

              FLR: Thanks for the welcome again, you replied to my intro post in the Welcome section too

              I think he’s older than 7 months but under a year. The previous owner (Bryan) gave me a giant bag of pellets that are made by our local animal feed store, but there’s no ingredient list. It just says “specialty feed” on the bag with a picture of a rabbit, cow, sheep, pig, and emu. I’ll have to ask next time I go there, but Bryan said they’re alfalfa which I know is too rich for adult rabbits.


            • Deleted User
              Participant
              22064 posts Send Private Message

                See, I find this whole topic of lettuce very confusing STILL! When we first got Henry my hubby’s sister (who lives in an other State to us and owned one – in an outdoor hutch, EEEK!) told us the same thing – no lettuce! I then met and became a BBer and all lettuce is fine except iceberg! Then some BBer’s said iceberg is ok but not nutritional, so thought I’d stick to what I know and use, and BUTTER lettuce is one of them Mocha. I buy one lettuce each week (that’s enough for Henry along with ALL his other veggies that he gets nightly), so for variety I switch it around – Cos, red, and butter. And if my local has another variety in, I’ll include that too.

                Soooo, is BUTTER lettuce NOT OK??? If not – why???

                PS – Now I’ve got a headache Lea!  Ha ha ha ha……


              • Lea
                Participant
                25 posts Send Private Message

                  Haha! Now I’m wondering about the butter lettuce too. It’s too expensive here and I’ve never actually tried it myself anyway, but still.


                • JackRabbit
                  Participant
                  5451 posts Send Private Message

                    As long as it doesn’t upset bunny’s tummy, all except iceberg are ok. Moshi gets green leaf, red leaf, and butter lettuces but romaine upsets his tummy. Marlee can handle most of them; Kieko is my iron gut mutt bunny and can handle anything. Same with herbs, only a few that Moshi can handle, Marlee can deal with most, and Kieko can eat anything on the approved list.


                  • MissGabbster
                    Participant
                    718 posts Send Private Message

                      Lettuce is yay! You should, as others have stated, avoid iceberg lettuce as it doesn’t have nutritional value and also has a high water content. Typically the darker and greener the lettuce the better, but you have to watch out for veggies that are high in oxalic content and calcium. Veggies that are high in oxalic acid and calcium should be fed sparingly.

                       I wouldn’t worry about whether he can eat 3 cups of veg. Rabbits are like a TARDIS, they’re bigger on the inside! 

                      Here are some helpful links on veggies!

                      Suggested Vegetables and Fruits for a Rabbit Diet by the HRS: http://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/
                      Healthy Diet for your House Rabbit: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/tabid/53/CategoryID/2/PID/940/Default.aspx
                      Veggie List: https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/VeggieList/tabid/144/Default.aspx


                    • Flopsie
                      Participant
                      388 posts Send Private Message

                        Lettuce is awesome because it’s also very cheap!


                      • Sarita
                        Participant
                        18851 posts Send Private Message

                          This makes me scratch my head LOL – I don’t see why a rabbit wouldn’t be able to eat lettuce – it’s a green thing :~) The House Rabbit Society’s list mentions quite a few varieties.


                        • Bam
                          Moderator
                          16838 posts Send Private Message

                            I know i’ve read somewhere about iceberg lettuce, but I’ve forgotten. It was either about amoebas/salmonella from the lettuce being watered with bad water aometime back in the day, or sth about iceberg lettuce being the first veggie that came available fresh all year round and that rabbits who suddenly got lots of fresh lettuce in the winter got runny stools and perished, which was interpreted as being the lettuce’s fault, but it was actually the bunny tummies that were unused to fresh greens. But I don’t remember exactly=/ I’m pretty sure though that it’s more or less a myth that iceberg is lethal to bunnies.

                            That being said I never dare give my bunnies Iceberg, and since it’s an almost white “green” with a high water-content, the nutritional value is low – so the bunnies don’t really need it. There are plenty of other types of lettuce that are dark green or red/reddish and less watery. I give romaine, Australian red and green, oak leaf etc. The lettuce I grow myself I’ve found is most appealing to the rabbits later in the summer, when it’s gotten so bitter that humans nolonger like it =) My buns even like the lettuce “flowers”.


                          • Sarita
                            Participant
                            18851 posts Send Private Message

                              Here is an interesting answer from Dana Krempels – here is the link – FYI, Dana is not a vet, she is a Biology Professor and a rabbit rescuer and has published some articles on rabbit health with Exotic DVM magazine – she’s very respected and knowledgeabel:

                              http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/Lettuce-1.htm

                              Here is the text:

                              QUESTION: Hi, Dana. I am wondering if you can offer a definitive answer on something the web has so much half-information on. The rabbits I care for eat mountains of farm-fresh Timothy (their droppings are a thing of beauty – light and large, filled with visible bits of straw), receive a minimal serving of Oxbow Timothy pellets for its “supplement” value, and get a wide variety of fresh greens (served twice a day). When I go to buy bunches of herbs for the rabbits (about 20 bunches a day, unless I’m buying Romaine too), my local market is now offering to give me fresh (not wilted, not slimy) outer trimmings of farm-grown head lettuce, which look exactly like curly green leaf lettuce (quite a dark green) except they are crispier. I see everywhere that iceberg lettuce is forbidden because it is low in nutrients and can cause runny poop – and it’s possible that this head lettuce might be “iceberg” even though the leaves they want to give me are dark green. So my question is: If this lettuce is iceberg, is there anything intrinsically unhealthy about serving it as part of the diet they now consume? I have tried giving the rabbits a little bit of this along with their other food and none of them have any digestive upsets from it. I am very attentive to such changes – I can tell you exactly which rabbits can’t tolerate crucifers, which can’t tolerate even a tiny serving of fruit, etc. – so I am confident that I can monitor their reactions. It’s just that perhaps there are side effects I can’t see that I *ought* to be worried about and hence avoid anything that even might be iceberg…. [P.S. My little foster-girl’s pinworms seem to be gone. Re-test will be at the end of this week. No sign of any other rabbits having contracted them at this point. Thank you for all your guidance.]

                              ANSWER: Dear Robin,

                              I think there’s a lot of hysteria about iceberg lettuce that’s a bit overblown. The main problem with it is that it is really high in water content. This isn’t a problem if it’s grown organically. But if it’s grown conventionally, that can mean that the water inside the lettuce will contain higher levels of pesticide and fertilizer residues than would be healthy for a bunny.

                              The outer leaves, being darker and less water-rich, might have less residue. But they’re also on the outside of the head, which is the part that gets the most spray. Still, the *really* outer leaves are usually removed before the heads are shipped out to the stores…so who really knows?

                              I guess if you were really going to be thorough, you could have some leaves tested for toxins by a good toxicology lab. But that would be really expensive, and a bit over-the-top.

                              If there are pesticide residues in the outer leaves of the iceberg, there are also some in any other conventionally grown produce, so it’s something we deal with every day.

                              With organic produce, there’s less risk of pesticide and fertilizer residue, but you still run the risk of bacterial contamination if the farm protocols aren’t of the highest level (witness the recent scares with spinach and green onions!).

                              Bottom line: it’s probably not going to be a huge problem if you feed them some outer leaves of iceberg lettuce. It’s not the lettuce, per se, that’s the problem, but the ancillary nasties of conventional farming.

                              Hope that helps.

                              Dana

                              ———- FOLLOW-UP ———-

                              QUESTION: Thank you so much. You raise many other issues I’ve wondered about. Truly, I now feel afraid to feed any greens. What with pinworms and racoon contamination being hazards of wild greens, and pesticides/herbicides/bacteria in farmed greens, and things like grasshoppers and mice in the farmed hay (and who knows what else those fields are sprayed with, even if they are just adjacent to the areas people are intending to spray and get only overspray or drift), I almost feel I should just feed Oxbow Timothy pellets and nothing else. It’s very difficult to think of how to keep them safe and yet happy. Any suggestions for a balanced view? I would very much appreciate your comments on compromising quality and quantity of food and years of life both!

                              ANSWER: Dear Robin,

                              If you want to drive yourself batty with fear, then it’s not hard to do that when you know what could be in your food. But you know what? No one has ever died from eating mouse parts or grasshopper parts or bug parts in their food. It may be icky to think about, but it’s a fact of life, and animal parts are not going to hurt you.

                              Pesticides and fertilizer residues are a fact of life. It would be *more* unhealthy to withhold healthy greens than it is to give them to your bunnies. Yes, all of us in the modern world probably use our livers and kidneys an other de-tox organs more than our ancient ancestors did, but they do work quite well, and there are precious few incidents of illness or death that can be firmly traced back to our food supply.

                              It’s just one of those things we have to live with. We have fantastic bodies that de-toxify nasties that constantly enter our body (we evolved them because our ancient ancestors had to do the same!), and we have an amazing immune system that protects us against pathogens.

                              An AIDS patient dies because the immune system is destroyed by the virus. He doesn’t die of the virus, but from attack by all the hundreds of potential/facultative pathogens that a normal animal’s immune system would immediately destroy.

                              The keys to good health in today’s world could be:

                              1. Try to minimize risk by buying high quality foods, well chosen and well washed.

                              2. Keep yourself (and your companion animals) healthy with a stress-free environment, good, clean housing and lots of love. This will promote good immune system health and make everyone better able to meet the *absolutely expected* challenges presented by all those things in the environment we can’t control.

                              Don’t be afraid to feed greens. That would be paranoid, and not in your rabbits’ best interest. Keep them healthy with all the right rabbit husbandry and love, and they’ll be able to handle the rest. And if they need a little veterinary help from time to time, that’s okay, too. It’s part of life, and it may have nothing to do with their diet.

                              We can control only so much in life, and the rest we have to ride like a wave.

                              Hang in there. Life is good!

                              Dana


                            • Stickerbunny
                              Participant
                              4128 posts Send Private Message

                                Mine get romaine lettuce nearly every day. All greens can cause runny poop and IF you keep feeding it when it’s obviously upsetting their stomachs, yeah it can kill them from stasis and such – that goes for any food. Introduce new foods slowly and check for runny poop, stomach aches or gas before fully integrating it into their diets. For example, Italian parsley gives my buns gas and when I tried feeding it, it lead to a day of tummy rubs and not eating while loafing in pain in the closet. That doesn’t mean Italian parsley is bad, it’s just bad for MY bunnies.

                                Rumors about bunnies I have heard: Don’t feed them hay, it fills their stomachs with nothing. Don’t feed them greens, it makes them sick. They are nearly impossible to keep alive for more than a week. They can’t be litter trained, they’ll just drop where they walk like a goat. Etc, etc, etc. All from people who “owned rabbits for years” … It is truly amazing how much misinformation is around about them!


                              • Sarita
                                Participant
                                18851 posts Send Private Message

                                  According to the House Rabbit Society and Dr. Susan Brown, the following are the biggest culprits of runny stool:

                                  Diet (overload of carbohydrates and/or insufficient indigestible fiber)
                                  Inappropriate antibiotic use (many antibiotics are not safe for the rabbit’s GI tract)
                                  Toxins from the environment such as heavy metal, toxic plants, etc.
                                  Environmental stress
                                  GI neoplasia (cancer)
                                  Genetic predisposition
                                  Severe metabolic disease (such as kidney or liver disease)
                                  Infection with coccidia and/or rotavirus may contribute to the stress in the gut by causing mucosal damage but are not considered to be the major causes of diarrhea in rabbits.*The most common causes of true diarrhea in a pet rabbit are an inappropriate diet and inappropriate antibiotic use.

                                  Here is the article:

                                  http://rabbit.org/intermittent-soft-cecotropes-in-rabbits/


                                • Megabunny
                                  Participant
                                  2041 posts Send Private Message

                                    Careful of the spinach. Not too much, if any


                                  • Bumbleberry
                                    Participant
                                    57 posts Send Private Message

                                      Welcome to the world of bunnies!
                                      I have NO CLUE what your little farmer friend was talking about, but lettuce is absolutely fine (not iceberg or butterhead) I have fed it to my bunny since the day we got her(she’s 8 months old) and it’s fine!

                                  Viewing 15 reply threads
                                  • The topic ‘Lettuce: Yay or nay?’ is closed to new replies.

                                  Forum DIET & CARE Lettuce: Yay or nay?