Protein content of pellets

[CojoCinder]

Hi all! I have a 4 month old flemish giant, Boris. He has been recently neutered.

I’m wondering about the protein content that is best for them in the pelleted feed. When we got him from the breeder, they were giving a 16% protein food and recommended we do the same. However, I know the Timothy hay we also give him is very low in protein (although he doesn’t like eating much of it… It mostly seems to get wasted in his litter box). The pelleted feed is Kaytee Supreme — alfalfa mix with 15% protein and 17% crude fiber max. Is this good for now? I know I should switch to a completely Timothy pellet once he’s an adult.

My vet did say she would like him eating more veggies and hay than pellets (giving free choice pellets for now) and he does get salads twice a day. But I didn’t give him pellets one day and just left a pile of hay… And he didn’t seem to have touched it at all. Was just a hungry grumpy bunny!

Appreciate any input!

[{Alli}]

Someone may need to correct me on this but the maximum protein for an adult rabbit is 14% and minimum of 22% fiber 1% fat and no more than 1% calcium. You may want to start switching him to a timothy based pellet soon. Since he’s not an adult yet I’d say it’s okay for now but yeah. If Boris seems to be ignoring the timothy hay, try bluegrass, orchard, meadow, etc. Since he’s two months away from technically being an adult, wean him off of alfalfa soon and when looking for different hays to try out if timothy doesn’t seem to be working, avoid alfalfa Oxbow is a good brand (make sure it’s the adult rabbit pellets) or you can order some off of KMS. The hay is fab but I’m not sure about the pellets since it’s geared towards guinea pigs. Plenty of people feed their rabbits the KMS guinea pig pellets but since it has added Vitamin C, some people freeze some for 6 months so the Vitamin C wears off but that’s a long time and most of the time, they order way ahead of time and have guinea pigs so I’m not sure about that.

[litheandgraphic]

Hello and welcome!  

Bunnies are usually introduced to greens around 7 weeks old. Since your bunny is around 8 weeks old now, it would be time for him to start eating greens: 1 cup per 3 lbs of bunny is usually the formula, and you want to follow this list to get a good idea of which veggies are best for daily salads (avoid things high in calcium and/or oxalic acid).

At this point, you should start phasing out the alfalfa pellets and start looking into Timothy hay pellets — Oxbow Adult Basics is a good option; basically you want something 15% or lower in protein, 20% or higher (the higher the better) in fiber. Slowly mix in the Timothy hay pellets with the alfalfa by greater quantities over about a week or so until you’re only feeding Timothy pellets. 

These pellets will be constantly available to the bunny until they reach about 1 year old, at which point you should begin to decrease the pellet intake to about 1/2 cup daily. Read here for more diet details.

As for the hay: hay is the most important aspect of a rabbit’s diet, so if your bunny isn’t eating the hay you’re currently offering, try switching to another brand to see if they prefer it. They really need to be eating a lot of hay to keep a healthy digestive system running!

Good luck!

[CojoCinder]

Hi! Thank you both for your feedback! It is very helpful! I got him some Orchard grass to try tonight, so we will see if he likes that better. (Although boo to all the Timothy I have in my cupboard right now!)

I do have a pretty big bag of the high protein pellets, so I’d like to feed him the rest of those and transition in the oxbow pellets when I’m almost through. He’s four months and I don’t expect it will take him longer than his 6 month mark to eat them… Let me know though if that’s a completely horrible idea!

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