feeding

Watering, Food, & Hay
The most essential thing a rabbit needs for survival is water. Your rabbit should always have fresh water.
For feed, you should be feeding your rabbit alfalfa rabbit pellets daily between 16-18%. It matters on the breed and size of your rabbit for how much you feed it. For my Dutch, I feed them 3/4 a cup each day. I've never had problems with a rabbit being under weight or over weight. They stay right at 4-4 1/2 pounds (Dutch are to weigh between 3 1/2-5 1/2, ideally you want them to be 4 1/2). You'll have to change the amount depending on the breed. During the winter you'll want to feed them extra as they will be burning more energy trying to stay warm.
It's best to buy rabbit feed from a feed store, instead of a pet store, because it costs more at the pet store and doesn't always look as fresh.
Your rabbit should also have grass hay in it's diet, Timothy is prefered. You do not want to use Alfalfa hay, only because it's really fatting for them, since that's what their food is made of. I do not recommend buying hay from a pet store, only because like the food, their hay doesn't look as fresh as it does from a feed store, as at a pet store they have at times been sitting on the shelves for awhile. At weaning age (6-8 weeks), hay is very important to the rabbit's diet only because this is the age that Enteritis is most common, even though it can happen at any age. A high fiber diet is how you prevent Enteritis from happening, which is where grass hay comes in to help this. Hay also helps flush the rabbits' system and prevent hair balls.
You can give them hay as much as you want. Some people give it to them every day, some a couple days a week, ect. For wooled breeds they should always have as much as they want as they're more acceptable to wool block.

Supplements
I feed my show rabbits and herd bucks a teaspoon of Showbloom each day. This gives their coats a lot better flesh condition, making it very soft and giving it a great luster. With it, they rarely will shed, and when they do it's not as bad. It also makes your bucks more fertile, which is why I give it to my herd bucks. You NEVER want to give them more than a teaspoon a day!! This will make your rabbit blow it's coat- meaning it will go through a horrible molt and it will take forever to get your rabbit's coat back to normal (I know a breeder who accidently gave his rabbits too much, a month later he said his rabbits' coats were still standing up).
Once your rabbit is being fed Showbloom, you have to keep them on it. You can't decide to feed them it one day, then not give it to them for another week. They need to have it every day once you start them on it.
It's very expensive, so don't be putting your pet rabbits or brood does on it. To view their website, click here.
This is the supplement I use. I know there's others like Doc's Rabbit Enhancer, but I've never used it so I don't know how good it is. If anybody who uses it or any other supplement, send me an email on what you think of it and I'll post that up here giving you credit.
Other stuff you can give your rabbit to condition it's coat is a teaspoon of uncooked oatmeal each day. Or a few days before a show, give your rabbit a few sunflower seeds. You don't want to give them too much of this, because it will make your rabbit's coat very oily.

Treats
For treats, most vegetables and fruits are okay to give your rabbit as a treat. Most people think that carrots are a rabbits favorite treat, but most rabbits love bananas even more. When giving them a banana, you only want to give them a small chunk at a time, since they get full of it quickly. They are also good to give to your rabbits if they're under weight for show. They also like grapes, but you only want to give them one at a time.
There's also uncooked oatmeal, that you can sprinkle on their food. My rabbits love this. Only sprinkle a little at a time. Never more than a teaspoon per day. Do not use the instant kind.
Make sure to only introduce one new treat to your rabbit at a time. Only give your rabbits a treat once or twice a week.

A list of fruits that are ok to give your rabbit:
Apple (remove stem and seeds)
Bananas
Blueberries
Grapes
Melon
Orange (including peel)
Papaya
Peach
Pear
Pineapple
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries

A list of vegetables that are ok to give your rabbit:
Alfalfa, radish & clover sprouts
Basil
Beet greens (tops)
Bok choy
Broccoli (mostly leaves/stems)
Brussels sprouts
Carrot & carrot tops
Celery
Cilantro
Clover
Collard greens
Dandelion greens and flowers (no pesticides)
Endive
Escarole
Green peppers
Kale
Mint
Mustard greens
Parsley
Pea pods (the flat edible kind)
Peppermint leaves
Raddichio
Radish tops
Raspberry leaves
Romaine lettuce (no iceberg or light colored leaf)
Spinach
Watercress
Wheat grass

Rabbit Care
Home

Ella and her foster children at meal time

Fiver with his carrot