If you own a pet rabbit and take good care of its eating habits then you must be giving it a healthy diet consisting mostly of Rabbit Pellets, Hay, Fresh Vegetables & Fruits as well as the occasional treat. Most of you may already have pellet brand of choice and a steady supply of it in your bunny stash.
But as your rabbit is growing just like we do, have you wondered How Much Pellets Should A Pet Rabbit Eat At Every Age?
Rabbits have vastly different nutrient requirements at different stages of their lives. Adjusting the amount of pellets we give to our rabbits has a huge impact on their health. The right amount of pellets a the right age can lead to a more active rabbit with fewer health problems such as obesity and stomach diseases.
Here is How Much Pellets Should A Pet Rabbit Eat At Every Age!
Rabbits this young are generally still suckling milk from their mother and do not need any additional food for water. They can get all their essential nutrients from their mother’s milk.
If you are raising baby bunnies from their birth then make sure that all of them are drinking their mothers milk by touching their belly. A well feed rabbit should have a tight belly and a hungry rabbit will have a squishy belly.
At this age you can start introducing your rabbits to pellets. Young rabbits need Alfalfa Pellets which are nutrient rich and helps baby rabbits grow up faster.
3 Weeks to A month old baby rabbits can eat a bite or two of rabbit pellets just to get comfortable to the taste.
Force feeding too much pellets to baby rabbits at this age can be quite harmful to them so let them come and eat pellets on their own.
This is the time for baby rabbits to quickly grow up into teenagers or adolescent rabbits.
As their bodies are developing quickly, they need a high quality nutrient dense diet.
During this period you should provide your bunny rabbits with unlimited access to preferably Alfalfa Pellets.
Not having access to unlimited rabbit pellets at this point could stunt their growth in the long run
Somewhere in the time between 7 to 12 week baby rabbits enter adolescence. This is where their body is getting ready to move onto extra varieties of food other than hay and pellets.
At 3 months old you should start introducing vegetables into your rabbit’s diet. To learn more about which vegetables are good for your rabbit check out my article What Can Rabbits Eat ? Rabbit Food Guide!
This is the adolescent age for rabbits where they get bigger and stronger. With time their body and their digestive system are turning into the green mean munching machines that pet rabbits are.
Allow your bunnies to have as much hay or pellets as they want. Always use fresh pellets not more than six weeks old as old pellets can catch molds.
At this time your baby bunnies have almost fully grown up to adults and it is time to get them into their adult diet.
Introduce variety of different hays with less calcium and more fiber like timothy, grass and oat hay. Add more vegetables into their diet as well as a small portion of fruits less than 2 Table Spoon full for 6lbs (3 KG Approx) of your rabbit’s body weight.
This is a good time to add more calories in the form of fruit because they need this energy to remain active and grow strong.
Fully grown adult rabbits need a steady and fresh supply of rabbit pellets as well as fresh hay, fruits and vegetables.
An ideal amount of rabbit pellets for adult rabbits is Quarter to Half Cup per 6lbs of the rabbit’s body weight. Which comes down to 50 to 100 grams per 3 Kilograms of body weight.
You may choose to add or reduce the amount of pellets here according to your rabbit’s metabolism or vegetable intake. Just make sure it’s body weight is being maintained and not fluctuating.
Right around 5-6 years most house rabbit are entering seniority. During this time you may feel that your bunny is less active than before and a lot more calm.
This is because their metabolism is slowing down with age just like us humans. In the wild rabbits hardly live to this age. It is recommended to have a consultation with your vet, as they may advice you to add or cut certain things from the rabbit’s diet which may affect it’s health.
If your rabbit is perfectly healthy and does not need any modifications to its diet then you can continue on with the Adult Diet (Quarter to Half Cup per 6lbs of the rabbit’s body weight or 50 to 100 grams per 3 Kilograms of body weight) as long as your rabbit’s health and weight is maintained.
Senior rabbits which are older than 6 years may require you to take special care of their diet needs. Because rabbit bodies tend to get frail starting from this age it is recommended that they get more pellets with age so that their body weight does not fall.
Make sure to get your bunny’s blood tests done annually so that you can monitor their calcium levels. If their calcium levels are normal then add some alfalfa pellets as they help your bunny to maintain its weight at this age.
Quarter to Half Cup per 6lbs of the rabbit’s body weight or 50 to 100 grams per 3 Kilograms of body weight is ideal.
Super senior rabbits who are older than 10 are not much different from our previous category of old age rabbits but you may find them more lethargic and less likely to want to eat.
The best solution here is to hand feed as much as you can and entice them with new flavors of fruits & vegetables.
Other than this you can keep up with Quarter to Half Cup per 6lbs of the rabbit’s body weight or 50 to 100 grams per 3 Kilograms of body weight. Add more alfalfa pelllets to help them not loose weight.
As rabbits get older their nutrition requirement also changes. As rabbit parents it is our job to make sure that our pets are getting the best. I hope you now have an idea as to How Much Pellets Should A Pet Rabbit Eat At Every Age.
To learn more about pet rabbits check out some more of our articles
How much pellets does your rabbit eat? Do you even give pellets to your bunny? Let me know in the comments below and do share this post with your friends. Bye
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