Foods You Should Avoid Feeding Your Rabbit

I was enjoying myself playing with my friend’s pet rabbits and thought it was easy to bring up healthy rabbits with any plant matter; she proved me wrong and told me that it could also make the rabbit sick or even kill it.  This made me attentively listen to her to know all the foods rabbits can eat and what is to be avoided. 

Some of the points worth considering while feeding a rabbit:

Rabbits could not be fed any food as even the most normal foods could prove fatal and unhealthy to a pet rabbit.

Never feed your rabbit lettuce as it contains lactucarium that could cause diarrhea in your pet and even prove fatal in extreme cases. My friend disagreed with the common belief that it was OK to feed her pet Romaine lettuce that contained the least lactucarium as anything that was harmful was so even in small quantities. She said that some of the other common vegetables that should be avoided for your pet rabbit are cabbage, beans, cauliflower, parsnips, kale, potato, potato peelings and potato tops, rhubarb, spinach, Swedes and tomato leaves.

Pet rabbits need great care and you should not let them free in the garden or at home if you grow Clover, Foxglove, Honeysuckle, Iris, Hemlock, Poppies, Deadly Nightshade, Buttercups, Bluebells, Arum Lilies, Ivy, Daffodils and other bulbs, Primulas, Jasmines, Fairy Primrose, Dahlia, Delphiniums, Larkspur, Snowdrops, Tulips, and Anemonies; these common plants are very harmful to pet bunnies, with clover causing gas that could bloat the rabbit and even lead to death as bunnies find it difficult to expel gas. 

My friend continued and said she never fed her pet foods that were high in carbohydrates and low in fiber supplements; it was best to avoid feeding your pet bunny alfalfa hay as it is high in calories and rabbit fat, with Timothy hay or good quality meadow hay being healthy. Timothy hay is also rich in calcium that would benefit the bunny, with a rabbit’s digestive system naturally adapted to eat and graze grass.

It is also significant to know that rabbits should not be fed beans, breakfast cereals, bread, cookies, corn, or nuts; they could contract enterotoxaemia, a condition in which the blood contains toxin from the intestines.

My friend continued that pet bunnies can be fed basil, beet greens, carrot and carrot tops, celery leaves, dandelion leaves and flower, dill, mint, parsley, watercress, and wheatgrass in small quantities; however it is best to make sure before feeding your pet rabbit broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, peas pods and radish tops.  

Fruits like apple, bananas, blueberries, cranberries, pears, raspberries and Strawberries can be fed in small quantities as treats. However ensure that you do not feed the pips of fruits as they contain minute amounts of cyanide that could be harmful to the pet rabbit.

I thanked my friend for sharing the valuable information of what foods a pet rabbit should eat and avoid; I felt enriched.  

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