FAQ

Yes, but with rules: give grass and alfalfa only when dry, because greens wet with dew or rain, heated in a pile or frosted are the main cause of bloat and diarrhea. Wilt freshly cut grass in the shade for a few hours, and introduce new greens in small amounts over 5–7 days. Do not give young, lush alfalfa in large amounts, and always feed it alongside dry hay. Do not cut grass by roads or where pesticides were sprayed.

A rough guide for dry feed (pellets or a grain mix): - a 4 kg adult: about 140–150 g a day; - growing rabbits: about 35 g at 1 month, about 85 g at 2 months, 140–165 g at 4 months; - a nursing doe with her litter: up to 350–380 g combined. On top of that, dry hay and clean water should always be available. Rabbits eat many small meals a day, so give feed several times or keep the feeder filled.

Fast growth needs a balanced ration of roughly 15–17% protein and 14–16% fiber. A home mix usually includes barley, wheat bran, a little wheat or maize, sunflower meal for protein, plus chalk and salt, with good hay always available alongside. Feeding grain alone without hay leads to bloat and diarrhea. Do not use chicken or cattle feed: its fiber content is wrong for rabbits and it may contain coccidiostats that are unsafe for them.

A rabbit drinks roughly 50–150 ml of water per kilogram of body weight a day; a nursing doe drinks 2–3 times more, up to 1–2 liters a day, and all rabbits drink more in heat. Clean water must be available day and night, because going without water becomes dangerous much faster than going without feed. Rabbits on juicy greens drink less, but never take the water away; in winter refresh it several times a day so it does not freeze. A rabbit that stops both drinking and eating is ill and needs a vet; do not add medicines to the water without advice.

Do not use bread as regular feed: it is high in starch and almost free of fiber, and in larger amounts it causes fermentation in the gut, bloat and diarrhea. Never give bread soaked in water, which sours quickly. Moldy bread is poisonous to rabbits. A small piece of dry, clean bread now and then does little harm, but it adds nothing either; hay and balanced feed are far better.

Safe in small, gradually increased amounts: carrots and their tops, a little cabbage, apple, and mulberry leaves and branches, which are especially good. Do not give: - branches, leaves or pits of apricot, cherry, plum or peach, which release poisonous compounds; - potato and tomato plants, or green potatoes; - datura, buttercup, and garden flowers such as tulips, daffodils and lilies. Keep prunings from fruit trees away from the pile of greens.

It is not recommended. Cottonseed cake is cheap and common in Uzbekistan, but it contains gossypol, a toxin that builds up in the body and does most harm when fed over a long time. Use sunflower or soybean meal as the protein source instead. When buying ready-made feed, ask whether it contains cottonseed cake.