Pet Rabbit Diet

Like with all pets, the owners of pet rabbits need to give them food, as well as shelter and companionship. Sadly, there is a lot of bad information and poor perceptions about what do rabbits eat. Looney Tunes’ Bugs Bunny is the main culprit for this, as this has convinced people all over the world that rabbits eat carrots. This is not the case. They do not dig for food, especially if there are things like grass and leaves around for them to nibble on.

So, if anyone ever asks you the question, ‘What do rabbits eat?’ the answer is grass, as their first choice, then things like hay, leaves, above-ground vegetables and even their own droppings! Yes, it’s true. To get the best nutrition out of their diet, they re-digest some of their food by eating their soft droppings. 

One also needs to know and remember that all rodents’ front teeth never stop growing. In the wild, rabbits eat lots of grass all day long and this keeps the teeth short. However, as pets, they often don’t get the opportunity to constantly eat, and one or more of the following problems can happen. Firstly, their teeth grow too long, causing ulcers in their mouths and reducing the ability to eat. Stress and death could soon follow. Another problem is that when they don’t have a constant food supply to chew on, pet rabbits turn to whatever is around them to chew on. Damage to wooden hutches is not the end of the world, but if they eat plastic or metal, serious health problems can arise. Also, house rabbits are highly adept at finding electric cables, expensive furniture or brand-name shoes to munch on, causing the owners inconvenience and expense. Seeing a rabbit chewing on a stick or a leaf does not mean that they are receiving nutrition from these. They love to, need to, chew just to keep their main front teeth short.

If you have a pet rabbit, it will eat almost anything you give it, but this doesn’t mean it actually likes it or benefits from it. Yes, giving it some carrot once in a while is fun and feels like you’re treating it, but you’re not. Too much of this kind of food will result in digestion problems and stomachache. Do the little chap a favour and give it what it should eat; grass.