Rabbit feeding often has some misunderstandings among the owners of rabbits. For example, the editor heard an owner say that rabbits will die if they can’t drink water. He also heard this absurd theory from the owner of the pet shop. This is simply wrong. It’s outrageous. Rabbits need water just like people. If there is no water, they will die. So what can we feed rabbits when we feed them, and what should we pay attention not to feed them?
Before discussing what domestic rabbits should eat, we need to understand what wild rabbits eat: grasses of all kinds. It is impossible for domestic rabbits to eat all kinds of weeds. Vegetables seem to be the closest thing to grass. In addition, the cartoon “rabbits eat vegetables and carrots” is misleading, creating a serious misunderstanding that “rabbits eat vegetables”.
But the fact is: besides providing rich nutrition, the grass eaten by wild rabbits has the biggest characteristic: it is rich in a large amount of crude fiber, while the crude fiber content of vegetables is far less than that of grass.
The digestive system of rabbits is very different from that of cats and dogs. It needs a lot of crude fiber to keep the intestines moving uninterrupted and excrete harmful substances. Insufficient crude fiber will lead to slow or even stagnant intestinal peristalsis, which is one of the most important causes of various digestive tract diseases in rabbits.
What exactly should rabbits eat?
1. Hay:
Because we can’t get a lot of fresh grass, we use professional dry grass instead. Hay is a substitute for fresh grass eaten by wild rabbits! 1. The biggest function of hay is: it can provide the most needed crude fiber for rabbits.
2. The types of hay are mainly divided into two categories:
Grass grass: Timothy grass and fruit tree grass can be used as staple grasses. Their protein and calcium content is lower than that of legume grass, but the content of crude fiber is the highest.
2. Rabbit food:
1. The role of rabbit food: to provide balanced nutrition. We generally cannot provide rabbits with a variety of hay or vegetables every day. A single food will cause malnutrition or imbalance in rabbits, and rabbit food can effectively supplement the lack of nutrition.
2. The supply of rabbit food: it should be supplied in an appropriate amount. Rabbit grains are refined grains. If rabbits eat a lot and lack enough crude fiber to help their intestinal peristalsis, these grains will stagnate in the digestive tract and ferment, encouraging a large number of harmful bacteria, leading to diarrhea, gastrointestinal obstruction, etc.