How to feed a decorative rabbit?

Decorative rabbits refer to rodents. They need to constantly grind their teeth, which means that your rabbit will be gnawing. Since the plant food that makes up the dietrabbits, not as nutritious as meat, rabbits have to eat a lot to get enough nutrients. So long-haired miles - those are still gluttons.

So, how to feed a decorative rabbit so that it is healthy and fun? The basis of the diet of dwarf and ornamental rabbits is hay. Both adult rabbits and small rabbitsAn unlimited amount of hay should be given all year round. Hay is useful for rabbit digestion - it helps the food to pass through the intestine. Regular use of hay helps to prevent common rabbit disease, the formation of lumps of wool in the stomach.

Feed the decorative rabbit best with fresh herb hay. Quality hay must have a pleasant greenish color and befragrant. Hay must be dry, not wet. In quality hay for rabbits contains protein, carotenoids ("raw materials" for vitamin A), vitamins. Hay can be harvested independently, but keep in mind: the place where you collect the grass should be away from the road, and the grass should not be treated with fertilizers and pesticides.

Besides hay, you can feed a decorative rabbit special feeds. Usually, high-quality food has the form of granulesgreen, based on alfalfa. Good factory feed should contain crude fiber (at least 22%), proteins (at least 14-16%), fat (about 1%) and calcium (less than 1%). In the feed should not contain dried fruits, cereals, nuts, oat flakes, etc. They are too greasy for your pet. Feed can be given for a little - just as much as necessary, so that the rabbit has received useful substances in the hay and vegetables. Optimal feed rate - no more than 2 tablespoons. (20-30 g) per day.

It is usually believed that rabbits eat only carrots and cabbage. This is not true; feed the decorative rabbit with fresh vegetables you need extremely carefully! Digestive system - weak spotdecorative rabbits. Excess of fresh food leads to diarrhea, flatulence and other problems with digestion. Fresh vegetables need to be introduced into the rabbit's diet gradually, along with hay, and not instead of it! Vegetables should be washed and necessarily fresh.

What vegetables can I feed a decorative rabbit? Most vegetables with green leaves are suitable(cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, parsley, dill, basil, spinach, mint, celery, chicory), carrots with tops, tomatoes. But note that cabbage and broccoli can cause accumulation of gases, and zucchini, pumpkin and spinach weaken. With white cabbage in general you need to be very careful. Every day you need to give the rabbit different vegetables. It is important to feed it with vegetables that contain vitamin A (parsley, cabbage, carrots).

You can feed a decorative rabbit with a little bit of a bound fresh grass, adding it to the basic diet. The grass should be collected away from the motorways. Decorative rabbits are useful yarrow, dandelion, plantain. Also, rabbits need to be given hard food - they need to grind their teeth, which they grow constantly.

Decorative rabbits need a lot of fresh water. It must be changed daily, and a bowl or a drinking bowl should be rinsed with hot water.

Let's sum up the small results. You can feed a decorative rabbit (and need!) hay, a small amount of good dry food, a limited amount of fresh vegetables, fresh grass (not any!), solid food for grinding teeth. Decorative rabbits contraindicated sweet (including fruits in large quantities), products with starch content, commercial feeds such as muesli, harmful herbs, stale vegetables, food from your table.

If you feed the ornamental rabbit correctly and observe all other rules of keeping decorative rabbits, your eared pet will be healthy and live a long life (by rabbit standards, of course).