What do rabbits eat?

Rabbits are not kept as pets by a lot of people. So, knowledge regarding their eating habits is sparce. Except maybe the fact that they eat carrots, thanks to various cartoons.

When my parents got us a pair of rabbits in my childhood, we had absolutely no idea how to take care of them. We did a lot of research to find that out. And it was 1990s, so not even internet was available at that time. You can imagine how hard it must have been for us.

Anyways, we will share all that information here – things we learnt from experts, vets and some that we observed on our own.

Table of Contents

• What should we feed our pet rabbit?
• What to feed young bunnies?
• What not to feed to your pet rabbit?
• Do rabbits drink water?

What should we feed our pet rabbit?

No, your rabbit cannot eat just carrots all day! He will need other stuff too.

You should provide your rabbit a balanced diet, constituting of a variety of foods. It will ensure that your rabbit gets all the nutrients it needs.

Having had dogs, cats, parrots and rabbits as pets, I must say that we have to be the most cautious regarding the diet of a rabbit. They are pretty sensitive to diet and get sick and die pretty easily if not given proper diet.

Hay, Leaves and Grass

This is the staple food of a rabbit. It will constitute more than half of their food intake. That’s because rabbits need to consume a lot of fibre, otherwise they start getting loose motions.

Unlike, other food items, hay and grass should be available to your rabbit 24/7, day and night. So that they can chew them whenever they like. In fact, we had made a small house for our rabbits and had filled it with grass and hay all around, inside and outside. Our rabbits just loved chewing on it all day long. You may get grass from your locality, or buy it online. Same goes for hay. You may make it yourself, or get it online.

Some good quality hays are - meadow grass hay, timothy hay, orchard hay, bermuda hay etc. But fibre-wise and from the health perspective of a rabbit, timothy hay is considered the best, followed by meadow hay. I prefer fresh timothy hay for my rabbits. Make sure it smells good too.

Note

For small bunnies and pregnant rabbits, alfalfa hay is also recommended. But timothy hay must be kept with them all the time even in such cases.

They also like eating leaves and green chick peas. But do proper research before you feed any leaves to your rabbit. Some plant leaves are harmful and even poisonous for animals, e.g. money-plant leaves. So, you should not let your rabbit chew leaves of the plants that you have at home, or some wild plants if you take them out in a lawn. Pet rabbits are rather dumb in this regard, and may end up chewing wrong kind of leaves and get sick.

Note

Hay is dried grass for animal consumption purposes.

Vegetables

Rabbits like eating green vegetables. You can feed them cabbage, holy basil, broccoli, coriander, long melon, cucumber (peeled), parsley, arugula, endive etc.

You may mix these along with the grass and hay you give to your rabbit. Make sure these make 10-15% of your rabbit’s diet, to ensure that they are getting all the minerals and vitamins they need.

Fruits

You should also feed them fruits, such as mango, apple, papaya, watermelon, pineapple (after removing the outer hard skin), cherries, pear, kiwi, uncooked berries etc. They may constitute around 5% of your rabbit’s daily diet.

Warning

Take out the seeds of these fruits before giving them to your rabbit, especially apple seeds. Apple seeds are not good for a rabbit, as they often choke on them.

Apart from the fruits mentioned above, rabbits just love eating fruits with high levels of sugar in them. Fruits such as carrots and banana. You may even use these as treats to train your rabbit. But don’t overdo these. You may feed these 2-3 times a week. Do not give them these fruits every day.

Pellets

You may buy any good quality pellet from the market, e.g. timothy pellets, alfalfa pellets etc. Don’t overfeed these to your rabbit. These need not be more than 5% of his food intake. You may feed a spoonful of pellets to an adult rabbit in a day.

Note

Roughly, you should feed your rabbit food items in following percentages:

• Hey and Grass – around 80%
• Vegetables and Fruits – around 10%
• Pellets and Treats – around 5% each.

What to feed young bunnies?

Bunnies younger than 2 months heavily depend on mother’s milk. So, avoid buying or adopting very young bunnies. They won’t be able to eat anything you give them, and may die soon.

But say you have got one, maybe because you rescued one or its mother died, then make sure you feed it goat milk (not cow or buffalo milk). Rabbits and young bunnies cannot digest fatty foods well, and cow/buffalo milk has a lot of fats.

You may also buy Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR) milk for them. It’s available online too.

Once your bunny gets older than 2 months, you may start feeding it grass, hay, leaves, pellets etc.

We avoid giving vegetables and fruits to young bunnies. These should be given to them once they get at least 3-4 months old. Till then only feed them milk, grass, leaves, hay and pellets. Even when we start giving them vegetables and fruits, do it slowly. Introduce one new vegetable or fruit to them, and then monitor their poop. If you find anything abnormal, stop giving them that vegetable/fruit.

What not to feed to your pet rabbit?

It’s also essential that you know what not to feed your rabbit. You should not give any of the following food items to them:

• Rice – You should not feed cooked or uncooked rice to a rabbit. That’s because rice has low fibre and low nutrition value. They may get stomach pain and loose motions because of it.

Warning

If a rabbit gets diarrhoea or loose motions, then it may become life-threatening.

• Sugar
• Apple seeds - You can feed apple to your rabbit, but not apple seeds as they often get caught up in their throat.
• Corn - Rabbits cannot digest corn.
• Cauliflower - Cauliflower often makes rabbits flatulent and may give them stomach pains.
• Peas – Peas has high levels of sugar and phosphorous, which are not good for a rabbit.
• Avocado fruit – This fruit may prove deadly for your white bunny. Never feed them this. It has high amount of fats, and that’s a strict no-no for a rabbit.
• Onion, Tomato, Potato, Chillies.
• Coffee, Tea, Butter, Milk, Curd, Yogurt etc. – Fatty food items are a strict no-no for a rabbit.
• Fast food, junk food or baked items like bread, chapati, pasta, cookies, chocolates, ice-cream, chips etc. Some of these they will find hard to digest, or they might choke on these. Some of these may have high levels of sugar.
• Meat and Eggs – Rabbits are herbivores, so kindly do not feed them meat. Not a good idea. They just need plant-based diet. Even if they eat meat, they will not be able to digest it. It will only fill-up their stomach with gas.

In general, avoid any human food (like rice, bread etc.), and food items having sugar and fats.

Do rabbits drink water?

Obviously, yes!

Some people have a misconception that rabbits do not drink water, or not much water. It’s absolutely wrong!

They need around 600-700 ml of water every day, almost as much as a small breed dog. So, make sure you keep their bowl filled. In summer time, you may mix a little cold water in their bowl. Believe me, they will really appreciate that.

But they often spill the water bowl. So, get a heavy kind of water bowl, just as you get for a big dog. It will be difficult for them to roll over a heavier bowl.