Feeding Your Bunny
The pet bunny is descended from the wild rabbit, which has become very well adapted to living on poor quality grasses. In the wild rabbits are grazers feeding mostly on grass and hay, which is dried grass.
This natural diet is low in energy and high in fibre, keeping wild rabbits' teeth and waistlines healthy. Wild rabbits spend a lot of their time eating and looking for food.
Wild rabbits are much less likely to suffer from the above conditions because of the fibre content in their diet. Therefore, the correct diet for a pet rabbit is one that is high in fibre. Hay is high in fibre and should, therefore, make up 80 - 90% of your rabbit's diet
Provide your rabbit with unlimited hay and grass. Ensure that the hay is good quality. Hay that is sold in bales to feed horses is generally as good a quality as that available ready-bagged from pet shops. It can also be much cheaper, which encourages liberal use (90% of diet approximately). Replace with fresh hay daily and make sure that fresh hay is always available to eat.
Fresh greens and other vegetables can be given as a treat in small quantities. You can suspend a small carrot from the ceiling of the hutch to slow the rate of eating, and encourage dental exercise plus play.
Some rabbits will only eat the bits that they like and leave the bits that they do not like. This is called selective feeding, it means the rabbit may not be getting a properly balanced diet and this can have disastrous consequences.
Some commercial rabbit foods (i.e. Burgess Supa Rabbit Excel) are now formulated as all-in-one pellets to avoid this problem. They are made up of extruded feed and the pieces of mix all look the same. These foods have a higher fibre content
