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The pet list has expanded in recent years. Along with cats and dogs, people are increasingly getting rodents, namely decorative rabbits. These pussies are able to touch anyone, they have a peaceful character. Suitable for children and adults. However, they are considered capricious in terms of content, especially selective and picky in food. Before acquiring or breeding these animals, it is better to study than to feed an ornamental dwarf rabbit.
What vitamins do rabbits need?
Vitamin supplements must be present in the diet of all atypical rabbits:
- A. Responsible for the work of the nervous and reproductive systems.
- B vitamins. Essential for a healthy coat and proper digestion.
- D. Regulates the absorption of minerals and other chemical elements necessary for the body, is responsible for the strength of bones and tendons
- C. Responsible for strong immunity, normal functioning of the digestive tract and the absorption of iron.
- E. The substance ensures healthy offspring and regular offspring without losing the health of the female, and also strengthens the muscles.
- K. Affects the elasticity and strength of the walls of blood vessels, is most important during the breeding season.
How to feed a dwarf rabbit at home
The food of the animal should be as close as possible to what it feeds in natural conditions. Although the eared ones gladly try almost everything that is offered to them, it is worth being careful with atypical food.
Dwarf rabbit diet:
- Coarse feed. This includes hay (alfalfa, chicory, wild grasses), straw (which also serves as bedding), and young tree twigs (mountain ash, oak, aspen, acacia, willow, alder, birch). The structure of the feed has a beneficial effect on digestion, promotes natural cleansing, renewal and grinding of the incisors. After all, rabbits' teeth grow all their lives. Fiber of rough vegetation removes excess hair from the body in a natural way and prevents obesity.
- Juicy feed. Vegetables, fruits, fresh herbs, wheat germ, and root crops are included in this group. It is important to offer the animals only fruit without broken barrels and signs of rot. Some will have to be boiled or ensiled, and some should be excluded altogether. In nature, succulent feed is the basis of the diet of rabbits, they serve as a supplier of micronutrients and vitamins. The preferences of the pet will become clear over time, but it is also impossible to offer an abundance of food at once. After all, rabbits have no sense of proportion.
- Factory-made combined feed. As a rule, such mixtures are selected already taking into account the needs of a particular type of rabbits and there is no need to treat the animal with something else. The basic composition of the compound feed: a grain mixture of cereals, legumes, oilseeds with the addition of dried fruits, bran, muesli and herbal flour granules.
- Vitamin supplements, premixes. To be sure, it is better to consult with a veterinarian about which specific complexes are suitable for a dwarf rabbit. If the fluffy is fed with compound feed, then vitamins are rarely given. If it is based on natural nutrition, then supplements should be in the diet at all times. In addition, salt stones and chalk are given to rabbits as a treat.
The nutritional habits of rabbits of different ages are somewhat different. Babies need more care and attention, meanwhile, sexually mature individuals are often capricious and refuse food.
Newborn rabbits for the first weeks are completely dependent on the mother and feed on her milk, so the rabbit needs to be given more food than usual. Feeding with hay and grain begins at three weeks. Young individuals already at 1.5-2 months eat compound feed - they grind new teeth. You can offer a little oatmeal, small hay. At this time, the babies are separated from their mother, they are stressed and require more attention than usual.
From 3 months, fruits and vegetables, as well as B vitamins, are gradually introduced into the diet. They are fed often, up to 5 times a day. Constant access to clean water is also required. The older the rabbit gets, the more its body needs a variety of foods.
Rabbits are animals that react sharply to the wrong diet. The result of a careless attitude can be problems with digestion, hair, immunity, and the ability to produce offspring. The ideal feed ratio for a sexually mature dwarf rabbit is:
- 75% - coarse or dry food;
- 15% - concentrated feed;
- 10% - juicy food;
- fresh clean water daily, ad libitum;
- mineral additives and delicacies (chalk, salt) - as needed.
It is worth feeding twice a day tightly, in between giving juicy vegetables, herbs or berries. Access to the pellet feeder should be constant.
Features of feeding in winter
The stomach of rabbits is designed so that new food pushes out old food. Accordingly, the eared ones must constantly chew something. For the winter, it is worth preparing fresh hay from tender grasses and meadow plants in advance. As well as young branches, bark. In the cold months, the percentage of juicy feeds in the diet is increased: pumpkins, turnips, carrots, greens.
Zarechny Maxim Valerievich
Agronomist with 12 years of experience. Our best summer cottage expert.
It is important to ensure that the animals do not freeze and that the feeder is not in a draft zone. Additional heating and timely cleaning of the cage or aviary are required.
What shouldn't be given
To avoid diseases, it is forbidden to feed rabbits:
- Sweets, sausages, boiled meat, snacks, bread.
- Dangerous plants: dope, henbane, tansy, celandine, buttercup.
- Cabbage (causes diarrhea), old potatoes, fresh beets.
- Fodder and stale grain.