Monitoring Your Rabbit’s Diet
No single diet can be right for every rabbit and getting the right balance of foods can be complicated. Even rabbits the same size may have different diet requirements. The exact combination and quantity of foods a rabbit requires daily to meet their energy and nutrient needs depends on several factors including their age, size, environment, and level of physical activity. As these factors change throughout your rabbit’s life you will need to reassess their diet regularly to ensure it is still meeting their needs.
Factors Increasing Protein Requirement
- Pregnancy & lactation (feeding babies)
- Growing new fur during a moult
- Recovering from an injury
- Growing (babies)
Factors Increasing Energy Requirement
- Very small rabbits have a higher metabolic rate than large rabbits, which means they use more energy just resting
- Stress increases the energy a rabbit uses. Short-term stress such as a trip to the vet or meeting a new rabbit should not affect rabbit’s nutritional requirements but long-term stress such as an unsuitable environment may. Nervous rabbits may have higher energy requirements simply because they spend less time in a completely relaxed state when energy requirements are at their lowest.
- In cold weather, rabbits living outside expend extra energy in order to keep themselves warm.
Factors Decreasing Energy Requirement
- Neutering
- Obesity
- Limited exercise
- House rabbits need less energy, as they do not have to cope with extreme weather variations.
A Note about Physical Activity: Rabbit’s use more energy when they are moving around than when resting, and the more physical effort an activity involves the more energy is used. A rabbit that spends the majority of its time free-range will need a diet that provides more energy than one that spends most of its time confined to a cage or hutch. Physical activity is important to your rabbit’s well-being so rather than decreasing high energy food if your rabbit is not very active try encouraging them to increase their activity level instead.
Monitoring your rabbit’s weight and droppings is an easy way to check your rabbit’s diet is correct and to spot potential problems quickly. A change in weight or droppings can also signal non-diet related health problems so it is also a good idea to monitor these as part of your regular health-monitoring program.
